NRL 2020: Confused coach Wayne Bennett banned for COVID breach

NRL boss Peter V’landys has delivered a spray to a legend of the game and a star player after they broke the league’s strict protocols.

Wayne Bennett will be required to self-isolate for 14 days after admitting to breaking the NRL’s COVID-19 rules.

The South Sydney coach confirmed The Daily Telegraph’s report he dined at an Italian restaurant in Leichhardt in Sydney’s inner-west on Wednesday with a woman believed to be his partner.

Bennett claimed he didn’t know he was breaching the NRL’s strict protocols, which ban players and coaches from visiting public places.

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But it has since been revealed the mastercoach will be ordered into self-isolation and miss two rounds of the NRL premiership.

Bennett follows in the footsteps of Bulldogs player Aiden Tolman and Knights star Bradman Best who both missed games for COVID-19 breaches.

RELATED: Dragons forward stood down for protocol breach

He admitted his confusion at the league’s rules despite being on the committee that helped form them.

“I went for lunch yesterday at Grappa, I did. I didn’t think it was a breach … If I knew it was a breach I wouldn’t have done it. I went with my partner who I live with, had some lunch and that was it,” he told reporters after Rabbitohs training on Thursday.

“I go shopping, I go different places to get meals at times, it was just me and my partner who I live together with, she was with me and I went somewhere to get something to eat at lunchtime.”

NRL boss Peter V’landys was livid with both Bennett and Paul Vaughan for putting the competition in jeopardy.

Peter V'landys on Wayne Bennett and Paul Vaughan: "They should know better ... They are jeopardising their own futures for the next two seasons and they're jeopardising future generations of the game of rugby league." - Story on @AAPNewswire #NRL

— Scott Bailey (@ScottBaileyAAP) August 6, 2020

The NRL issued a statement with relation to the two men confirming they will be placed into a 14-day “COVID hold”.

“The National Rugby League (NRL), acting on the advice of biosecurity experts, has today placed South Sydney Rabbitohs coach Wayne Bennett and St George Illawarra Dragons player Paul Vaughan on a 14-day “COVID Hold”,” the statement read.

“The decision was made after the pair contravened NRL biosecurity protocols by dining separately at restaurants.”

Acting chief executive Andrew Abdo said the decision to remove both individuals was regrettable but a necessary part of the NRL’s biosecurity protocols.

“We are living in extraordinary times and we must do everything in our power to ensure the health and safety of our players, staff and the general community,’’ he said.

“This is a regrettable decision but today’s actions will operate as an important reminder to our players and staff about the importance of strict adherence to the protocols.”

Bennett, who also admitted there’d been “one or two other times” he’d been in public, was investigated by the NRL Integrity Unit.

“I go to the kebab shop to get a kebab and there’s just as many people there as there were in the restaurant,” he said. “There wasn’t many (diners) there at all, actually … I was isolated from everybody.”

Bennett was in the middle of a training session with the Rabbitohs when the news broke after The Daily Telegraph was tipped off by a patron at the restaurant. He said he would cop any punishment handed down.

“If that’s what happens, that’s their call. The rules have changed that many times about what we can do and can’t do,” he said.

“The protocols are changing all the time. At times I have been out when I thought it was right. I still thought it was right yesterday.”

Wayne Bennett will miss the next two matches.

Bennett’s Rabbitohs are scheduled to play Brisbane, the club he used to coach, on Friday night at ANZ Stadium. His assistant Jason Demetriou will take the reins in his absence.

The 70-year-old mentor gave his tick of approval to the league’s COVID-19 rules when asked about it last month.

“We’ve got a lot of biosecurity rules around us and I’m happy with that,” Bennett said.

“If we don’t want that choice, we can just retire from football and go and do something else.”

Bennett yesterday added to the anticipation ahead of the Broncos’ clash by claiming his eventual move to the Rabbitohs wasn’t discussed until Brisbane had told him he was no longer required.

Bennett was replaced in Brisbane by Anthony Seibold, in what ended up being a straight swap.

“It’s absolute bulls*** that I was planning stuff with Souths while Seibold was there,” Bennett told the Courier Mail.

“It’s like many things in life, people only want to muddy the waters when the truth is not told. That is the case of my so-called planning with Souths when Seibold was there.”