Wayne Bennett and Kristian Woolf support decision to move Cyclone Alfred-affected Rabbitohs, Dolphins clash

South Sydney coach Wayne Bennett has backed the NRL’s decision to relocate Friday night’s clash against the Dolphins to Sydney, while his opposing coach has conceded the league had no other option.

Wayne Bennett has praised the NRL’s decision to relocate Friday night’s clash against the Dolphins to Sydney as southeast Queensland braces for Cyclone Alfred’s impact, while his opposing coach Kristian Woolf has conceded the league had no other option.

Three Dolphins players – Kodi Nikorima, Mark Nicholls and Kenny Bromwich – have pulled out of the match which has been moved from Suncorp Stadium to CommBank Stadium, with the trio opting to stay in Redcliffe with their families.

Speaking at Thursday’s captain’s run at Heffron Park, Bennett said the NRL was left in a “no win” situation but had ultimately made the right call.

“If it had been called off, you’re in that no win situation. If you call it off, you find fault with it, if we put it on you find fault with us,” Bennett said.

“They have done the right thing, it’s important. It’s important to everybody involved in the game, the fans, TV stations and people that support the game. We go back there and play our home game later in the year, so it works out for them as well.

“It’s a great decision.”

‘WHAT OTHER DECISION COULD BE MADE?’

It’s a decision Woolf supports.

“I don’t think there was another option, to be honest,” he said on Thursday.

“I haven’t seen anyone come up with a better option. Moving the byes when our byes don’t match up with Souths and all those kinds of things just don’t work.

“The AFL were lucky that they had two teams with a bye a couple of weeks later so they were able to make that work.

“I just don’t see what other decision could have been made. When we looked at that, as a coaching staff and our admin staff and our players, we all knew what we had to do.”

Dolphins head coach Kristian Woolf. Picture: Supplied

‘ON BALANCE IT WAS IT WAS THE RIGHT THING TO DO’

South Sydney’s CEO Blake Solly also rejected calls for the Rabbitohs’ relocated clash with the Dolphins to be postponed, citing the issues with rescheduling the match given the NRL’s congested calendar.

“One of the biggest challenges is where do you play it if you get postponed?” Solly told this masthead.

“We’ve all got a pretty busy schedule between now and September, so it was felt that it was better for everyone to get on and play the game here in the usual schedule at the time,” he said.

“Clearly that’s it a tough spot for the Dolphins players and their families, but on balance it was it was the right thing to do.”

Wayne Bennett at the South Sydney NRL training ahead of their game against the Dolphins. Picture: Jeremy Piper

BENNETT WON’T BUY INTO HOW DOLPHINS IMPACTED

Bennett did concede his biggest worry earlier in the week the game would be called off but insists the Rabbitohs’ preparations have not been impacted by the cyclone drama.

“We made the decision earlier in the week we would fly to Brisbane on Wednesday if we were going, we thought we were going,” Bennett said.

“The thing that was worrying me the most was ... would it be on, would it be off. We didn’t know that stood. But we got ourselves organised here, the NRL came in and gave us some more clarity so it hasn’t had an impact on us at all.”

Bennett, who was the Dolphins’ inaugural coach, refused to weigh on the drama surrounding the club after a number of the partner’s of players, including Nikorima and Nicholls, hit out at the NRL for not calling the game off.

“I’m not sure... that’s a Dolphins issue, it’s not one that we have,” Bennett said.

Bennett doesn’t believe the Dolphins’ disrupted preparations and the withdrawal of three key players has given his side an upper hand.

(L-R) Club debutants Lachlan Hubner, Jamie Humphreys, Jayden Sullivan. Picture: Jeremy Piper

NO DRAMAS WITH THOSE WHO STAYED

The call to relocate the game instead of postponing it has been criticised by some player partners, including the wife of Nikorima, Bree, who is six months pregnant with two small children.

“There’s a whole lot of individual circumstance,” Woolf said.

“Everyone of the players, the guys who’ve stayed, the guys who have come away, every one of them have my full support and so have those ladies.

“I understand their point of view and I understand those circumstances will be a bit different so I’ve got no dramas with them staying back.

“I understand their predicament and why they haven’t come away.”

“It’ll change our rotations a little bit, we’ve got different personnel there, so that will change things a little bit, but we’ve trained as a squad for however many months now, we started in November last year, so I’m very comfortable they can come in, they know our systems, they know how we play and their role in the team so it’s not going to change too much,” Woolf said.

HUBNER’S PARENTS DASH TO WATCH CLUB DEBUT

There was plenty of emotion at Heffron Park after the Queensland-based parents of South Sydney club debutant Lachlan Hubner, 25, were surprise guests at Thursday’s captain’s run.

The couple travelled down to Sydney from Rockhampton as soon as Friday night’s game was relocated against the Dolphins was relocated.

Lachlan Hubner with his parents Jo and Craig at South Sydney NRL training. Picture: Jeremy Piper

Coach Wayne Bennett chatted to Hubner’s parents before training kicked off earlier in the morning.

Hubner, who made his NRL debut with the Dolphins, followed Bennett from Redcliffe to the Rabbitohs and has been named at lock in place of skipper Cameron Murray, who is sidelined long term with an Achilles injury.