League legend Peter Sterling said the return of Wayne Bennett as a coaching director at the Brisbane Broncos is not as wild a suggestion as it may seem.
The South Sydney coach would of course be unable to remain in his current role if he took up a job with the Broncos as reported over the weekend, but whether a move back to the club that shafted him for Anthony Seibold would be a good fit has caused some debate.
"I think if Kevin Walters gets the job [as new Broncos coach], it's not out of the realms of possibility," Sterling told Wide World of Sports' The Final Whistle.
"I don't know about his relationship with the club. The one thing that surprised me is that he didn't leave Brisbane on his own volition. You just always thought that Wayne Bennett would always have the final say.
"If Kevin Walters got the job, they've worked together before... it might appeal."
For the Broncos to take back Bennett in any capacity after his exit in 2018 - which led to the arrival of since-sacked Seibold - it would be a huge slice of humble pie for the club.
However Sterling hopes that the potential benefit that Bennett could give them would override any other issues.
"You'd like to think they'd make a decision based on what the result would be not what happened in the past," Sterling said.
"If Kevin got the job I think it would be more chance to happen, but he's also got to want that to happen. Whether he wants a looming body [over him] - that's what it could be like for a coach with a director above that you have to answer to."
The Bennett to Brisbane reports come as the Broncos are at a serious crossroads.
Despite being one of the biggest and most successful clubs in the NRL, a disastrous 2020 season, making headlines for the wrong reasons on and off-field has left them a shambles.
Standing in the way of a potential Bennett-Broncos reunion is also Ben Ikin, who has applied and is a top candidate for the advertised CEO job in at Red Hill.
A rocky personal relationship between the pair could halt Bennett's return if Ikin was successful in gaining that role.
And as if there was any doubt about it, Ikin made his thoughts on Bennett returning to the fold in Brisbane crystal clear on Sunday.
"It's not a model I would push for," Ikin said on Fox Sports.
"I think Wayne's time at the Brisbane Broncos is done. He's had two stints, he's achieved much success.
"If you're going to do anything with Wayne at the club you're going to celebrate his legacy and not much more than that.
"At his core, at the centre of his being, Wayne Bennett is a coach. To think he's going to come back into a senior coaching director's role, and sort of not get his hands dirty while peering over the shoulder of a first-time NRL coach like Kevvie Walters … even if Paul Green gets the job, for Wayne to fill that role I think would be too big a distraction for the football program.
"He's got such a huge personality, and based on some of the bad blood that's unfolded in recent times I don't think it's something the club needs to do.
"If you're going to give the job to Kevvie Walters I would much prefer to see a model where rather than get a senior coaching director over the top, get some really experienced assistants to support Kev.
"So he feels at that club, if he ends up as coach, that he can do it his way, not Wayne's way."
from WWOS https://wwos.nine.com.au/nrl/wayne-bennett-coaching-director-brisbane-broncos-move-rumours-ben-ikin/cd251790-79c2-46a3-aa73-d22f67c1a640
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