Wayne Bennett's stinging attack on ruck Wayne Bennett. WAYNE Bennett has issued a pre-season ultimatum to the code's authorities to clean up the ruck or risk turning the game into a spectacle no rugby league fan will want to watch. In a stinging attack, the Newcastle coach labelled slow play-the-balls as the "biggest blight on the game" after sitting through his side's "boring" 18-6 trial win over South Sydney in Coffs Harbour on Saturday night. Bennett blamed coaches for creating a monster but said referees had the power to change it and implored new referees boss Daniel Anderson and his men to act before it gets any further out of hand. "I thought our final series last year was poor in terms of the quality of football that was played and it's starting to worry me,"he said. It's all defence-orientated and it's not the product I want to see. I'm sure the fans will start to recognise it after a little while as well. Ironically, the Knights were penalised heavily against Souths for holding down in the tackle but Bennett says all sides are now guilty of it and it's up to referees to crack down heavily to change the mindset of coaches. They have to penalise it. They have to clean it up," Bennett said. When they start penalising it repeatedly, I can guarantee you one thing, the coaches will get it sorted out. The coaches create it now and the coaches will clean it up if it's costing teams games of football. Bennett says the key to fixing the problem is for referees to clearly define when a player is tackled. If players are tackled, they should be allowed an opportunity to play the ball. But they (the refs) are letting defenders go on with it and, in the end, it's another three or four seconds on the end of the play-the-ball. When defenders aren't in a good position, they make another play at the guy. They're coming back at him again and getting away with it. The game never got going here tonight because of that and it won't get going through the season because of it. While the speed of the ruck has been the focus of criticism in the past, the Knights coach warns it's a problem that is being allowed to fester. "It's been around for long enough now but it's getting worse because more teams are buying into it," Bennett said. We were penalised for it tonight, I accept that. But the other team (Souths) were no better then we were. They just did it more classier. They got away with it better. We are just not as good at it, so we look clumsier when we do it. There have always been one or two teams doing it but there are more doing it than ever before. I just know from being in the All Stars camp how many guys are now spending so much time in their training environment on wrestling and slowing it all up. It's the biggest blight on the game in terms of wanting to entertain people. Away from the controversy of the play-the-ball, Bennett wasn't getting carried away with his side's 12-point win against the Rabbitohs, who appeared in need of the hitout. With both sides at full strength for the opening 40 minutes, the Knights led 6-0 at the main break before two second-half tries from replacement halfback Tyrone Roberts rounded out their scoring. Despite skipper Kurt Gidley and Jarrod Mullen having a mortgage on the No.7 and No.6 jumpers for the season opener against the Wests Tigers, Bennett said he will find a place in the 17-man squad for Roberts following his performance. The Bunnies were without star signing Ben Te'o, who was banished to a lower-grade trial on Saturday night following an incident at a nightclub. Coach Michael Maguire indicated Te'o would be back in the squad for Friday night's Charity Shield against the Dragons.