South Sydney coach Wayne Bennett will step away from the team for a few hours on Friday to attend the funeral of Chris Phelan.
The former Parramatta, Brisbane Souths and Queensland prop passed away earlier this month aged 70 after a battle with cancer.
The 76-year-old has always held the former prop in high regard and credits Phelan with being a big reason the Magpies won the 1985 BRL grand final.
‘I really enjoyed coaching Chris,’ Bennett told Courier Mail.
‘He was one tough forward, he won two premierships at Parramatta and players just loved playing with him, he was so inspirational.’
Bennett will travel to Brisbane’s southside to pay his respects to one of his favourite NRL players before heading back to Suncorp Stadium as the Rabbitohs take on the Dolphins.
Wayne Bennett has made the heartbreaking decision to miss the 2006 Brisbane premiership reunion to attend the funeral of former proper Chris Phelan
Chris Phelan passed away aged 70 following a battle with cancer
The reunion would have been another chance for Wayne Bennett to reconnect with his former captain Darren Lockyer after the pair had falling out over Bennett’s sacking during his second stint as Brisbane coach
But it was set to be a busy day for the 2000 NRL coach of the year.
At the same time as Phelan’s funeral, the Broncos will hold a reunion for the 2006 premiership team, coached by Bennett.
He was keen to attend the reunion that will take place at Howard Smith Wharves, a gathering that would have seen him reconnect with captain Darren Lockyer.
That had the chance to be a moment for the pair to repair their relationship after Lockyer opened up about the two falling out over Bennett being sacked as Brisbane head coach back in 2018.
Speaking of the falling out a year later, Lockyer said, ‘We are not on great speaking terms but I wouldn’t expect us to be on great speaking terms with the way it all unfolded. Over time I am sure we will cross paths and we will mend bridges.’
And as recently as this year revealed, their relationship is ‘definitely 80, 90 per cent of where it was, but it will probably never been the same, because of that particular time.’
“When you’re on the board and you start making big decisions you lose some skin. You don’t lose relationships fully, but they’re never the same.
“Wayne was the most challenging one, because it (Bennett’s sacking) took a fair bit of time. It actually took months to play out.
“There were a few games being played. There was a few personality clashes between Wayne and others on the board. So it was messy … distracting for the club, damaging for the club.
“That was hard, because Wayne had been such a big part of my life and been so influential in giving the career that I had, so for us to decide that we had the pathway that’s huge.’’
Despite the falling out with his former captain-turned-boardmember, Bennett was keen to attend the reunion, ‘I would have loved to go but unfortunately I couldn’t do both,’ he said.
But given the scheduling conflict, he has opted to give Phelan’s funeral priority over the reunion.
