NRL supercoach Wayne Bennett has ripped into the NRL and Penrith over what he claims are illegal tactics used to protect star player Nathan Cleary.
Bennett is furious over Penrith placing middle forwards in front of the NSW Blues star as he is kicking, stopping opposition players being able to pressure him.
The seven-time premiership coach claims the tactic is premediated as he has it from a ‘very, very reliable source’ that the Panthers ‘practice it at training’.
He had a meeting with the head of the referees committee Jared Maxwell earlier this week to complain about what he believes are clear illegalities.
Wayne Bennett (pictured with his girlfriend Dale Cage) has ripped into the NRL for ‘leaking’ a private conversation they had after he raised concerns over Penrith performing illegal tactics to protect their star playmaker
Bennett slammed the NRL on Friday for leaking the meeting, but admitted he has it from a ‘very, very reliable source’ that the Panthers ‘practice it at training’
Bennett now claims the NRL leaked the contents of this meeting and widened his rage to include the league at a fiery press conference on Friday.
‘I do it in privacy and I do it without talking to any media outlets whatever and then all of a sudden you are getting a fair bit of information about it,’ he said.
‘That is what disturbs me most about all this stuff is that we have got no confidentiality in our game whatsoever and I think it is pretty poor.’
The Panthers play the Rabbitohs on Saturday night in their qualifying final that is set to become a grudge match.
Bennett raised the concerns particularly in reference to the sides’ recent meeting where the Rabbitohs spilled three towering bombs from Cleary which turned the tide of the game – with the Panthers coming back to win 25-12.
He also raised similar complains during the State of Origin series last year, alleging NSW were using similar tactics to protect Cleary against his Queensland side.
Bennett claims the Panthers are illegally stopping opposition players from pressuring Cleary kicks, allowing the star playmaker extra time to place his bombs.
Bennett says the Panthers are employing tactics to illegally protect star halfback Nathan Cleary (left) from opposition players during his kicks
Images from their last game show Bennett has a point, with Panthers forwards clearly blocking South Sydney defenders from attacking Cleary’s kicks
He met in secret with Maxwell and the referees to notify them of the tactics, before the meeting was leaked to the media, something Bennett accuses the NRL of doing.
‘I am sure they’ve leaked it. I have no doubt at all,’ he said.
‘I certainly haven’t spoken to a journalist about it. I have got no doubt at all that it has been leaked.’
Despite the meeting being revealed to the public, Bennett doubled down on his claims on Friday in the pre-match press conference, saying Rabbitohs players haven’t been able to ‘get near’ the halfback.
‘The bottom line is we haven’t been able to get near Nathan and his kicks because we are getting blocked,’ he said.
‘Our kick chasers are getting blocked by illegal blockers. I asked for some direction from the NRL in recent times as to what our position was and what was allowable and what wasn’t allowable.’
Images from their previous game shows Penrith placing prop forwards near the play the ball, stopping South Sydney runners from attacking Cleary’s kick.
The tactics are particularly relevant for Saturday’s game given the Rabbitohs are playing rookie Blake Taaffe at fullback, who only debuted last week.
‘The bottom line is we haven’t been able to get near Nathan and his kicks because we are getting blocked,’ Bennett said
‘There is no doubt it is illegal what they do and you need to go and look at the vision. It is all there for you to see,’ he said.
‘The three kicks that he kicked where we knocked one on, we pushed one dead, and we got tackled in the in-goal area, you will see how much obstruction there was.
‘They (the kick pressure chasers) didn’t even get close to Nathan. You are allowed to have blockers in the game but not illegally.
‘They have got to be stationary. (But) they’re interfering. They are either moving forwards, backwards or sideways to block the (marker chaser) getting to the kicker.
‘So he was untouched in that game. We couldn’t get near him.’
The winner of Saturday night’s game goes straight into the preliminary finals in two weeks.
The Panthers are looking to win their first premiership since 2003 while South Sydney will have to overcome the absence of suspended superstar Latrell Mitchell to claim their record 22nd title.