Wayne Bennett declares he ‘will fix’ struggling flyer James Roberts
After weeks of speculation James Roberts has signed a deal with the South Sydney Rabbitohs, and former mentor Wayne Bennett declares he knows how to return the struggling flyer to his peak form.
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Souths coach Wayne Bennett has declared he will fix James Roberts, declaring the fallen Broncos centre the attacking X-factor that can help the Rabbitohs to a premiership.
Breaking his silence on Roberts’ mid-season move from the Broncos to the Rabbitohs, Bennett insists the dumped NSW Origin ace is not a spent force and will regain his match-winning mojo because of their “trust”.
The 26-year-old will make his season debut with Souths against the Knights on Friday week.
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Roberts’ turbulent career at the Broncos came to a sombre end on Wednesday when Brisbane coach Anthony Seibold signed off on a compassionate release following the centre’s recent axing to the Intrust Super Cup.
South Sydney swooped immediately, signing Roberts until the end of 2021 in a move that reunites the speed machine with his junior club and the master coach who confidently stated he will get ‘The Jet’ soaring again.
“I will fix James,” Bennett said.
“I don’t hope, I know he will get back to his best. There’s no doubt in my mind.
“The one thing James needs is trust. He trusts me. And I trust him.
“The way to get the best football out of James is by trusting him. Simple as that. You trust him. He will perform.
“We have known each other for four years. He came here because he knows what a connection we have.
“I know what he brings and he knows what he brings.
“He does things few other centres can do. He has the X-factor. That’s what he brings.
“He will be in a happy place at South Sydney ... and he will bring it.”
Roberts scored 36 tries in 73 games under Bennett at the Broncos, but the strike centre never settled under Seibold at Red Hill.
The 26-year-old was embroiled in his latest off-field saga just eight weeks ago when he passed out at a private party after a game against the Dragons, but Bennett is adamant he is not signing a broken problem child.
“I know James is a complex guy but I’m confident he won’t go off the rails,” he said.
“There are consequences if that happens and James knows that. No one at Souths expects James to go off the rails.
“James is a different person to what he was four years ago. He continues to grow as a person. James just has to do his best for South Sydney.
“We’ve all seen what James can do. We’ve seen him do that on more than one occasion, I was only thinking about him last night. He won so many games for us, that try he scored against the Roosters last year was something only special players can do.”
Seibold said there was no bad blood with Roberts as he exited the Red Hill gates.
“The club has agreed to release him on compassionate grounds and Souths have announced his signing. It’s good for ‘Jimmy’ to be fair and good for his family, it’s good for both parties,” he said.
“I feel I’ve done the right thing by James. He goes home in a lot of ways, he was a South Sydney junior so it’s a good thing for him. I wish him and his partner and their kids all the best and I hope he does a good job down there.
“James had a disrupted start to the year with his achilles. I wanted to choose the team on performance and I felt James wasn’t playing to his ability. Young Gehamat Shibasaki and Kotoni Staggs are playing well so I’m confident in the centres I’ve got.
“James came to us wanting a release and I wasn’t going to stand in his way. There’s no hard feelings from my end, I hope it works out for him.”
Bennett dismissed suggestions he clashed
with Rabbitohs football-operations chief Shane Richardson over his signing.
“There has never been any conflict between Shane Richardson and myself about the signing of James Roberts,” he said.
“We both wanted what is in South Sydney’s best interests and James is in our best interests
“James didn’t ring me, I reached out to him. When I saw what was happening to him at the Broncos and I realise he was done. He had checked out. So I made the move on Monday and said let’s get him.”
Asked why he deceived the media just three weeks ago, insisting Souths would not sign Roberts, Bennett defended his actions.
“What we had to do was get everyone off the scent so we could conduct ourselves and the negotiations in a manner in which there wasn’t a lot of fanfare,” he said.
“The speculation at the time was out of control, it was only getting worse. As an organisation and a business, we are allowed to conduct ourselves without being a back page every day of the week. We put our club first and that’s what we did.
“We had a plan on how to get him, we executed it and here we are ... James Roberts is back at South Sydney.”
Originally published as Wayne Bennett declares he ‘will fix’ struggling flyer James Roberts
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