End the rorts, Bennett tells NRL

Wayne Bennett has told the NRL it’s time for the transfer rorts to end.

Despite admitting his Broncos have themselves worked the system superbly, Bennett is fed up with clubs easily flouting poorly-enforced anti-tampering guidelines.

The six-time premiership coach believes player movement has got out of control for the code and will only get worse, in a major frustration for the fans.

An advocate for a post-season trade period, Bennett said the NRL should introduce a set transfer window and then enforce it.

“Every code in the world has got them except us,” he said on Thursday after describing his elation at signing Kiwis prop Adam Blair from Wests Tigers.

“But that’s the system we’re working in and if you don’t play in that system you will be disadvantaged.”

“(It’s happening) because they (the NRL) really have no rules. They have rules but they don’t have them.”

“It’s only getting worse and will continue to get worse until they finally take some action on it.”

As it stands, there’s no rule preventing clubs talking to rival players at any time.

While the NRL will only register a player’s contract with a new club after round 13 in the final year of his existing deal, an exception is in place when he’s released early.

Blair, who had been kept out of the loop in early negotiations by Brisbane and the Tigers, is the latest in a long line of players released from their contracts in the past two months as new coaches shape their rosters and clubs attempt to ease salary cap pressure.

The New Zealand prop is the third Tigers player released by Jason Taylor, who has retained a host of talented youngsters, while the Broncos have cut Ben Barba, David Hala and Martin Kennedy loose.

Star fullback Darius Boyd will also join Bennett at Red Hill once the paperwork with his existing Newcastle contract is finalised in the coming days.

But Bennett said the NRL owed their fans better.

“There’s a game out there that the fans own really and they’re the ones who see their players move every second day now and it’s not the image I want for the game and it’s not the image they want,” he said.

“I didn’t expect to have Adam sitting here beside me when I took this job … but that’s the way the game is run at the moment and if you don’t join in on the rort you miss out.

“And I don’t want to miss out on the rort.”

Bennett labelled the 111kg Blair a point-of-difference player who will bring extra aggression to a pack full of largely similar forwards.

“He complements what we’ve got and that’s the important thing, he said. “He and James Gavet have been brought here for the same reason.

“Good teams have a point of difference. They don’t have everybody the same.”

While the post-season has been friendly to Brisbane, Bennett said the player movement would now end.

“I’m going to settle the place down now,” he said. “It’s really important, you can’t build great clubs with a lot of insecurity.”

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