Wayne Bennett, Anthony Seibold coaching swap can still happen
It isn’t over yet. Despite the posturing, both the Brisbane Broncos and South Sydney Rabbitohs believe it best to have a coaching swap for 2019.
REELING: Souths rocked by Bennett shock
It isn’t over yet.
Brisbane have been urged to resume payout talks with Wayne Bennett so he can coach South Sydney next season and the Broncos can secure Anthony Seibold.
Despite all the posturing, The Daily Telegraph has been told Seibold wants to coach Brisbane next year and Bennett wants to be at Redfern.
The Broncos and Rabbitohs realise both coaches staying put at their current clubs next season could, as one official put it, “see the wheels fall off amid the uncertainty”.
One well-connected source claimed it was now a matter of Brisbane and Bennett returning to the negotiating table.
Officials close to both clubs want Bennett and Brisbane chairman Karl Morris to conduct a second, more robust and pragmatic discussion after they entered the meeting “with their backs up”.
Souths are saying little but the club thinks it “sensible” for the 2019 swap to eventuate, leaving the door ajar for both parties to meet again in the near future.
Seibold has been given permission from Souths to coach Brisbane next season if Bennett is released.
Bennett would be open to the move, but doesn’t want to break a commitment to his players that he would see out his contract at the Broncos.
Brisbane stood their ground on Saturday, adamant they would not give Bennett a $900,000 payout to leave.
Privately, both clubs believe it best to have a coaching swap for next season.
One source claimed one party had to “shift its hard-line stance for the good of both clubs”.
“Let’s just hope common sense prevails,” the source said. “That first meeting was a misfire.”
It has been suggested Seibold was involved in Brisbane releasing Josh McGuire to North Queensland and Bennett was ready to start work with Souths next week. That’s how advanced the plans were before Bennett and Morris met.
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