{"id":127109,"date":"2021-09-11T15:04:39","date_gmt":"2021-09-11T15:04:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=127109"},"modified":"2021-09-11T15:59:05","modified_gmt":"2021-09-11T15:59:05","slug":"explosive-accusation-triggers-bennett-tirade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=127109","title":{"rendered":"Explosive accusation triggers Bennett tirade"},"content":{"rendered":"

The bristling war of words between South Sydney<\/a> coach Wayne Bennett<\/a> and Penrith<\/a> mentor Ivan Cleary<\/a> has boiled over into the post-match press conferences, following the Rabbitohs' tense upset victory in their qualifying final clash<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A heated exchange of words between Bennett and Cleary during the week<\/a> had added a spicy tonic to the second-versus-third Townsville match.<\/p>\n

The saga stretches back to Bennett making private complaints to the game's officials about the Panthers using block plays to protect halfback Nathan Cleary<\/a> while kicking, following their mid-August clash<\/a>.<\/p>\n

When Cleary was alerted to Bennett's behind-closed-doors dialogue with the NRL<\/a>, he made the tussle public, telling the Sydney Morning Herald<\/a> this week that the star playmaker had been peppered by illegal targeting.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Fight world concerned for Evander Holyfield's welfare after 'uncomfortable' training clip<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

That led to Bennett airing his frustrations over the Panthers' tactics during his midweek press conference.<\/p>\n

And while the war of words was benched for 80 minutes as the Rabbitohs and Panthers squared off in the real battle, won 16-10 by South Sydney<\/a>, it didn't take long for the verbal stoush to spark back to life after the game.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The argument was reignited when Cleary accused Bennett of trying to "influence" the referees during the lead-up to the match.<\/p>\n

"I was personally guilty of trying to put our case forward this week, only because I had to. I had to respond. This is probably not the forum to talk about it, but the NRL has got to make a decision about whether they are going to allow coaches to deliberately manipulate referees and try to influence them," Cleary said.<\/p>\n

"Coaches do it because they can.<\/p>\n

"We get fined afterwards, but pre-game it is pretty much open slather.<\/p>\n

"Our boys have certainly been spoken to on the run for stuff we never get done for, so I'd suggest that type of thing has an influence.<\/p>\n

"I was guilty of it myself because I had to (speak), but I think the game could do itself a favour and come down hard on any coach who deliberately tries to influence a match official before the game."<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Michael Schumacher's wife breaks down discussing legend's near-fatal skiing accident<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Cleary's rant didn't end there.<\/p>\n

"How is the referees department supposed to get better then they're clogged up with constantly having to deal with clubs complaining throughout the week?" Cleary said.<\/p>\n

"It's not just tonight; it goes on all year."<\/p>\n

Bennett struck back in his post-match media conference.<\/p>\n

"You say I was vocal?" Bennett said.<\/p>\n

"I didn't start the conversation publicly. I said nothing publicly.<\/p>\n

"This happened three weeks ago. I sent some information to the referees for clarification.<\/p>\n

"So, I wasn't going public with anything until Penrith came out and made the public statement. I just responded to those; I wasn't going to sit back and not stand up for my team."<\/p>\n

\"NRL<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Final England-India cricket Test cancelled as COVID-19 sweeps through India's camp<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

While coaches cop financial penalties for questioning the integrity or ability of referees during post-match press conferences, inflammatory comments ahead of games don't attract discipline.<\/p>\n

In one of the most sensational examples of post-game criticism drawing the NRL's ire, Roosters coach Trent Robinson unleashed on referee Ashley Klein and bunker official Henry Perenara<\/a> over the handling of Latrell Mitchell's brutal hit on Joseph Manu late in August<\/a>. Robinson was fined $20,000.<\/p>\n

While Bennett said he agreed with Cleary that pre-game criticism of officials should also be punished, he reiterated that it was Cleary who had exposed this stand-off to the public, staining the NRL's image.<\/p>\n

"I couldn't agree with him more on that, but I didn't say anything. I didn't say anything for three weeks. We played them three weeks ago," Bennett said.<\/p>\n

"He's the one that came out and started mouthing off … so if he's critical he's critical of himself.<\/p>\n

"South Sydney had no say whatsoever until he came out and started to talk it all up."<\/p>\n

For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by clicking here!<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The bristling war of words between South Sydney coach Wayne Bennett and Penrith mentor Ivan Cleary has boiled over into the post-match press conferences, following […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127109"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=127109"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127109\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":127111,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127109\/revisions\/127111"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=127109"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=127109"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=127109"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}