Wayne Bennett has assured a replacement for Russell Packer won’t be rushed after the newly signed prop’s contract was terminated earlier this month.
"I'm happy to bide my time if I have to and wait until we get that quality player,” Bennett told David Collins on KOFM.
"We've got a lot of young guys here that can hold that position.
"The problem that they've got is that they're young and it's a long, hard NRL season. But we've got reasonable coverage around that position, so hopefully that will get us through."
Bennet believed the Club environment and opportunity to work with its staff and players would have benefitted 24-year-old Packer.
"That's the great tragedy," he said. "We've got a really strong club here now, a lot of wonderful young men, and with their influence I think we could have helped him enormously.
"But it wasn't to be."
Bennett admitted added attention goes with the territory of being a professional rugby league player.
“If that's the job you're in, you have to adapt to it and you have to take the good with the bad and stop complaining about whether it's fair or unfair," he said.
"There's a lot of unfairness in life generally.
"As I tell these guys here, 'These are the rules you've got to play by, guys. You get treated differently if you're, as in Russell's case, you've got a profile, (and) you're going to get yourself in trouble, you're going to get treated differently.
“Don't kid yourself you're not. That's the price you pay for being a rugby league player, and if you don't want to pay that price, well, go back to work for BHP or go work for Telstra or go work for whoever you like. And when you get into trouble, well, no one's going to take a lot of notice."'
The supercoach believes players in general understand the responsibility of their role and adhere to the expectations of their Club and the community.
"The behaviour is better than it's ever been," he said.
"When I go to sleep, I sleep much easier than I've ever slept in my life as a coach, because of the behaviour of the players.
"But it's just in the spotlight now and it's highlighted every time someone does what we call not good behaviour."
