South Sydney CEO Blake Solly has confirmed he will target Wayne Bennett as he chases an experienced coach to replace Jason Demetriou.
The former leader was ousted on Tuesday night after two separate board meetings, officials ultimately determining he was not the man to lead the club off the bottom of the NRL ladder.
The Rabbitohs are eager to complete a quick recruitment process for their next coach and hope to have the process finalised in weeks not months.
Bennett coached the club from 2019-2021, leading the team to the 2021 grand final and two preliminary finals. His current contract with the Dolphins concludes at the end of the season.
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While he stopped short of appointing Bennett the preferred candidate, Solly made clear his desire to meet with the seven-time premiership winner about a return to South Sydney.
“Wayne’s one of the coaches we’ll talk to,” Solly said. “Wayne had great success here, he left the club on very good terms. We’ll speak to Wayne if he’s available and interested.
“I haven’t spoken to Wayne in terms of how in-depth he would think about this club at the moment but I do 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.
“He’s made that pretty clear in his time here and since, his affection for the club, the ownership, the board and the management team.
“We certainly will be speaking to Wayne. He left the place in very good shape when he left and was great while he was here. He got us through a lot of really difficult times with COVID and a bit of a restructure of the playing group, when John [Sutton], Greg [Inglis] and Sam [Burgess] retired.”
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Bennett sits atop a list of candidates linked to the role, with club legend Sam Burgess, Steve McNamara, Justin Holbrook and Michael Maguire among the other names suggested to be in contention.
Burgess is currently in the first year of a two-year contract to coach Warrington in the English Super League and has led the team to fourth on the ladder after nine games.
The former South Sydney assistant coach left the club in acrimonious terms last year and while Solly is open to a return, he feels Burgess’ contract situation may make that challenging.
“Sam has a two-year contract at Warrington,” he said. “We’ve built up a lot of respect for the group at Warrington so we wouldn’t want to disrupt that.
“My view is it’s Sam’s opportunity to show the world he can coach and we wish him every success with that.”
More broadly, Solly is open to a coach who has experienced overseas, bringing McNamara into contention.
With a playing roster featuring Latrell Mitchell, Cody Walker, Cam Murray and Jack Wighton, the CEO is chasing a mentor who can achieve immediate results.
“We want someone who fits this playing group and can get the best out of them. It’s a unique playing group, having worked with them for a long period of time.
“We want a coach that can get them to perform at their best consistently and we want a coach that understands the values, heritage and history of this club.”
The Rabbitohs have turned to assistant coach Ben Hornby to lead the team as interim coach for the remainder of the season.
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The former Dragons premiership winner has been tasked with ushering in a new era, starting with Thursday night’s clash with the Penrith Panthers.
Hornby has no prior head coaching experience and is considered an outsider for the full-time job as a result, but Solly said he will be considered if he expresses an interest in the role.
In the short-term, however, the CEO has outlined his expectations for the remainder of the 2024 season.
“There’s two or three really clear expectations for Ben,” he said. “We want to see improvement in terms of results and performances on the field. We want to give Ben and the coaching staff the time to develop some of our younger players who we’re starting to see come through.
“Jye Gray’s a perfect example of that, hopefully guys like Jye, Tyrone [Munro] when he comes back from injury, Peter [Mamouzelos], can play a lot more NRL football this year.
"We want Ben and the coaching staff and players to carry themselves in the way that represents out club in the best possible way and gives our community and fan base the pride they deserve.”