Rabbitohs coach Wayne Bennett has granted halfback Lewis Dodd permission to leave the club.
According to a report, Bennett met with the Englishman on Tuesday and informed him that he was free to assess his options elsewhere, both in the NRL and overseas.
Dodd has played just six NRL games for the Rabbitohs in 2025, despite signing on a $650,000 per season, three-year deal, and a massive injury crisis at the club which has seen over $6 million in talent sidelined.
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“I have had a conversation with him and I have told him he is free to explore his options,” Bennett told The Daily Telegraph.
Jamie Humphreys, Jack Wighton, Cody Walker, Jayden Sullivan, Latrell Mitchell, Jye Gray and Ashton Ward have all been picked ahead of Dodd at various stages throughout the 2025 season.
Bennett has left Dodd out of the Rabbitohs’ squad to take on the Titans on Sunday.
According to the report, the 23-year-old has the desire to stay in the NRL, and it’s expected that the Rabbitohs will need to kick in a big chunk of Dodd’s $650,000 contract, wherever he goes.
The Rabbitohs had high hopes for Dodd after he arrived at the club, given he had a Super League title and a World Club Challenge title with St Helens to his name.
GEYER FOLLOWS IN FATHER’S FOOTSTEPS TO JOIN TIGERS
Mavrik Geyer will reportedly join the Wests Tigers on a one-season deal after the Panthers told him there was no room for him at the club in 2026.
Geyer is off contract with Penrith at the end of the 2025 season, having played 13 NRL games for the club since he debuted in 2024, but he has only played two games this season.
The Sydney Morning Herald has reported that Geyer told his Panthers teammates on Wednesday that he would be joining the Tigers.
The addition of Geyer boosts the Tigers’ forward stocks, and they’ve already signed Knights forward Kai Pearce Paul for 2026, 2027, and 2028 on a three-year deal.
Geyer, 24, will be following the exact same career path as his father, Mark.
Mark Geyer played in the Panthers’ premiership win in 1991, but he switched to join the Balmain Tigers in 1993 for a season.
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The Panthers conceded it was a tough call to let Geyer go.
“It wasn’t an easy conversation,” Panthers general manager told TheSMH.
“We would want to keep everybody if it was possible, but you know the track record with the players that we’ve unfortunately had to lose for various reasons over the years.”
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