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He played a key role in making Brisbane an NRL powerhouse and Wayne Bennett admits it would be tempting to help establish an expansion club in the city.
He's not closed the door on a remarkable return to former club Brisbane but Wayne Bennett admits helping to establish a new NRL team in the city is tempting.
Bennett played a major role in taking the Broncos from rugby league's ground floor to the penthouse, winning six premierships in a dominant period from their first season in 1988 to 2008.
With the 71-year-old leaving South Sydney and returning to life in Brisbane at the end of year, speculation over his future is rife.
Bennett insisted on Friday he hadn't spoken or been offered anything from either the Broncos or three rival expansion bids aiming to become Queensland's fourth NRL team from 2023.
Despite a messy exit from his second stint at the Broncos in 2018, Bennett said he was open to any option but building a new team just as he did in the 1980s would be a big lure.
"I would actually. Going back to the Broncos we were very deliberate about things that we did and why we did them and it was to pay huge benefits for us later on," Bennett said.
"They've got to be built from the bottom up and they've got to be built with a strong foundation.
"You've got to be prepared to take some pain and we took some pain in the early years.
"Everyone thought we should have won a premiership long before we did, but we got it right, and, yeah, there's a fair bit of excitement about that ability to start something from scratch.
"Nothing on the page and you can make it into something pretty special."
The veteran coach refused to speculate on whether he would look to extend his coaching career at an expansion club or prefer to move into a consultancy or director of football-style position.
"If someone makes me an offer, how they see my role, they're things I can't elaborate on today because I don't know but it appeals to me starting at a new club again because I certainly know how to build them and what you need at the beginning is how it's built."
Bennett also dismissed the suggestion South Sydney captain Adam Reynolds' signing a three-year deal to move to the Broncos next year indicated he was expecting him to return to coach at Red Hill.
"That was never part of his decision ... at some stage, we had that conversation but I said, 'mate, there's no guarantees on where I'm going in Brisbane, what's going on. You've got to make the best decision for you and your family'," Bennett said.
"He's done that and he's done that of his own free will."
