Dolphins coach Wayne Bennett leads push for NRL draft

Wayne Bennett has come out swinging in support of an NRL draft, saying the spate of mid-season player transfers is a blight on the code.

Wayne Bennett: ‘The only people who will whinge about the draft are the player managers’ Picture: Liam Kidston.

One of rugby league’s most powerful voices Wayne Bennett has come out swinging in support of an NRL draft, saying the spate of mid-season player transfers is a blight on the code.

NRL chief executive Andrew Abdo says he is open to considering a player draft to help remedy a lopsided 2021 premiership that delivered the worst season of blowout scorelines in 86 years.

Competition bosses are also mindful the decision to expand the competition to 17 teams, with the inclusion of the Dolphins in 2023, will require another 30 full-time NRL players and place further stress on talent equalisation.

A player draft in rugby league has been mooted for the past three decades but Bennett, the NRL’s greatest coach, says it’s time for ARL Commission boss Peter V’landys to act.

“I am a fan of the draft because it’s another way of levelling the competition up and the fans deserve that,” Bennett said.

“The current system is just not right. It has to change.

“We are the only sport in the world that operates with a salary cap but no draft. They have to go hand in hand.

“The fans don’t deserve what they have copped over the last decade or so.

“Players just leaving clubs mid-season and all this rubbish ... pulling up stumps midway through the year and they go and play for another club.

“The NRL has to start making a move now. It will clean up a lot of the things in the game in regards to player movement.

“If the discussion for a draft is back on the table, I’m happy.”

Bennett, who began coaching in the big league with Canberra in 1987 when the premiership was largely a Sydney-based competition, explained how he believed an NRL draft could work.

“I would see three things happening,” he said.

“I would see a rookie draft, I would see a state league draft and then there are those players already in the NRL who are seeking releases or being cut, so I’d see a draft for them as well.

“You could have the drafts at different stages of the year.

“The NRL player draft might be in October before pre-season, but whatever the timing, we need a system that governs how players get into the NRL, and once players are in the NRL, how do they move clubs?”

While the draft works successfully in the AFL, it has become a legal minefield in rugby league.

In 1991, former NSW Origin star Terry Hill took the code to court after he refused to be drafted to the Roosters, seeking to play instead for Western Suburbs.

The Hill saga went all the way to the High Court, which ruled in favour of the centre, setting a dangerous legal precedent should the ARL Commission seek to reintroduce a player draft three decades later.

Asked about the belief players should not be forced to relocate to a club they don’t wish to play for, Bennett said: “Stop it. That’s bloody rubbish.

“That is the greatest load of crap I’ve ever heard.

“That’s the easy line the anti-draft people can throw at this argument.

“These guys pack their bags all the time and relocate.

“Tom Dearden left the Broncos midway through this season and moved to Townsville (to play for the Cowboys) in a few days. He was a 20-year-old kid.

“Tevita Pangai went to the Panthers (from the Broncos). Did he have any trouble going to another club?

“The only people who will whinge about the draft are the player managers because it will restrict them and the deals they can do to move players around.

“Player managers would not be able to manipulate the draft system.

“Under the draft, the best kids will get shared around the clubs.

“I believe it would equalise the competition. It would certainly help.

“The biggest thing about any team is its management. If you have poor management, you are in trouble, it doesn’t matter if you have drafts or have the best players.

“If you are a well-managed club, the draft is not something clubs should fear, but it will prevent the best players always being picked up by the best clubs.

“We need to look at the benefits to the game, we want better contests between talent that is distributed better. It can work for us.

“There is a lot to happen with the draft and it can’t happen overnight. A lot of discussions have to be held with the NRL and the players association, but it needs to happen.

“If it’s about you, and being selfish, the draft won’t work. But if you care about the game, the draft can work in the NRL.

“They do it in all the American sports. It’s the best way for a sport to thrive and survive.”