Phil Rothfield: Wayne Bennett no longer has absolute power

One of the most fascinating stories of next season will be Wayne Bennett’s relationship with South Sydney’s head of football Shane Richardson. Both like to be the boss.

Wayne Bennett appears to have lost some of his power and influence.

The move to the South Sydney Rabbitohs for next year is proof of that.

The fact he arrived at Redfern on his own and wasn’t allowed to bring his support staff from the Brisbane Broncos was a huge surprise.

Jack Gibson, the greatest rugby league coach of all time, would never have copped that.

From the Roosters to St George, Newtown, Souths, Parramatta and Cronulla it was always a package deal or nothing. It was non-negotiable.

You didn’t just hire Jack, you hired his team.

MORE BUZZ: NRL’s growing wall of shame

Wayne Bennett has lost his power.

Ron Massey, Alf Richards, Mick Souter and the big guy himself. Jack put a lot of his success down to the fact he had the best support staff.

His sides were not always the most skilful but always the best prepared.

Which brings us back to Souths. One of the most fascinating stories of next year will be Bennett’s relationship with the club’s head of football, Shane Richardson. Both like to be the boss.

Shane Richardson likes being in charge. Picture: John Grainger

Up until this year, Bennett had total control at the Broncos. The same at Newcastle and St George Illawarra.

There was no one like Richardson around. No one to challenge him.

The fact he couldn’t even bring his former ­assistant Jason Demetriou to replace David Furner as South Sydney’s assistant coach was a major shock.

What Wayne normally wants, Wayne gets.

It was all smiles and everything went super smoothly at his first press conference last week. Whether that changes under the grind of week-to-week pressure next year remains to be seen.

HIGHLIGHT

The best cricket your columnist watched all weekend was Sydney Sixers skipper Ellyse Perry smashing a century in the WBBL on Friday night and then 74 against the Thunder on Saturday evening at North Sydney Oval.

LOWLIGHT

Channel 7 has had a tough initiation to Test match cricket in Adelaide. Not only did they forget to cover the coin toss on Thursday morning but they took a commercial break yesterday afternoon and missed Nathan Lyon’s hattrick ball against the Indians. Unbelievable.

SHOOSH

We’re hearing the NRL integrity unit recently passed on information to police over a 2008 betting sting that bookmaker Con Kafataris complained about a decade ago.

SPOTTED

Champion horse trainer Chris Waller and his wife Stephanie at the Karl Stefanovic, Jasmine Yarbrough wedding in Mexico in what was a rare weekend break from the races.

SPOTTED II

The Big Marn Daryl Brohman, Mayor of Gunnamatta Marty Downs, pub tycoon Nick Ferros, Shire identity Pete The Greek, Sutherland Mayor Carmelo Pesce, former Harvey World Travel boss Gary McLeod and De La Salle president Dave “Subway” Nicholson enjoying a long, long Xmas lunch at The Century in Pyrmont.

SPOTTED III

Canterbury great Steve “Turvey” Mortimer entertaining drinkers with some fabulous old rugby league stories at the Tilbury Hotel.

Steve Mortimer is a hit with fans. Picture: Simon Bullard / AAP

SPOTTED IV

Mitchell Moses and Luke Brooks dancing and singing at the Orient Hotel on Saturday night oblivious to the fact that one of the people to have joined their group was a senior NRL executive who reported both were on their best behaviour.

HOT SHOT

All weekend hackers know how golf can be such a frustrating game. NRL 360 host Ben Ikin is almost good enough to be a professional. Yet even he has his off days. Ikin recently shot 20-over par at Toowoomba and felt like packing his clubs up for the summer. Three days later he returned to his home course at Indooroopilly and shot one-under.

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