‘In my opinion, it’s pretty trivial’: Bennett launches staunch defence of Brandon Smith

Wayne Bennett has labelled the allegations levelled against Brandon Smith as “trivial”, suggesting the South Sydney hooker had been singled out because of his profile as an NRL player.

Bennett said the headlines surrounding Smith had evoked memories of Russell Packer’s jailing for assault in 2014 at the same time police were cracking down on one-punch assaults.

Smith was last month served with a bench warrant to appear at Southport Magistrates Court on September 18, at which point he will be charged with providing drugs to Roosters forward Victor Radley and disclosing “inside knowledge” for illegal betting.

Because the charges brought against Smith did not carry a maximum jail sentence of 11 years or more, he avoided being sidelined under the NRL’s no-fault stand-down policy.

Bennett made it clear he was sticking by Smith.

When asked by this masthead about why he had been so staunch in his support for Smith, Bennett said: “In my opinion, it’s pretty trivial what’s going on with it.

“A high-profile person, and they’re using that profile to get a message out to a lot of people about whatever.

“It happened [a few] years ago with [Russell] Packer when they sent him to jail for 12 months. I don’t think anyone ever thought that would happen.

“There was an issue in Sydney at the time about king hits and all that sort of stuff. It is what it is.”

Packer had just joined Bennett at the Knights in 2014 when he pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm over an incident in Sydney’s Martin Place the previous year. The court heard Packer had stomped on a man’s head during a boozy night in the CBD. He was sentenced to two years in prison but walked free after 12 months.

Smith has been named on an all-star bench that includes Cody Walker and skipper Cam Murray, who is back for his first and only game of the season after working around the clock to overcome an Achilles injury.

Smith will be one of several juicy storylines leading into Friday’s match between Souths and bitter rivals the Sydney Roosters.

Souths have the chance to potentially end the Roosters’ finals hopes, with Smith facing his old club for the first time and winger Alex Johnston needing a hat-trick to break Ken Irvine’s long-standing try record.

“I don’t expect him to do anything that will put him in the sin bin, or get sent off, or give away silly penalties,” Bennett said of Smith. “He knows what I expect from him. I’m sure he’ll do all he can to make sure that doesn’t happen.”

The return of Murray is a huge boost for the Bunnies and personal reward for the lock forward, who wanted to repay the teammates who have battled through a devastating injury list all year.

Bennett is a proud Queenslander, and while he loves the rivalry with anyone or anything that comes from south of the border, he quickly learned to respect the long-running beef between Souths and the Roosters.

“I appreciate it [the rivalry], it’s real, it’s not something they made up,” Bennett said. “When I first came here I thought it was a bit of a gee-up, then I realised it wasn’t a gee-up. It was pretty serious stuff.

“We haven’t spoken about that [ending their season] to be honest. If we don’t get our game right, and do the things we need to do, it won’t give us any chance of beating anybody.

“We want to play well and finish the season on a good note. If we win, we win, if we don’t, [as long as] we play well, I’ll be happy with that.”

Latrell Mitchell continues to struggle with a bulging disc in his neck, but Bennett said the star back could avoid surgery if the injury continued to improve and that there was no reason he would not be fit for Australia’s Ashes tour in October.

Bennett said he had been pleasantly surprised at how well Mitchell’s fullback replacement, Jye Gray, had acquitted himself. “I can’t give him a big enough rap for the way he presents himself every week, and the amount of work he does on the footy field,” he said.

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