NRL 2021: Wayne Bennett held secret talks with Brisbane Jets during Magic Round

Where is Wayne Bennett going next? He has a range of options when he finishes at Souths this year and prospective NRL team, the Brisbane Jets, are flying in to swoop on the super coach.

BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA - NOVEMBER 18: Maroons coach Wayne Bennett looks on after winning game three of the State of Origin series between the Queensland Maroons and the New South Wales Blues at Suncorp Stadium on November 18, 2020 in Brisbane, Australia. (Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images)

Wayne Bennett held a secret Magic Round meeting with the Brisbane Jets as the NRL’s prospective team ramps up plans to bring the Souths super coach home to Queensland to take on the Broncos.

News Corp can reveal Bennett has held a second round of talks with the Brisbane Jets consortium in the latest sign the Broncos foundation coach is seriously weighing up spearheading the NRL’s 17th team in 2023.

Bennett was in Brisbane last weekend for Souths’ clash against Cronulla at Suncorp Stadium and he used the Magic Round celebrations as an opportunity to explore career options when his Rabbitohs deal expires in November.

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Wayne Bennett will return home to Queensland when his Souths deal expires in November.

The 71-year-old has been linked with a shock return to the Broncos but rival bid teams, the Jets and Firehawks are both circling Bennett, who is viewed as the perfect poster boy to launch a proposed second Brisbane team.

The Jets first reached out to Bennett in February and they have escalated their pursuit. It is understood a Jets official met with Bennett at Brisbane’s Sofitel Hotel, where the Rabbitohs were staying, 24 hours before their clash against the Sharks.

Bennett has made it clear he is open to all offers next season, including the possibility of coaching the NRL’s third bid team, the Redcliffe-based Dolphins, but he has synergies with the western-corridor bid.

The NRL’s greatest coach launched his career with Ipswich in 1976 and Jets powerbrokers are keen to go back to the future by luring Bennett to his home turf to build a second Brisbane team from ground zero.

Bennett declined to comment on his latest meeting with the Jets but said in the lead-up to last week‘s Magic Round that the task of constructing the NRL’s 17th club was a huge carrot.

“It appeals to me starting at a new club again because I know how to build them,” he said.

“At the Broncos we were very deliberate about things that we did and why we did them and it was to pay huge benefits for us.

Jets officials Nick Livermore and Steve Johnson are keen to bring Bennett back to his home.

“The new (second Brisbane team) has to be built from the bottom up and they have to built from a strong foundation.

“There‘s a fair bit of excitement about that, to start something from scratch.

“There is nothing on the page and you can make it into something pretty special.”

Asked which organisation he would prefer to join when he departs Souths at season‘s end, Bennett said: “I don’t have a preference.

“There‘s great opportunities in all those areas, Redcliffe and Ipswich have done a good job and Easts (the Firehawks bid) have done a good job, so it’s up to the powers that be.

“At this point in time I don‘t really have any offers on the table.

“It’s not what I’d like to do, it’s what other people want to do ... someone else has to make a decision.”

Firehawks bid consultant Shane Richardson lured Bennett to South Sydney in 2019.

Brisbane Jets bid official Steve Johnson was tight-lipped about the secret talks with Bennett.

“It’s not appropriate for us to comment on this matter,” he said.

“In light of the NRL‘s embargo on discussions around the respective bids, we are not at liberty to discuss any conversation we may or may not have had with Wayne Bennett.”

Firehawks bid consultant Shane Richardson - the man who signed Bennett to Souths in 2019 - said the Queensland icon is not the only coach on their hit list.

“I think Paul Green (Queensland Origin coach) would also be a great posterboy for the Firehawks, he played at the Tigers,” Richardson said.

“We will worry about our coach if and when we get the franchise.

“We haven‘t approached Wayne Bennett, we haven’t spoken to Wayne about coming here.”