{"id":389525,"date":"2024-04-30T23:02:36","date_gmt":"2024-04-30T23:02:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=389525"},"modified":"2024-05-01T00:04:17","modified_gmt":"2024-05-01T00:04:17","slug":"souths-boss-lifts-lid-on-renewed-bennett-pursuit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=389525","title":{"rendered":"Souths boss lifts lid on renewed Bennett pursuit"},"content":{"rendered":"

S\ufeffouth Sydney<\/a> boss Blake Solly has confirmed Wayne Bennett<\/a> is a leading candidate to return and coach the Rabbitohs.<\/p>\n

His comments came about 13 hours after Jason Demetriou was sacked as head coach<\/a> following two extraordinary board meetings at Heffron Park on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\ufeffDemetriou was an assistant coach under Bennett when the Bunnies made the 2021 NRL<\/a> grand final, ultimately losing to Penrith.<\/p>\n

EXCLUSIVE:<\/strong> Liz Ellis opens up on surprise Netball Australia backflip\ufeff<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Demetriou sacked as Bunnies axe battling coach<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\ufeffREAD MORE:<\/strong> 'Disappointed' Swans hit back after damning vision<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

But Demetriou was dumped after winning only one of seven games to start 2024, following a horror finish to the 2023 season when they fell from the top of the ladder to miss finals.<\/p>\n

Solly fronted media on Wednesday morning and confirmed Bennett's proven ability to work with superstar players Latrell Mitchell and Cody Walker will be a "strong consideration"\ufeff.<\/p>\n

\"Wayne<\/p>\n

Bennett will finish as head coach of the Dolphins at season's end and is yet to sign a deal anywhere for 2025 and beyond.<\/p>\n

"Wayne is one of \ufeffthe coaches that we will talk to," Solly said.<\/p>\n

"Wayne had great success here, left the club \ufeffon very good terms.<\/p>\n

"We will speak to Wayne and certainly if he is available and interested we will progress that.<\/p>\n

Watch the 2024 NRL premiership live and free on Nine and<\/strong><\/em> 9Now<\/strong><\/em><\/a>.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

"\ufeffI know Wayne likes success, I know he wants to win premierships, and I know he loves the values of the club and what we stand for.<\/p>\n

"\ufeffHe left the place in very good shape when he left, and he was great while he was here. He got us through really difficult times when he was here.<\/p>\n

"\ufeffHe was a pleasure to work with."<\/p>\n

\"Demetriou<\/p>\n

Rumours circulated last year that Demetriou was struggling to handle Mitchell and Walker, \ufeffwhose individual auras often overshadow the rest of the team.<\/p>\n

Solly says the Bunnies want an experienced coach who can get the whole squad back on track.<\/p>\n

\ufeff"We want someone who fits\ufeff this playing group and can get the best out of them," he said.<\/p>\n

"It's a unique playing group… \ufeffwe want a coach that can get them to perform at their best consistently, and a coach that understands the heritage and history of this club, that's really important."<\/p>\n

\ufeffSolly is happy to let club legend Sam Burgess focus on his role as head coach of Super League club Warrington, saying "we don't want to disrupt that".<\/p>\n

He said no one at the club has approached league icon Mal Meninga about a role, or David Furner who joined as an assistant coach only a fortnight ago.<\/p>\n

Long-time assistant Ben Hornby has been instated as interim head coach and Solly said he will consider a permanent role if Hornby is keen on it.\ufeff<\/p>\n

The Rabbitohs face the Panthers on Thursday night.\ufeff<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

S\ufeffouth Sydney boss Blake Solly has confirmed Wayne Bennett is a leading candidate to return and coach the Rabbitohs. His comments came about 13 hours […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":389527,"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\/389525"}],"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=389525"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/389525\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":389530,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/389525\/revisions\/389530"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/389527"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=389525"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=389525"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=389525"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}