‘Bed in office’: Souths reveal ‘cruel’ lengths Broncos went to in Bennett smear campaign

The shocking lengths members of the Broncos went to in order to undermine Wayne Bennett back in 2018 have been revealed.

South Sydney Rabbitohs at Suncorp Stadium - Wayne Bennett at the Bunnies Captains Run. Pic Annette Dew

The shocking lengths members of the Broncos went to in order to undermine Wayne Bennett in his pursuit of his switch to the Rabbitohs in 2018 has been revealed.

In the aftermath of Souths’ preliminary final win over the Sea Eagles, Bennett took aim at the Broncos for their attempts to railroad his head coaching career after he was axed in favour of Anthony Seibold at Red Hill.

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The Sydney Morning Herald’s Danny Weidler spoke with Souths chief executive Blake Solly, who revealed the extraordinary and distasteful lows some members of the Broncos stooped to.

“Some of the attacks, particularly before Wayne joined us, were extremely personal and driven, I think, from individuals in the game or at the Broncos at the time to discredit Wayne,” Solly told The Herald.

“We never really took much notice of them or believed them.

“We made our own assessment of Wayne’s character and his values from our discussions with him before he came in, and after he came.”

Bennett’s inference in his preliminary final press conference was that the Broncos felt he was washed up and over the hill as a head coach in the NRL.

In an extraordinary development South Sydney were told that Bennett, who was 68 when he left the Broncos, required a bed in his office so he could take naps throughout the working day.

However the bed was in fact for Bennett’s son Justin who has special needs, so that he could have a place to rest when he came to Broncos training.

Justin’s medication was affecting his sleep, with Bennett staying up with him during the night and then getting through each day at training while his son rested in his office.

Brisbane Coach Wayne Bennett (left) is seen with his son Justin (right) during a Brisbane Broncos training session at Clive Berghofer Field in Brisbane, Thursday, July 19, 2018.

“One (rumour) in particular around the bed in the office was just not right,” Solly said.

“He bought that bed into the office for Justin when he attends training.

“And for that to be told to us, or told publicly, to discredit Wayne probably reflects more on the people who told us.

“I think the impression that they were trying to convey was that Wayne’s best years as a coach were behind him and that was the furthest thing from the truth.

“Justin came to watch us train a couple of times while we’re up here (in Queensland to finish the NRL season) and Wayne is extraordinary with him and to have something that was done to make Justin’s life comfortable turned on him was pretty cruel.”

Remarkably Bennett knew about the Broncos’ attempts to discredit him all along and chose to stay silent and let his coaching do the talking until he finally revealed their smear campaign after Souths qualified for their first Grand Final since 2014.

“It says a lot about Wayne’s character that he just saw that as an attempt to discredit him and that he would let his coaching performances and the performance of the team talk for him,” Solly said.

“He’s still got energy, he’s still got passion, he’s still extremely sharp, mentally.

“I think Wayne’s words are he’ll stop doing it when he gets used to accepting losing, and he will never do that.”

Originally published as ‘Bed in office’: Souths reveal ‘cruel’ lengths Broncos went to in Bennett smear campaign