Wayne Bennett

Brisbane dismantled the Penrith Panthers on Thursday night, skipping out to a 28-0 lead before winning 32-18 in an impressive performance at Suncorp Stadium.  

It was the Broncos' sixth win of the season and fourth in a row, helping the men from Red Hill recover from the sloppy 2-3 record they had accumulated after five weeks of the competition. 

‌Now with a week off from club duty, Bennett will turn his focus to his English coaching responsibilities with England's national rugby league side to face Samoa on May 6. 

‌Widely regarded as the best fullback in the game, the Brisbane skipper would be taking a huge risk moving out of the position he has played at for the majority of his career. 

His development in the No.1 jersey has been extraordinary in recent years, with the 29-year-old now occupying the position for both Queensland and Australia. 

But all that will be put on the line when halfback Ben Hunt departs the club to join the St George Illawarra Dragons at season's end. 

The comments came after Kahu slotted the match-winning field goal in Brisbane's 13-12 win over the Canberra Raiders at Suncorp Stadium on Friday night. 

It was the Broncos' first one-point win in 364 days, with the last coming almost exactly a year ago against the North Queensland Cowboys at the same venue. 

The Broncos led from start to finish on the back of their superior ball-handling skills in greasy conditions, but they had to survive a second-half assault from a Cronulla side spurred on by a parochial home crowd on Thursday night. 

Speaking at a media opportunity in Manchester, Bennett also shouldered responsibility for a controversial training camp in Dubai last month being cancelled, saying he did not communicate properly with Super League clubs.

He also said he would not extend his contract with the Rugby Football League before the World Cup, to be held in Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea in October, November and December.

Sims is unsettled at Newcastle and is keen to settle at a more established and successful club, meaning there is high possibility of him walking out on the final year of his $400,000 a year contract.

Meanwhile James has reportedly been offered a big money contract by the inter-state rivals, although he is set to reject the deal and finalise a new three-year commitment to the Titans.

Bennett is desperate for a forward leader and might have to settle for only Sims, with James likely to stay put at the Gold Coast.

Meninga takes on the role after previous World All Stars coach Wayne Bennett expressed his desire earlier this year to step down from the coaching position to concentrate on his Brisbane Broncos and Rugby League World Cup commitments in 2017.

Meninga, who led the Kangaroos in securing the world number one Rugby League ranking again after winning the Four Nations tournament last month, said he was looking forward to the opportunity to coach some of the best players in the world.

Regarded as Brisbane's greatest centre, Renouf believes using Benji out of position will have no benefit for the club.

“It (signing Marshall) is a deadset joke. I honestly don’t know what Wayne is doing there,” Renouf told The Courier Mail.

“I can’t understand Wayne’s decisions and where the club is going.

“Benji is a six (five-eighth) or seven (halfback) and Wayne is talking about playing him as a centre. I don’t see any benefit to playing Benji Marshall at centre.

The match capped off a frustrating tournament for the hosts, who also lost by one point to New Zealand and were unconvincing against minnows Scotland.

"The problem is our inability to continually maintain pressure . . . England are very capable of being a lot better than they are right now," Bennett said.

The super coach bemoaned habits picked up in the Super League as the reason for England's inferiority.

When Wayne Bennett returned to the Brisbane Broncos in 2015, one of the first things he did was get rid of Ben Barba.

Now, according to Fairfax Media and Channel 9 reporter Danny Weidler, there's more to the story.

Weidler revealed the story he was told was Bennett informing Barba he was worth big money on his 2012 Bulldogs form when he won the Dally M medal - not what he had shown at Brisbane the previous season.

Now here's the best part, apocryphal or not.