WESTS TIGERS players have met en masse with leading officials at the club to address the circumstances of, and the fallout from, the sacking of coach Tim Sheens.
Tigers captain Robbie Farah yesterday revealed the snap meeting, held at the club's Concord Oval headquarters on Wednesday, as the hooker denied the players had revolted against their coach, and insisted he would be at the club until at least the end of next season.
Farah's future has been the subject of speculation, much of it linking him to Ricky Stuart's Parramatta, since talk of player unrest at the club emerged as a result of the departures of popular players Chris Heighington and Beau Ryan to Cronulla.
Farah stressed he believed the departures of Heighington and Ryan "had no bearing on what's happened to Tim", while also maintaining he and his teammates played no role in the sacking of Sheens as head coach.
"It's incorrect," he said, after training under Sheens with the Australian train-on squad. "I've got the utmost respect for Tim. Our working relationship has never been in question. Obviously we haven't seen eye to eye on a few things, but that's never been a problem, and it wasn't a problem moving forward.
"It was just a matter of the club realising after 10 years it was probably the right time to freshen the place up a bit and make some changes with the football team. You've seen that with players and now with Tim."
That said, Farah felt it was important to seek answers from chief executive Stephen Humphreys and chairman David Trodden, which the players did on Wednesday, the day after the officials announced they would try to convince Sheens to accept another role within the club.
"We spoke, we were pretty honest and open about things, people put their hands up where they'd made mistakes," he said. "They addressed us, and we asked questions . . . It was important that everyone in the place knew where they stood."
Sheens spoke yesterday about his plans for the Australian squad, reiterating his desire to coach the Kangaroos through to the World Cup next year despite his setback.
It is unlikely he will accept a new position with the club, given another coach will be at the helm. That was even made clear by Farah, who said: "Everyone in the club would like him to stay in some capacity, but knowing Tim, I think he'd probably find that a bit difficult. He has a great passion for coaching, and he wants to remain a coach."
