“They have to make the right decisions. It’s as simple as that.

“They’re going to Brisbane, and everybody knows how intimidating Queensland is in Brisbane.

“I think they need to make a few tough team selections that I don’t think they’ve been prepared to make in the past. They thought they could get away with some stuff, but they won’t get away with it in Brisbane if they don’t make the right team selections.

“I’d certainly take him [Reynolds]. He’s the best game manager in rugby league at the moment in my mind. He brings his kicking game and everything you want - he’s calm and someone who won’t be intimidated by the position.

“It not a place to go without your best players who can handle it as well - they need to be able to handle the night and the moment.

“They need to forget about ages, the past, whatever. They need the best 17 players in Brisbane.”

Bennett said the Blues had stuck with club combinations in the past, and while Penrith and NSW five-eighth Jarome Luai was an excellent player, Walker had to come in if Reynolds was chosen.

“If you bring in Reynolds, you really need to bring in Walker because they have that combination. And they’ll worry the hell out of everybody,” Bennett said.

“I’d go with the players I’d trust more to do it, and I’d trust Adam Reynolds above everyone else that’s available to them.

“He lives up there now, knows the place really well.

“I brought Allan Langer back in 2001 [for Queensland], it wasn’t that we didn’t have other halfbacks, but I knew we couldn’t win that third game without him.”

Bennett’s Dolphins will meet Manly at 4 Pines Park, with homegrown favourite Trbojevic cleared of concussion in Adelaide to play. The Sea Eagles spelled out their case to the NRL as to why ‘Turbo’ should not be forced to be stood down for the mandatory 11 days.

“I’m a bit confused by it,” Bennett said.

“It looked like he had taken a pretty heavy knock, I don’t think there’s any doubt about that part of it.”

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When told the waters were now muddied, Bennett said: “They’re muddied, don’t worry about that. That’s the problem, they make the rules, and the same people who make the rules, the NRL itself, then they put doubt in your mind about how serious they are about what they’re doing.”

As for the Dragons, Bennett said he would opt for Young or Hornby to coach, especially given their deep connection to the club.

“Changing your coach every week doesn’t work ... they don’t need to look too far, they just need to make a decision,” Bennett said.

And as for Seibold, the man who replaced him at Brisbane in 2019, only for Seibold to be shown the door himself 18 months later, Bennett said: “I didn’t have a [relationship] with him before, so I haven’t had one with him since. Nothing has changed.”