Master Brisbane coach Wayne Bennett has hit back at Storm coach Craig Bellamy and captain Cameron Smith saying the NRL scheduling is much more than just five-day turnarounds.

“It’s difficult because on one hand everybody wants so much money and on the other hand we want all these rights,” Bennett after his team’s loss against Melbourne.

“Why do we want so much money for our game? Because so many people watch it. If they stop watching it we’re not going to get the product.

“What I’m saying is if you can’t have a five-day turnaround then you’re not going to get the best games on television at prime time – that’s your challenge and the issue.

“If we’ve got the bottom half of the draw playing on a Thursday or Friday night then the viewers aren’t watching it, then when we go to the [TV] rights no one is going to sell them and we’re not going to get the income.

“It’s a balancing act but there’s much more demands coming in now from the players and they are getting more money than they’ve ever got so we have to be careful with it.”