PVL’s ‘loser’ Kiwis give Bennett green light for club and national job

Wayne Bennett will be allowed to juggle an NRL head coaching job even if he’s appointed to the vacant New Zealand role despite the Kiwis baulking at Michael Maguire’s State of Origin request.

Just a day after Bennett confirmed he had formally applied for the New Zealand position – prompting Australian Rugby League Commission chairman Peter V’landys to joke he “didn’t know why Wayne wants to get on a loser” – the New Zealand Rugby League won’t stand in the supercoach’s way if he joins a sixth NRL club.

Bennett will step down as the foundation coach of the Dolphins later this year for assistant Kristian Woolf, and has no guaranteed job for 2025.

The NZRL will interview Bennett and other applicants such as Stacey Jones before confirming its coach in late February, but chief executive Greg Peters has already stated Bennett is free to find another NRL club as he closes in on the 1000-game milestone.

“At the moment he’s applied to be head coach of the Kiwis,” Peters said.

“Our campaign is a month long at the end of the year. Yes, there’s work to be done during the year with connections to playing groups and monitoring players, potentially camps, but the nature of the role means you could have another job in clubland.

Dolphins coach Wayne Bennett.Credit: Kate Geraghty

“He’s been here before as part of a successful campaign in 2008. He’s stated his intention to apply, but we’re running the process with the other applicants.”

Bennett was an assistant to Stephen Kearney when New Zealand won the World Cup on Australian soil in 2008, and he could go head-to-head with Kangaroos coach Mal Meninga at the 2026 World Cup.

The NZRL’s Bennett stance is at odds with that for Maguire, who wasn’t retained despite the Kiwis handing out a record 30-0 drubbing to the Kangaroos in the Pacific Championships final last year.

Maguire argued he could juggle both the Origin role with the Blues and the Kiwis, but his plea fell on deaf ears.

But even if he’s appointed to the New Zealand job, Bennett’s future will be a major talking point throughout the season with the game’s most celebrated coach on the market.

“It’s in their hands and we’ll see what happens now,” Bennett said.

Bennett’s interest in the New Zealand job came as a surprise to many within the game, including V’landys, who tongue-in-cheek questioned why the 74-year-old would want to coach the Kiwis.

“I don’t know why Wayne wants to get on a loser,” V’landys told Triple M’s Rush Hour in Brisbane. “He’s normally a winning coach, why would he want to go and coach against Australia?”

Said Peters: “He can call us a loser if he likes, but we’ll stick with the last result between the two countries.”

The Kiwis’ social media accounts responded to V’landys’ jibe, with an image of the New Zealand team with the Pacific Championships trophy and the words “Tell Peter V’landys we’re doing eetswa [sweet] #firtynil”.

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