NRL Expansion: Wayne Bennett in pole position to assume coaching role IF bidding process successful

The jostling for the right to be the 17th team has become a fascinating game of chess where you sometimes have to settle for simply covering your opponent, writes Robert Craddock.

BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA - JUNE 17: Coach Wayne Bennett of the Rabbitohs gives a smile as he speaks at a press conference after the round 15 NRL match between the Brisbane Broncos and the South Sydney Rabbitohs at Suncorp Stadium, on June 17, 2021, in Brisbane, Australia. (Photo by Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images)

Some strange things have happened to Wayne Bennett over the years – like being named preferred coach of three rugby league clubs that may never play a match.

It is understood in the bid documents for all three franchises vying to be the NRL’s 17th team, Bennett was named as the first-choice coach.

You can understand it. By remarkable coincidence Bennett is coming home from Sydney this year and will be without a club tie for the first time since 1988.

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Wayne Bennett seems to be a good bet to lead whichever bid emerges as expansion winner.

Even if you don’t pine for Wayne as coach, you simply had to put him top of the list because he brings the profile, sponsorships dollars and instant attention no other coach, bar Craig Bellamy, can come close to.

To nominate anyone else is to run the risk of losing ground to your opponents.

The jostling for the right to be the 17th team has become a fascinating game of chess where, like in yacht race, you sometimes have to settle for simply covering your opponent even if you cannot outsprint him.

All three franchises, for instance, have signed agreements with the fertile central Queensland region to become a feeder area.

The worry for the expansion project is that the NRL is still yet to convince itself it is worthwhile, which gave Monday’s presentations by the three franchises that slightly oddball feel of job interviews for a job which may not even exist.

Steve Johnson and Nick Livermore have been pushing for expansion for over a decade

The NRL knows cash-poor, Covid-cursed clubs are watching their every move, concerned that league’s expansion could punch a hole in their piggy banks. They also ask “why now?””

NRL expansion has been on the books for at least 12 years, floating gently in the background like that airy holiday plan you had to paint your back fence.

It is totally fair for critics to ask after all these years that if expansion really is such an appealing option, shouldn’t the question at least have advanced to “which team?’’ rather than whether you want one at all.

You have to admire the dedication of troopers like Nick Livermore and Steve Johnson from the Brisbane Jets bid who have been pounding the expansion footpath for over a decade, first as rivals then as a team, who fronted up at QRL headquarters to sell their dream.

When Johnson started dealing with the NRL in 2009, his first meeting was with the then boss David Gallop.

Steve Bullow and Shane Edwards of the Brisbane Firehawks.

That seems a century ago and since then the expansion debate has gone in so many different directions it makes it makes climate change chats sound as orderly as the alphabet.

We hear the questioning of the three franchises by a panel which included former premier Peter Beattie, was frank and direct as it should be.

But for all the grillings about finances, juniors, attracting new fans and growth areas no-one could answer the one question everyone wants solved … will there actually be a team?

Originally published as NRL Expansion: Wayne Bennett in pole position to assume coaching role IF bidding process successful