Wayne Bennett has revealed who is the frontrunner for the Dolphins’ captaincy, while the veteran coach also dropped a big hint on his future declaring: “Don’t write me off.”
Meanwhile, the Bulldogs are continuing to make moves to rediscover their DNA with a member of the 2004 premiership team returning to the club in a mentoring role.
Read on for the latest Off-season Central.
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Wayne Bennett has revealed veteran prop Jesse Bromwich is one of the “two or three guys” he is considering to be the Dolphins’ inaugural captain.
While the Dolphins have missed out on several major targets like Cameron Munster, Kalyn Ponga and Brandon Smith, Bennett has been able to assemble a forward pack with plenty of experience.
The Bromwich brothers and Felise Kaufusi have joined the expansion club from the Storm, while Jarrod Wallace made the switch from the Titans and Mark Nicholls from the Rabbitohs.
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Bennett toldNews Corp that Jesse — the older of the two brothers — is a frontrunner for the captaincy.
“There’s two or three guys I am looking at for the captaincy,” he said.
“I haven’t made a final decision on that yet, it’s still sitting inside my head, but Jesse Bromwich will be in the grand final when I consider a captain.
“He was captain at Melbourne and he has won premierships, he has been a great front-rower and leader for a long time.”
The 33-year-old has 295 NRL games under his belt and has represented New Zealand 34 times. He’s won three premierships with the Storm and was a co-captain of the club for the last two seasons.
Meanwhile, Bennett also conceded that the Dolphins won’t be an overnight success, saying: “It will take a couple of seasons to get ourselves right.”
“I went through this at the Broncos. It took us five years to win our first premiership,” he added.
“There was no time frame then and there’s no time frame now.”
Bennett will coach the Dolphins for their first two seasons before passing the baton to assistant Kristian Woolf.
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It was expected the veteran coach would hang up the clipboard following his Dolphins stint given he’ll be 75-years old by the time the 2025 NRL season comes around.
But remarkably, he’s suggested he may coach on.
“Don’t mention retirement with me,” Bennett said.
“If you mention retirement with me, you will do it at your peril.
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“I’m not talking about retirement. I’m talking about doing two years and who knows what happens after that.
“I went to South Sydney on a three-year deal and I did my three years.
“But I kept coaching, I’m now at the Dolphins, so don’t start talking about retirement, because it can bite you on the ass.
“If Kristian was a younger coach, I would have done three or four years actually, but he is coming for the right reasons and I don’t want to hold Kristian back. He deserves his chance.
“Anything could happen. I really don’t know what my next role will be.
“I’m not at the retirement stage. I don’t know how I will feel in two years. But I will get these two years done and let’s see what happens after that.
“Just don’t write me off, OK? I can’t give you a better tip than that.”
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FORMER BULLDOG RETURNS TO CLUB
Roy Asotasi has returned to he Bulldogs — the club he won the 2004 NRL premiership with.
According to WWOS, Asotasi has joined the Bulldogs’ staff part-time in a mentoring role.
The former New Zealand captain first joined the club as a player in 2002 and played 84 games throughout his Bulldogs tenure.
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Following his time at the Dogs, Asotasi moved to the Rabbitohs where he became co-captain of the club, holding onto the title until he left following the 2013 season.
“He made a guest appearance this week and the young guys were in raptures over him,” Bulldogs boss Gould told WWOS.
“He said he’d like to help mentor kids in our Academy program.
“The more the merrier. You can never have too many good people in your football club and it’s great to have him on board.”
