โLewis has an opportunity Friday night to play again and show us what he can do and canโt do. Letโs wait and see how that goes.
โHeโs got an opportunity to play, he hasnโt had that all year, he started last week, heโs starting this week, weโll all be smarter in a couple of weeks time.โ
When told about Bennettโs comments, Dodd said shortly afterwards: โIโm here for three years, and thatโs the plan.
โIโve got a chance now, weโll see where that will take me into the off-season, and the start of next [season].
โItโs not nice seeing your name all the time in the media, and for your family as well, but itโs part of the game.
โIโve done everything I can to be at a level where I think I can do whatโs right for the team, do my job in the team, and not let anyone down. That started last week, and hopefully that will continue to the end of the year.โ
English recruit Lewis Dodd
Ashton Ward, a Gerringong junior who was being watched by the townโs greatest league export, Mick Cronin at Heffron Park on Thursday, and Jye Gray were two halves options for Bennett, but he will go with Dodd and Jamie Humphreys.
Wighton was hit with a four-match ban for a shoulder charge that left Cronulla prop Toby Rudolf concussed, with Bennett still at a loss to explain why the NRL had come down so hard on his player, and how he was simply bracing for contact.
Wightonโs suspension also paves the way for Jai Arrow to captain the side โ the fifth leader after Cam Murray (achilles), Cody Walker (calf), Latrell Mitchell (quad) and now Wighton (suspension).
Bennett has been in the game 50 years and was stumped by how the match review committee โ and judiciary โ could find Wighton guilty of a shoulder charge, rather than an innocent head clash.
โIโve been in football as long as anyone at the moment, and it was never a shoulder charge โ in my mind it still isnโt a shoulder charge; Iโve watched the vision time and again โฆ it was a collision,โ Bennett said.
โEven if it was a shoulder charge, four weeks for that? The shoulder charge didnโt knock him out. It was the fact they clashed heads.โ
