NRL 2024: Wayne Bennett doesn’t plan to raid Dolphins players on return to South Sydney Rabbitohs

With a return to South Sydney imminent, Wayne Bennett has promised he won’t tear apart his current Dolphins roster and poach players to join him at Redfern.

Wayne Bennett. Picture: NRL Imagery

Having pulled off Mission Improbable by making the newly minted Dolphins an NRL surprise packet, Wayne Bennett does not have it in him to tear them apart.

Bennett, after a Magic Round win over the Wests Tigers he branded “the good, the bad and the ugly,’’ promised his bold return to the South Sydney Rabbitohs will not be accompanied by a player raid on the Dolphins.

“I won’t be taking any of their kids that they want to keep,’’ Bennett said.

“That’s not going to happen. I didn’t set about building this club to try and destroy it. That’s just not going to happen, okay?

“But if there’s a guy there that they’re not offering a contract to or he’s looking to go somewhere else and I think he can play a bit, that’ll be a different thing.’’

Wayne Bennett won’t be raiding the Dolphins when he returns to the Rabbitohs. Picture: NRL Photos

The Dolphins were victorious in Magic Round. Picture: Hannah Peters/Getty Images

Bennett described the good of his win as “the two points,’’ the bad as “the way we played with the football’’ and the ugly as “just being out there and looking like we weren’t interested.’’

“You know you’re going to have some of those days and those moments. We had that today. We wouldn’t have won this game last year because we would not have defended as good as we can now.’’

His deal with Souths is such a formality that Bennett, at 74 is organising his own contract and he quipped “I don’t have to worry about managers leaking stuff to you, do I? When you do your own deal, it’s good.’’

The buoyant Bennett does not believe his relinking with Souths will be a distraction to the Dolphins.

“Everybody knew I was finishing at Redcliffe at the end of the season. Three years ago we all knew that when I made the decision to come here.’’

The deal is expected to be finalised this week.

Originally published as NRL 2024: Wayne Bennett doesn’t plan to raid Dolphins players on return to South Sydney Rabbitohs