Bennett hits back to defend forwards

BRONCOS coach Wayne Bennett has labelled as “cheap talk” criticism of under-fire forwards Adam Blair and Josh McGuire.

The duo had been heavily criticised this week after two incidents from last Friday’s game against Parramatta.

Blair was caught up in the collision that caused Andrew McCullough’s season-ending knee injury, while McGuire was accused of purposely stepping on the ankle of Eels skipper Tim Mannah.

Former Bronco Gorden Tallis hit out at Blair, saying he had “put a real dent in Brisbane’s premiership campaign”, while Eels centre Michael Jennings lashed out at Blair and McGuire, calling the latter’s incident with Mannah a “dirty play”.

But McGuire was able to defend himself earlier this week, saying he did not see Mannah’s leg as he is blind in one eye.

Bennett also would not play into the hype around his two forwards yesterday, dismissing criticism of the pair.

“That’s just cheap talk,” Bennett said. “The game is full of it right now.”

Despite the attention on McGuire and Blair this week from outside the club, Bennett said the focus at Red Hill had been on their finals bid.

After last week’s disappointing 28-14 loss to Parramatta, the Broncos have a battle on their hands to stay in contention for a top-four finish.

Bennett said that they had been working on their energy this week for the coming rounds.

“Parramatta were on their game and played really well and we weren’t that bad,” Bennett said.

“We just weren’t up at the same energy they were playing at and we needed to pick ourselves up a little bit and address that.

“The next five weeks, every one of those games is going to be important and every one of them are going to be hard to beat.

“The first priority is to make the top eight and after that you shuffle from there.”

Bennett confirmed the club had given Blair (pictured) permission to look at other offers for next season, despite the fact he is not off-contract until the end of 2018.

It is understood clubs like the Warriors and Dragons are interested in signing the Kiwi captain to long-term deals.

While Bennett did not say whether he would be prepared to release Blair early, he confirmed the star forward had been given the green light to look at his options.

“We’ve been asked about that. We’ve told him to go and have a look around and come back and talk to us,” Bennett said. “We’ll see what happens.”