Wayne Bennett’s family feud with son-in-law Ben Ikin takes turn as girlfriend Dale Cage lashes out

Wayne Bennett’s girlfriend has furiously denied the NRL coach has reconciled with his estranged son-in-law, after reports emerged claiming the pair had patched things up. 

Bennett and his daughter Elizabeth’s husband Ben Ikin fell out when the NRL’s most decorated coach walked out on his wife of 42 years, Trish, to start a relationship with Dale Cage, a secretary 16 years his junior. 

Bennett left his former life partner – who cares full time for their two disabled adult children, Katherine and Justin – for Ms Cage when he was coaching at Newcastle in 2016.

Since Bennett’s marriage breakdown, tensions have continued to simmer between him and Ikin, who is now the head of football at the Brisbane Broncos. But a recent News Corp article claimed they were now on ‘speaking terms’.

Wayne Bennett’s girlfriend Dale Cage (pictured together) has denied any reconciliation between the NRL coach and his estranged son-in-law after the pair reportedly kissed and made up

Bennett and his daughter Elizabeth’s husband Ben Ikin (pictured) fell out when he walked out on his wife of 42 years, Trish, to start a relationship with a woman 16 years his junior, Dale Cage

But Ms Cage furiously disputed that on Sunday – insisting that this isn’t the case by sharing a snippet of the article to Instagram and labelling it ‘rubbish’.

‘Wayne confirmed this morning this is not true!’ she posted on Sunday.

‘He still doesn’t like him,’ she added with a laughing emoji.

Ms Cage also referenced another section of the article which suggested Ikin was ‘comfortable’ working with Bennett when he was made Brisbane’s head of football despite their fallout.

‘Haha Ikin wishes,’ Ms Cage wrote, as she pinned a sticker to the post which read ‘false information’. 

Ms Cage revealed the pair were still not on speaking terms in an Instagram post on Sunday

Ms Cage and Bennett are seen together. The pair started dating in 2016

Bennett, who started coaching as 36-year-old in 1987, led the Broncos to six premierships. He will coach his sixth team, the Dolphins, for their inaugural NRL season in 2023.

Fans had hoped Bennett would return to the Brisbane Broncos in 2022 to end the club’s 15-year streak without a winning title. 

Ikin and his father-in-law will go head-to-head when the Dolphins face the Broncos to kick start the season on March 24 at Brisbane’s Suncorp Stadium.

Ikin, a former NRL star and Fox Sports commentator and analyst, married Bennett’s daughter in 2003.

The tension between the pair spilled over in 2020 when Bennett was fined over a Covid breach.

Wayne Bennett and then wife Trish (pictured) shared a rare glimpse of their challenging family life with ABC’s Australian Story in 1999

Bennett left his wife in 2016 to start a new relationship with Ms Cage

He breached the NRL’s strict Covid-19 biosecurity protocols by having lunch with Ms Cage at popular Italian restaurant Grappa in Sydney.

Ikin publicly labelled his father-in-law ‘arrogant and irresponsible’ for the prohibited meal.

‘It felt a bit arrogant to me, he (Bennett) should have just fessed up to struggling with living in the bubble and saying that he just sort of broke out of it,’ Ikin said on his  show, NRL 360, at the time.

‘Because there is not a single NRL employee, player, coach, whoever, that is inside the bubble and does not know those rules.’

Bennett was later fined $20,000 for the mistake.

Ms Cage again responded to Ikin’s criticism by leaping to the defence of Bennett on social media.

‘People in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones #just saying. The truth will hurt some people #staytuned #benikin,’ she posted on Instagram at the time. It was unclear what she was referring to. 

Ms Cage had earlier taken a swipe at Ikin after he criticised Bennett for breaking Covid protocols

At the time of Bennett’s split, the notoriously private NRL figure revealed he was no longer living in the family home and hadn’t for ‘some time’.

Ms Cage also left her partner of more than 20 years – also the father of her children – and moved to Queensland to be with Bennett in 2016.

Ikin played 55 games with the Broncos, and represented the Maroons in 17 State of Origin games.