Souths players back Wayne Bennett’s record over Anthony Seibold

The rivalry between Wayne Bennett and Anthony Seibold will reach a crescendo on Thursday night when Brisbane and South Sydney face off at ANZ Stadium. But Rabbitohs players think they got the better deal.

• Phil Rothfield: Jet’s last game for the Broncos
• Bennett: “Gutless” Broncos went behind my back

South Sydney halfback Adam Reynolds has refused to criticise Anthony Seibold’s shock decision to quit Redfern, instead declaring the Rabbitohs did well out of the coaching swap by snapping up “the greatest of all time” in Wayne Bennett.

In-form Rabbitohs five-eighth Cody Walker agreed with his teammate when he described the seven-time premiership winner as “one of the best to ever coach in the game”.

Bennett and Seibold do not like each other and their rivalry will reach a crescendo on Thursday night when Brisbane and South Sydney face off at ANZ Stadium.

Privately, some Rabbitohs feel they are in a better position under Bennett than they were last season with Seibold.

And publicly, they are right behind Bennett.

“In my eyes, we ended up with the greatest coach of all time and I am happy he’s here now,” Reynolds said.

“We don’t care about the coaching situation, we’re happy with Wayne.

“Wayne has coached over 800 games, he’s won competitions and gets success wherever he goes. His record speaks for itself.

“But it’s also the way he operates with people off the field. He lives his life at such a high standard that it makes others want to be better themselves.

“We have moved on and are really pleased Wayne is on board with us.”

Souths are enjoying themselves under Wayne Bennett. Image: Phil Hillyard

Walker was also supportive of Bennett, while being mindful not to malign Seibold.

“As a playing group, we have moved on,” Walker said. “We have a guy like Wayne Bennett who has come in and started coaching and we have started the season really, really well.

“To lose a guy like Seibs was disappointing but, in turn, we get Wayne Bennett, arguably one of the best coaches to ever coach in the game. He has been around the game nearly 30 years. It was a win-win situation.

“I can only speak for myself, but I was pretty disappointed to see Seibs go because we did so well last year.

“But as a playing group, we don’t make those decisions. We just wanted a little bit of clarity because it went on for a little bit too long.

“He did a great job for us last year but he made a decision to go coach the Brisbane Broncos. He is a great coach. I still class him as a friend. They are both great coaches.”

Reynolds is excited by the chance to work with the veteran coach. Image: Phil Hillyard

Other Souths players were reluctant to discuss the Bennett-Seibold confrontation and attempted to play down it down.

“We just have to make sure we don’t get caught up in all the hype of the Seibs and Bennett conversation,” Souths centre Dane Gagai said.

“We can only control what we can control and that’s ourselves.

“You (the media) like to talk about it a fair bit. Wayne is our coach and that’s who we’re playing for and the bunny on our jersey.

“Seibs made a choice and he wanted to go back to Brisbane. There are no grudges. He had reasons for wanting to go.”

The Bunnies won’t get caught up in the hype. Image: Phil Hillyard

South Sydney and NSW hooker Damien Cook said the hype would add spice to the match.

“I guess we always knew it (the headlines) would happen,’’ Cook said. “They tried to hype it up before the season even started.

“But from a fans point of view, looking in, you’d think it’s great for the game, a bit of hype and rivalry between teams.”