PATH EMERGES FOR BENNETT TO LEAVE
WAYNE Bennett is not joining Penrith but the Panthers may be forced to help pay his wage if they want to fast-track the recruitment of Wests Tigers coach Ivan Cleary.
Bennett has reportedly been shopped to the Wests Tigers for 2020 and beyond once his contract with the Broncos ends after next season.
Penrith has re-signed young playmaker Nathan Cleary and hopes to reunite him with his father Ivan, who is contracted to coach Wests Tigers until 2020.
If Penrith is desperate to bring Cleary back to the foot of the mountains before the start of next season, it may open the way for Bennett to leave Brisbane and join the Tigers a year early.
That would involve a delicate financial operation where Wests would have to buy out Bennett’s Brisbane deal – believed to be about $1 million.
They may not have the financial resources to reach this figure, but with help from Penrith it may be possible.
Cleary and Bennett are managed by the same company – SFX Sports – so that may help smooth what shapes as a complex and potentially awkward negotiation.
Bennett has been offered an ambassadorial role at the Broncos when his contract ends but is keen to extend his senior coaching career even if it means moving to Sydney.
If Bennett left the Broncos before the start of next season, the club could act swiftly to replace him without being involved in another tangled contract web.
Assistant coach Jason Demetriou is waiting in the wings along with Queensland State of Origin coach Kevin Walters, and former Souths premiership coach Michael Maguire has also been linked to the club.
All of them could potentially step up next season if required.
Club captain Darius Boyd has endorsed Demetriou’s credentials as a first-grade mentor, though the difficult tenures of Ivan Henjak and Anthony Griffin at Red Hill have cemented the thought the Broncos need an experienced big-name coach.