Panthers’ grave Luai fear as rival’s contract ploy set to freeze out reigning champs

The biggest player on the NRL’s open market isn’t Jarome Luai, Reece Walsh, Addin Fonua-Blake, Ezra Mam or Tom Dearden.

It’s seven-time premiership-winning coach Wayne Bennett.

The old fox with the magic touch when it comes to getting the best out of rugby league players shows no signs of slowing down.

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Even with his 74th birthday only just around the corner in January you’d be a brave man to bet Wayne Bennett won’t be continuing to coach in the NRL next year.

Which is guaranteed to make plenty of under pressure rival NRL coaches jittery.

Like Clint Eastwood in the old spaghetti western flicks Bennett is not only a gun for hire but also the best around.

Bennett is all-in with the Dolphins for 2024 and with the arrivals of Tom Flegler and Herbie Farnworth you’d have to think the NRL’s 17th team are a damn good chance of making the finals.

Can they win a premiership next year? With Wayne at the helm anything’s possible.

But you’d have to say it’s unlikely given the strength of some of the other NRL rosters.

At the end of next season Bennett will finish as head coach at the Dolphins and emerge as a free agent.

Which is where it’s guaranteed to get interesting.

Of course he’s been linked with coaching the latest start-up side when the NRL green lights expansion to 18 teams but that’s looking more like 2026 at the earliest.

Which means Wayne’s got another two years to try and win a title somewhere else.

Where could the Dolphins coach end up?

At this stage of his career all the supercoach needs is a quality roster.

As we saw at St George Illawarra and more recently South Sydney Bennett can quickly take a very good team and turn them into champions.

Granted Souths fell just short against a Penrith side that’s now won three titles but there’s no questioning Bennett’s still got the coaching mojo.

It’s hard to see Wayne wanting to take on a challenge like the ones on offer at the perennially struggling NRL clubs.

But there’s a number of NRL clubs with strong rosters who’ve been threatening to win a premiership where Bennett could make an immediate impact.

The South Sydney Rabbitohs and the Parramatta Eels are the two most obvious.

Both have strong rosters, have recently been in grand finals and will have the spotlight on them to perform from early in the piece next season.

We’re not suggesting Jason Demetriou and Brad Arthur aren’t damn good coaches in their own right. But there’s only one Wayne Bennett.

The other thing about Bennett is the old line about the best coaches also being the best recruiters.

With a contact book like Wayne’s he’s guaranteed to be able to land some major signatures on the open market.

We’re tipping Bennett will continue to coach beyond 2024.

It won’t be at the Dolphins but it will be in the NRL.

PANTHERS’ BIG FEAR IN LUAI BATTLE

THE price tag on Panthers five-eighth Jarome Luai has been set at a minimum of $1.2 million per season.

That’s the figure Luai’s management has floated with the Wests Tigers which is fair enough given there’s a shortage of quality, proven playmakers on the NRL open market.

Three-time premiers the Panthers suspect the Wests Tigers may attempt to try and blow them out of the water by offering a long-term deal of up to five years.

If that’s the case then Luai has to be a big chance of ending up at Concord.

As good of a player as Luai is it’s interesting there’s really only three clubs in the market for the three-time premiership-winner.

The Panthers and the Wests Tigers are both clearly going to have a crack while the Bulldogs are simply sitting back and taking a wait and see approach.

If Luai’s management comes to them then Canterbury-Bankstown will listen.

But the Dogs are clearly not about to get dragged into a bidding war.

The other interesting off-season development out of the Wests Tigers is the club telling former Kangaroo and NSW Origin front rower David Klemmer he is free to look for another club.

Klemmer was only signed by the Wests Tigers this time last year and still has two years to run on his contract with a mutual option for an additional season in 2026.

We’re big fans of Klemmer in terms of his leadership, experience and the work ethic and standards he sets at training on a daily basis.

It’s a strange one but as we’ve seen under the reign of bumbling CEO Justin Pascoe it’s always different gravy in Tiger Town.

RAIDERS YOUNG GUN’S SHOCK CALL

Canberra young gun Brad Morkos has been granted an immediate release after informing the Green Machine he no longer had the desire to play rugby league.

A former Australian Schoolboys representative who played NSW Origin under 19s last season Morkos was all set to move into the Raiders top 30 squad this season with a view to cracking it in the NRL.

But on Monday he walked into Raiders headquarters and explained why he wanted to walk away effective immediately.

The development means the Raiders now have an additional spot on their roster and are monitoring the situation with North Queensland backrower Luciano Leilua.

The Cowboys have a wealth of gun backrowers with Jeremiah Nanai, Heilum Luki, rookie Kulikefu Finefeuiaki and Leilua.

The emergence of Finefeuaki over the course of last season has meant rival clubs are waiting to see if North Queensland opt to try and shift anyone.

WHY PLAYMAKER COULD TRIGGER SEVEN-CLUB SHOOTOUT

The off-contract playmaker who is likely to attract the most attention over the course of the next six months is North Queensland Cowboys five-eighth Tom Dearden.

Throw Brisbane Broncos grand final gun Ezra Mam into the mix as well although the mail is he’ll more than likely remain at Red Hill under coach Kevin Walters.

For that reason Dearden is the playmaker who seems guaranteed to attract the most interest from rival clubs searching for a circuit breaker to try and turn results around.

Dearden has long been regarded as one of the best emerging playmakers in the NRL and showed why when given a crack at State of Origin level for Queensland last year.

Don’t expect Dearden to be rushing in to making a decision any time soon.

And he’s still only 22 years old.

A host of clubs including St George Illawarra, Sydney Roosters, Canterbury-Bankstown, the Dolphins and Canberra have all got major decisions to make in terms of primary playmakers.

Dearden is in the enviable position of basically having the pick of the board in terms of where he wants to go to try and unlock his best football.

And if Jarome Luai is worth $1.2 million per season on the open market then what’s Dearden worth?

SOUTH AWKWARD BACKLINE HEADACHE

THE South Sydney Rabbitohs have got some major decisions looming in terms of the red and green backline following the arrival of star recruit Jack Wighton.

Wighton has been signed to play left centre for the Bunnies meaning Souths will have strike on both edges with Campbell Graham well-entrenched on the right side.

What it means for Isaiah Tass, who more than held his hands up last season, remains to be seen.

The player who we’re tipping will really take off in 2024 is young gun South Sydney winger Tyrone Munro.

The teenager who turns 19 just before Christmas scored three tries in three NRL appearances last season and possesses the one quality you can’t coach – speed.

The electric flyer is the cousin of NSW and Australian winger Josh Addo-Carr and the mail is he’s going to be scoring plenty of tries for the Bunnies next year.