South Sydney Rabbitohs coach Wayne Bennett has admitted the club got it wrong with a decision to sign Lewis Dodd: before insisting the reason for his impending exit may be down to ‘ability’.
Dodd has been told he is free to explore options away from Souths after failing to make enough of an impact on Bennett during his first season as an NRL player.
He has played just six times in the competition and Bennett confirmed last week that he had given Dodd permission to look elsewhere with two years remaining on his contract at the Rabbitohs.
Bennett was again asked about Dodd’s future during his pre-match media conference this weekend, and was queried on whether his form in a Souths shirt was the reason for him being dropped again.
Brutally, Bennett said: “It might not even be his form, it might be his ability. You work it out.
“He’s in a tough place. The harshest thing that can happen to a player is to be told you’re not in first grade, when you think you should be a first-grader. I won’t add to it. People can work it out for themselves.”
Braith Anasta labelled Dodd’s move to Souths one of the biggest recruitment blunders of recent times, but Bennett hit back at that – insisting all clubs make mistakes in the transfer market.
He said: “What I do know is, with the exception of Penrith, who have won four in a row, everybody doesn’t win a premiership every year.
“We do make mistakes, we do get things wrong, but we get a lot of things right. We don’t get the praise when we get it right.
“When we get it wrong, someone like Braith comes out, cheap shotting the decision made at the time … we won’t always get it right. We move on, learn our lessons.”