NRL Briefs: Truth behind Bennett saga; Ponga shift premature; Brisbane an expansion target

The Wayne Bennett-Anthony Seibold coaching saga played out early in the off-season but the ending could have been much different.

Wayne Bennett after the Rabbitohs’ Charity Shield win.

Wayne Bennett was keen to see out his contract in Brisbane until the end according The Daily Telegraph’s Paul Crawley.

The coaching carousel which dominated the first part of the off-season led to Bennett being sensationally fired from his post with former Rabbitohs coach Anthony Seibold brought in after a prolonged and destructive drama and the pair swapping roles.

But speaking on NRL360, Crawley said Bennett was eager to see out his contract with the Broncos, even knocking back the West Tigers’ three-year deal.

The messy divorce reached a crescendo when Bennett heard of the Broncos’ decision to end his contract while he was coaching England after the NRL season.

“I spoke to Wayne several times during the course of the end of last year and every single time he said to me ‘I will be honouring my contract’ — that’s what he said, and (CEO) Paul White and (chairman) Karl Morris said the same,” Crawley said.

Bennett looks happy with how it played out.

“He had a contract for 2019. He knocked back a three-year deal to go to the Wests Tigers because he wanted to stay there for that final season.

“He contacted Souths to get a job for 2020. The Tigers wanted him to start in 2019, he said ‘no I can’t do that’.

“What happened after that, he says he had the full intention to stay there at the Broncos until Shane Richardson got on a plane and went to England and said ‘mate, they’re trying to move you out’. That was the first he says he knew about it.”

The revelation comes a day after Darren Lockyer admitted the pair “are not on great speaking terms”.

While Lockyer also revealed he was in Kevin Walters’ bad books for his part in the Broncos board passing on the Queensland Origin coach, but Crawley said the club only had eyes for one man.

“I think you’ve seen in Kevin Walters’ reaction to how he was treated in the interview process that to me didn’t appear to be a process — I think they had their eye on Anthony Seibold from July,” Crawley said.

Anthony Seibold is now in charge of Brisbane.

“I think initially he was extremely disappointed the Broncos didn’t want to keep him beyond 2019, but I think he’d moved beyond that.

“Now, it’s like people have rewrote history and said Wayne was upset with (Darren) Lockyer making the decision to move him on, when in actual fact, he was upset with the process and the way it played out.”

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PONGA SHIFT PREMATURE: JOHNS

Kalyn Ponga has already shown he has the talent to do anything in rugby league, having already had a State of Origin debut for Queensland.

The 20-year-old has the world at his feet, but entering his second full-time season of NRL football, Ponga is making a huge change.

After a season at fullback last year, he has shifted into the halves, a move Fox League commentator Matthew Johns said may be a bit premature.

“He’s got that much talent, he’ll warm to the task, he could play anywhere, it’s quite incredible,” Johns said on NRL 360.

“I’m not the coach, but I probably would’ve left him at one

“The six and one play such a similar role these days, they really do, and I expect Pearce to play the full field.

Matthew Johns is still floored by what Kalyn Ponga can do.

“The thing with Kalyn, I would’ve kept him out of harm’s way as far as defence is concerned.

“I know he played that Origin game and he made 30-odd tackles and he shone and he was great, but doing that every single week and what I think opposition teams will do is they’ll kick down field or coming out of trouble and they receive a ball, they’ll channel against Kalyn and try to get his tackle count up.

“I think for another couple of years I would’ve kept him at one.

“It’ll be interesting to see if Browny (Nathan Brown) is tempted to do that some weeks.

At just 20, Johns said there was plenty of time for the shift to happen.

He believes Ponga will play more of a ball running role with Mitchell Pearce playing on both sides of the ruck.

But with his obvious talent, the shift to six will kickstart his apprenticeship in the halves.

“Playmaking is an old-school art, it takes time, you get better with experience,” Johns added.

“But there’s no doubting his talent, but just what he did last year at one was pretty incredible.”

BRISBANE PRIME EXPANSION TARGET: GREENBERG

Brisbane are a prime candidate for any expansion plans according to NRL chief executive Todd Greenberg.

Expansion remains a hot topic in rugby league, although the next chance to broaden the game’s footprint is unlikely to come before the next TV rights deal begins in 2023.

The NRL in December began a widespread 12-month study, which includes an analysis of expansion and relocation options as well as potential impacts on rugby league’s participation numbers.

“We haven’t landed on what we will do with that yet,” Greenberg said. “We need to be very careful, very strategic, very considered about what we do and whether we bring in one more team or one more game.

“Those are very different conversations but they have huge monetary considerations for us to think through.”

When asked about Brisbane’s chances, Greenberg added: “I think it’d be a very fair assessment that Brisbane would be a very prime candidate for any discussion we have about the structure of the competition.”

Other Queensland locations, Perth, New Zealand and parts of the Pacific Islands are also expansion options.

North Queensland coach Paul Green also had his say.

Greenberg’s comments come as the push grows for a second team in the city.

They also coincide with the league announcing it was considering a wildcard system for finals to take the amount of teams advancing to 10 — but it’s not believed the two ideas are linked.

The Broncos have the highest average crowds in the NRL, while their following also makes them one of the most attractive options for broadcasters.

Their region is arguably the biggest in the competition, given both Melbourne and the Warriors’ New Zealand are not rugby league strongholds.

“It’s rugby league’s strong area,” North Queensland coach Paul Green said of Brisbane.

“I don’t think there’s too many other sports that challenge in this area, there’s also the greater area, population-base of above a couple of million people there now.

“We’re starting to hit a bit of a critical mass where we probably could support a couple of professional league clubs. Where that would be I’m not sure.”

Green said it wasn’t an easy answer to decide if the team should be a new entry into the competition or be a relocating team from one of Sydney’s nine.

“If you look at the business model, relocation would make sense but if you ask whatever club that’s getting relocated, I’m sure their fans would have a different opinion,” Green said.

“It’s worked in the AFL. Brisbane Lions were relocated and had some success in the early 2000s.”

— AAP