Wayne Bennett refused to comment on the future of English recruit Lewis Dodd, with the off-season import declaring he wants to fight to remain in the NRL.
Dodd arrived at the Rabbitohs ahead of the 2025 season, having signed a three-year deal worth a reported $2 million before Bennett re-signed to return to South Sydney.
The 23-year-old has struggled to make his mark in the NRL, falling down the halves pecking order under the master coach with opportunities coming few and far between.
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Dodd will play only his sixth game in Round 22, and Bennett was quizzed whether the English halfback would see out his current deal or severe ties with the Rabbitohs.
“That’s a good question, I can’t answer that for you right now,” Bennett said.
“Lewis has an opportunity Friday night to play again and show us what he can do and can’t do. Let’s wait and see how that goes.
“He’s got an opportunity to play, he hasn’t had that all year, he started last week, he’s starting this week, we’ll all be smarter in a couple of weeks time.”
The SMH then asked Dodd to respond to Bennett’s comments, and he made his stance clear.
“I’m here for three years, and that’s the plan,” he said.
“I’ve got a chance now, we’ll see where that will take me into the off-season, and the start of next (season).
“It’s not nice seeing your name all the time in the media, and for your family as well, but it’s part of the game.
“I’ve done everything I can to be at a level where I think I can do what’s right for the team, do my job in the team, and not let anyone down.
“That started last week, and hopefully that will continue to the end of the year.”
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Dodd’s latest chance to impress comes after Jack Wighton fought to downgrade a charge for a shoulder charge on Toby Rudolf and was ultimately unsuccessful.
He was handed a four-game ban, instead of the initial three-game suspension tabled should he have taken the early guilty plea.
Bennett cut a frustrated figure when speaking about Wighton’s ban, claiming the incident was simply a collision gone wrong and not a shoulder charge.
“I’ve been in football as long as anyone at the moment, and it was never a shoulder charge. In my mind it still isn’t a shoulder charge. I’ve watched the vision time and again… it was a collision,” Bennett said.
“Even if it was a shoulder charge, four weeks for that? The shoulder charge didn’t knock him out. It was the fact they clashed heads.”
