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Weekes is a talented lad for but I was surprised he missed out this week after reasonable trial form, the Raiders going for Ethan Strange instead.
Ha ha...serves you right associating with Slimey fans
www.foxsports.com.au
Round 1 and all that but their defensive structure actually looks like they have an experienced coach in charge.
But don’t they typically lead the comp until the end of March
www.weststigers.com.au
www.foxsports.com.au
Olam & Naden r the only ones of NRL stdFox on Twitter
Tigers centre set for ankle surgery
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This would make it 5 centres supposedly unavailable for R3:
Olam
To’a
Naden
Feledy
Saukura
You couldn’t get a bet on for something like this to happen.
Sounds as though they are just as sleazy as our club
Cheers.‘BS on every level’: Why Benji has been caught in the crossfire
By Michael Chammas
March 19, 2024 — 5.00am
It’s not uncommon for Wests Tigers fans to think there’s an agenda against them. The conspiracy theorists wearing Tigers jerseys will tell you that because they rate so well with readers, media organisations see them as the Taylor Swift of NRL clubs.
That’s partly true. There are very few fanbases that devour content like success-starved Wests Tigers fans who, after more than a decade in the doldrums, struggle to tell the hero from the villain.
But on this occasion they may have a point. Was it coincidence that leading into Benji Marshall’s first game in charge of his beloved Tigers, a News Corp article questioning his work ethic appeared online just 48 hours before he was to front his first press conference?
The Tigers don’t think so, nor does Marshall.
The Tigers are angry about is what they deem an attempt to undermine him by a disgruntled ex-employee who has made no secret of his views on Marshall’s coaching ability – or a perceived lack thereof – to anyone who would care to listen. This columnist included.
We’re not talking about former chief executive Justin Pascoe or ex-chairman Lee Hagipantelis.
We’re talking about the feud between Marshall and former recruitment manager Scott Fulton, the son of rugby league immortal Bob Fulton.
Scott Fulton, in his time at the Tigers before he departed following the arrival of new CEO Shane Richardson in January, raised internally the same concerns about Marshall’s work ethic that were mentioned in The Daily Telegraph article last week.
Marshall has been around the game a long time and knows who speaks to whom. It’s why he, and the Tigers hierarchy, are convinced Fulton has been trying to undermine him.
“We’ve got our agenda and we’re working towards it,” new Tigers boss Shane Richardson said on Monday.
“We’re not going to be blown off our path by criticism that is just not true. We just keep going forward. It’s just bullshit on every level. At the end of the day, in my experience with coaches for over 30 years, Benji is as diligent and committed to it as anyone.”
Fulton, when contacted by this masthead on Monday, declined to comment when asked if he’d passed on the information to reporters.
Tension between Fulton and Marshall extends back to the time of his appointment, which was orchestrated by the club’s former management without consulting Marshall or Tim Sheens.
They’ve been clashing ever since. Fulton, who grew up at Manly knowing only the hard-nosed approach to coaching of his father and later Des Hasler, struggled to comprehend Marshall’s contemporary methods.
Marshall, meanwhile, thought Fulton was trouble, because he espoused a style of coaching the Tigers had rebelled against under Michael Maguire, who tried to instil an intensity that didn’t work with the playing roster. Marshall was one of them.
Marshall, having watched the impact Maguire’s coaching style had on his teammates, is doing things differently.
A more relaxed approach has been misconstrued as an unwillingness to dedicate the time required to be successful.
A commitment to his family to be present when he’s at home has been interpreted as a distraction. It couldn’t be further from the message Marshall, who grew up without a father, is trying to convey to his young players who idolise him.
“Because he doesn’t work 14 hours a day and wants he and his players to have a family life, it’s a good thing not a bad thing,” Richardson said. “I wish I had learnt that 20 years earlier. It would have saved me a lot of grief in my own personal life. What he’s trying to do is instil a balance between life and work and I think he’s got it.
“I’ve seen Madge [Michael Maguire], I’ve seen Anthony Seibold, I’ve seen Jason Taylor … I’ve seen them all. At the end of the day, there is no one, in my time, that is more thorough and organised than Benji is. Somewhere between Madge and Wayne Bennett is Benji, and that’s not a bad thing.”
This isn’t a defence of Marshall. For the record, he hasn’t picked up this columnist’s calls in almost two years. It’s an insight into the machinations of how the rugby league news cycle tends to work.
The first issue between Marshall and Fulton revolved around the pursuit of enigmatic Sea Eagles forward Josh Schuster.
Marshall was adamant he did not want him at the club despite Fulton’s long-standing relationship with both Schuster and his manager Mario Tartak, who eventually secured an $800,000-a-season deal for his client to remain at Manly despite little interest elsewhere in his services.
Tartak, who used to manage Marshall as a player, was the one who recommended Fulton for the job at the Tigers.
Marshall later learned that Tartak and Daniel O’Loughlin, the agent of Tigers forward Stefano Utoikamanu, had organised a meeting with Hagipantelis to raise concerns about the development of their players under the Tim Sheens-Marshall coaching regime.
The agents sought assurances from the club that there would be change within the coaching staff for next season in response to concerns their players had raised. They also raised doubts over sending other players to the club under the current structure.
Within weeks, Sheens was gone as part of a coaching shake-up that culminated in Marshall being handed the top job a year earlier than planned.
It also led to the signature of highly regarded brothers Latu and Samuela Fainu, both managed by Tartak and who had previously been recruited to Manly by Fulton. Jayden Sullivan, another Tartak client, would also sign with the Tigers soon after.
Sullivan, who was replaced in the second half of the Tigers loss to Canberra, is on a deal worth $600,000 in the final years of the contract. His future is uncertain with Jarome Luai on his way to Tiger Town and expected to partner either Latu Fainu or boom rookie Lachlan Galvin in the halves.
Tension between the pair reached its apogee due to the signing of halfback Aiden Sezer over Jack Cogger. Fulton wanted Cogger but the new coach chose the former English Super League player, who is signed with Marshall’s manager Matt Desira.
Marshall believed Fulton’s godfather, Peter Peters, had intimated on radio that he preferred to pursue the signature of Sezer because Marshall owned a 15 per cent share in Desira’s company, a claim the manager denies.
That incident came just weeks after Desira met with the club to raise concerns about Fulton’s role.
Ever since Fulton departed in January during a heated phone call with Richardson, the club has been expecting blowback.
Fulton had discredited Marshall’s coaching ability. They’ve responded in recent weeks by cutting ties with some of the young players Fulton brought to the club.
The noise, as has long been the case at the Wests Tigers, is loud. No one knows that more than Marshall.
The answer is simple: Win and the noise goes away. That, as has long been the case at the Wests Tigers, is sometimes easier said than done.
‘BS on every level’: Why Benji has been caught in the crossfire
The Tigers are fuming about what they believe is a deliberate attempt to undermine Benji Marshall from a disgruntled ex-employee who has never seen eye-to-eye with the coach.www.smh.com.au
