A pair of Tigers legends are divided on whether rookie coach Benji Marshall is the right man to turn the embattled club around.
Marshall, who starred in the Wests Tigers’ only premiership in 2005, finished his decorated playing just two years ago.
But he’s now the third coach in two years of the joint venture, which has collected the past two wooden spoons and hasn’t played finals since 2011.
Tigers great Steve ‘Blocker’ Roach believes the club has made a mistake handing an inexperienced Marshall the reins for the toughest job in rugby league.
But fellow Tigers legend Benny Elias backed Marshall and said the former Test star is capable of doing “extraordinary things” as a coach.
Marshall will attempt to reverse the Tigers’ woeful attacking record after recruiting several halves, while big-money forwards Isaiah Papali’i and John Bateman need to stand up to help fix the club’s flimsy defence.
Read on for the Wests Tigers’ State of Play.
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NRL releases full 2024 season draw | 02:31
2023 FINISH: (17th W4, L20, wooden spoon)
COACHES: Benji Marshall
The rookie NRL coach takes over the top job at the Tigers a year ahead of schedule after Tim Sheens was shown the door to make way for his assistant.
Marshall is a legend of the club and the premiership winner knows what a success looks like having played in NRL grand finals 16 years apart for the Tigers and Rabbitohs.
However, transferring his brilliance as a player into the coaching game will take time and he’s has been thrown in the deep end with three relatively inexperienced assistants.
Robbie Farah, Chris Heighington and John Morris all played alongside Marshall at the Tigers and are the oldest of the trio is just 43. Only Morris has experience as an NRL head coach.
Roach told foxsports.com.au he feels sorry for Marshall being handed the NRL’s toughest gig in his first year as a head coach.
“I honestly feel for Benji. If it was me I would have sent him off (to the bush) like South Sydney did with Sam Burgess,” Roach said.
“Go and coach the Warilla Gorillas for a year and see if you really want to be a coach.
“Throwing Benji in… would you ever see someone being thrown in to run a company when they’ve never run a company?
“It doesn’t make sense. They’ve done it for the feel good and publicity but I actually feel for Benji because what happens if he fails? What happens if he is a good coach and can’t do it for the first four or five years and it just ruins him? Then he’s gone, won’t get another job, thrown to the wolves.
“I hope he succeeds, he’s a good bloke Benji, I like him, but that’s a tough bloody job. It’s not for someone who’s never done it before.”
Roach said transforming the Tigers’ lacklustre roster into a winning side would be a monumental challenge for legendary coach Wayne Bennett, let alone a rookie.
“It’s an enormous job. You’ve just got to have a look at the personnel because coaches help but it’s the players on the field that win you games,” Roach said.
“I just don’t know when I look at their roster… they have some good players but most teams go 20-something deep of blokes who could play first grade, but you look at the Tigers and if they get a couple of injuries they’re in trouble.
“It’s a grinding season and getting the players in who can do it for 30 weeks isn’t easy. You put a rookie coach in there and it’s even harder.
“I’m not downgrading the players, they try their guts out every week, but sometimes you’re not up to it. That’s life.
“I hope Benji will go well but you’ve got to surround him with good players.
“The easy thing is to know what to buy, everybody knows what they need, but they can’t get them because they can’t attract them to the club.
“The club could flounder for another decade.”
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Still, Marshall welcomes the challenge and has his supporters, with Elias declaring the New Zealander has the skills to succeed.
“Benji was on The Celebrity Apprentice Australia last year and he won it. He showed a lot of qualities in there that I really enjoyed and I thought were very clever,” Elias told foxsports.com.au.
“He was in an environment that was totally different and he excelled and ended up winning the whole thing.
“Those are the qualities you look at in people, I’m not going to compare it to football but I was impressed with him.
“He wouldn’t have come onto the NRL scene and been a superstar and played for his country if he didn’t have those winning qualities.
“I give him a chance, I think he could do extraordinary things. My biggest concern is the administration, will they let him do his own thing and give him what he requires?
“When I played the coach was the boss and you respected what the coach said, you don’t ever question the boss. When Warren Ryan was in the dressing room you knew the coach was in town. And I think Benji has that respect, he earnt that respect as a superstar in the game and I think he’ll surprise everyone as a coach.”
2024 squad: Adam Doueihi (2024), Aidan Sezer (2024), Alex Twal (2027), Alex Seyfarth (2025), Apisai Koroisau (2026), Asu Kepaoa (2024), Brandon Webster-Mansfield (2024), Brandon Tumeth (2024, PO 2025), Brent Naden (2025), David Klemmer (2025, MO 2026), David Nofoaluma (2025), Fonua Pole (2025), Isaiah Papali’i (2025), Jahream Bula (2026, MO 2027), Jake Simpkin (2024), Jayden Sullivan (2027), John Bateman (2026), Jordan Miller (2026), Josh Feledy (2025), Junior Tupou (2024), Justin Matamua (2025), Lachlan Galvin (2026), Latu Fainu (2027), Samuela Fainu (2027), Shawn Blore (2024), Sione Fainu (2024), Starford To’a (2026), Stefano Utoikamanu (2024, MO 2025), Tallyn Da Silva (2026), Triston Reilly (2024)
Development players: Alex Lobb (2025), Chris Fa’agutu (2025), Kit Laulilii (2025), Solomone Saukuru (2025), Tony Sukkar (2025)
PLAYERS IN: Latu Fainu (Sea Eagles), Samuela Fainu (Sea Eagles), Jayden Sullivan (Dragons), Aidan Sezer (Leeds Rhinos)
Towards the end of the 2023 season, the Tigers had no fit halves for Round 1 in 2024 with Adam Doueihi ruled out for a large chunk of next season with a knee injury and Luke Brooks moving to the Sea Eagles.
So they brought in young half Latu Fainu from Manly, Jayden Sullivan from the Dragons and Aidan Sezer from the Super League to solve their halves crisis.
Sezer offers plenty of experience but hasn’t been seen in the NRL since the 2019 Grand Final and it remains to be seen the level of impact the 32-year-old will have next season.
Still, with 155 NRL games he has the experience, kicking game and goal kicking to be a vital signing for the club.
Fainu is yet to play an NRL game, but looked strong on his Test debut for Tonga and he will get a chance to show his wares at some point next season.
Sullivan played 27 games for the Dragons but struggled to cement a starting spot in the halves and now is his time to shine in the NRL and prove he has what it takes to be a consistent and effective playmaker.
Fainu’s brother Samuela offers another big body off the bench and he will push hard for a spot in the Tigers’ forwards rotation.
But Roach has been left unimpressed with the club’s recruitment and retention ahead of the 2024 season.
“We got rid of our half to Manly and halves are like hen’s teeth, if you’ve got a good one you’ve got to hang onto them,” he said.
“I don’t know what the use is in going out to the marketplace and buying three different halves and none of them are real first graders.”
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PLAYERS OUT: Luke Brooks (Sea Eagles), Tommy Talau (Sea Eagles), Daine Laurie (Panthers), Aitasi James (Sea Eagles), Rua Ngatikaura (unsigned), Tuki Simpkins (unsigned), Charlie Staines (unsigned), Brandon Wakeham (unsigned)
WHERE THEY NEED TO IMPROVE: Playmaking and defence
The two areas the Tigers struggled the most in last season was defence and their last tackle options.
Granted, they had injuries in the halves, but some of their fifth tackle plays were amateur at best and didn’t give the team enough chances to score enough points to win games.
Jayden Sullivan and Latu Fainu have the potential to give the side more X-factor and take the pressure off Jahream Bula and Api Koroisau having to do everything in attack, while Aidan Sezer can be the general they have been missing with his kicking game.
The fact Koroisau was forced to play in the halves at times last season shows how much the Tigers struggled in attack.
However, the Tigers won’t climb up the ladder unless they can address their woeful defence and that has to be the starting point for them to be competitive.
WHO THEY COULD SIGN: Halves
The Tigers have signed a number of playmaking options, but Aidan Sezer will likely hang up the boots after 2024 and the jury is still out on youngsters Jayden Sullivan and Latu Fainu as consistent NRL playmakers.
Meanwhile, Adam Doueihi’s contract expires in 2024 and he will miss a large chunk of the season with injury, so the Tigers’ halves stocks are far from settled.
The Tigers need to make a big play for a marquee half like Jarome Luai if they want to be taken seriously as a destination for star players in the future, but historically the club has struggled to attract representative halves.
“Who wouldn’t want Luai in your side? He’s a great talent,” Elias said.
“Benji Marshall comes from a country, New Zealand, where they understand Maoris and Pacific Islands culture and their religion and their way and I think Benji understands all that.
“So I think a bloke like Luai could fit into the club very well and he’s already got that relationship with Api from their time at the Panthers.
“The penalty you pay for being wooden spooners is you’ve got to pay overs, that’s the way it is. When you do spend a dollar you’ve got to make sure you get $3 back on it, otherwise you dig yourself deeper and deeper into the shit and that’s what’s happened to the club.
“Even when you thought things couldn’t get any worse, a side (the Dolphins) came into the comp for the first time and they had no superstars and they beat us on the ladder. So you’ve got to ask yourself what the hell is going on?”
If the Tigers miss out on Luai, Luke Metcalf comes off-contract at the Warriors, who are stacked with halves options at present.
The former Shark’s career has been plagued by injuries to date, but he showed glimpses of his enormous potential in 12 games for the Warriors last season.
If he can get a good run without injuries he could be the answer to the Tigers’ No.6 jersey long-term.
PLAYER UNDER MOST PRESSURE: Isaiah Papali’i and John Bateman
The key to turning around the Tigers’ woeful defence is star signings Isaiah Papali’i and John Bateman on the edges.
However, the star second-rowers were well below the standards they set at the Eels and Raiders respectively in their first season at Concord.
The Tigers invested heavily in the pair with Papali’i inking a three-year deal, while Bateman signed a four-year contract.
While both have good footwork and passing skills, the area the Tigers need them to be perfect at is defence.
The pair can hold the team’s line together on the edges, which is the hardest place to defend on the field and an area the Tigers have been torn to shreds in historically.
Elias emphasised the big-money players need to set the standards on and off the field or it won’t matter how much magic Marshall can inspire in their attack.
“You’re asking the questions and it’s very hard to always stay positive. It’s been a decade of disaster? How can you be at the bottom for 10 years?” Elias said.
“I’ve got broken bones and arthritis and scars on my body from playing for that great club. I wear my heart on my sleeve because I love that club.
“You think the supporters are hurting, the players are hurting five times more.”
YOUNG GUN TO WATCH: Jahream Bula
The brightest spot for the Tigers in a dismal 2023 season that saw them secure back-to-back wooden spoons was the breakout year of Jahream Bula.
The talented fullback scored five tries in 18 games in his rookie season and he saved countless others in the last line of defence.
Still only 21, Bula has a massive future in the game and if he can get some help from his playmakers and his pack can set a platform then he will dominate even more than he did last year.
With another full pre-season under his belt, Bula can hit the ground running in 2024 and with his brilliant footwork, physicality and passing skills honed form his basketball days, the sky is the limit for him in the coming seasons.
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