NRL coach Wayne Bennett is hilariously mocked by his players a year since he was busted breaching Covid rules by dining at a restaurant with his girlfriend

NRL coach Wayne Bennett enjoyed a laugh with his cheeky South Sydney players who ribbed him for his Covid breach 11 months ago. 

The league legend was sanctioned for dining at Grappa in Leichhardt, in Sydney's inner-west, with his girlfriend Dale Cage last August. 

Bennett, 71, giggled as the team members cheered and laughed as he opened the delivery - a takeout from Grappa restaurant.

Instigated and filmed by the Bunnies, the joke was firmly, and not lost on Bennett as his mates put the boot in, ribbing him for his well-documented Covid-19 breach in August of last year.

Bennett was at the time reprimanded by the NRL with a two-week stand down for disregarding their strict bio-security rules after lunching at the popular Italian restaurant Grappa, in Leichhardt. 

Under the NRL's rules, players and staff members of each club are not allowed to attend public places like pubs, clubs, restaurants or cafes.    

Wayne Bennett (pictured right with his partner) enjoyed a laugh with his cheeky Rabbitohs team after receiving a hand delivered delivery, ribbing him of his COVID-19 breach of August last year

After news of his lunch was leaked, My Bennett immediately confessed his misdemeanor, yet defended his decision to lunch citing changing COVID-19 rules and regulations were hard to keep up with.

'I went for lunch yesterday at Grappa yeah, I did.' he said. 

'The rules have changed that many times about what we can do and can't do.

'You look at a TV news program and people in different parts of Sydney have different rules, we've got rules for ourselves, then there's the border stuff — I come from Queensland and I've got family up there still.

Mr Bennett was in hot water after lunching with his partner at his favourite restaurant, Grappa

'We're totally confused about what we can and can't do.'  

Bennett doubled-down in his ignorance of the restrictions, insisting he would never eaten at the restaurant had he been clear on the NRL's COVID-19 guidelines.  

'If I'd it was a breach I wouldn't have done it. I didn't think it was a breach. I went to the with my partner who I live with,' he said.

Mr Bennett (photographed right with his partner on left) was stood down last year in August after citing he was confused by the NRL's COVID-19 rules, disappointing his team

The coach further admitted it wasn't his first offence, and that there could 'could have been one or two other times' he ate at restaurants since the start of the bubble.

'I'm confident I do know the rules, I just went out for lunch yesterday'.