The drama hit a head in a column in the Sunday Telegraph, which Cole admitted to reading, but the well-liked administrator said he believes John will feature in the Spacemen’s charge to regain the title they lost to Dubbo CYMS last season.

John is currently recuperating from a post-season knee reconstruction and Cole said the first priority for Parkes was helping the Papua New Guinean international through his rehabilitation.

“Pat is a guy that is fairly passionate about the club and he does get a bit fired up sometimes,” Cole said.

“Every club has its ups and downs and dramas but we’ll sit down with Pat and Benji when Pat gets back from his cricket duties in Alice Springs and sort it out.

“Benji is doing rehab at the moment from his knee operation and that is the big thing for us at the moment. He’s doing the physio and progressing well.”

The Spacemen sponsor John’s sporting visa, meaning any potential move by the player would be subject to scrutiny from the Department of Immigration.

But Cole believes that bridge won’t need to be crossed.

“Benji is under contract with us until the end of this season and if he wanted to go to another club things would be messy with paperwork and the like,” Cole said.

“There were rumours about him wanting to leave last year but I haven’t heard anything like that from him so we’ll address things between him and Pat and hopefully Benji can get on the park for us this season.”

Meanwhile, Cole is also hopeful former NRL player Dennis Moran would go around again in 2012.

Moran has been a vital cog of the Spacemen machine in recent seasons and indications are that he has retired to concentrate on his role with the National Rugby League.

But as the season draws nearer, Cole is quietly confident the former Parramatta Eel will get the itch and play again.

“Dennis was at training before he went away to be involved in the NRL All Star game and we’ll speak with him when he gets back as well,” Cole said.

“We’re not going to push him. If he wants to play he has a place in our club but if he doesn’t we’ll respect that as well.”

In other changes the Spacemen have lost Rowan Orcher to Forbes while they have picked up utility back Ethan Williams (brother of Macquarie coach Jade) as well as Tom Tobin, Ronald Lawrence and NSW Country prop Jamie Szczerbanik.