The Wests Tigers are set to fast-track Benji Marshall’s ascension to the head coaching role in time for the start of the 2024 pre-season.
While Tim Sheens will remain the head coach in name, the club has mapped out a plan for Marshall to assume his responsibilities when the team returns for pre-season training in November.
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NRL Highlights: Cowboys v Tigers - Round 18
North Queensland Cowboys take on the Wests Tigers in Round 18 of the 2023 NRL Premiership.
The club had originally planned to give Marshall a two-year apprenticeship under the guidance of Sheens. However, Tigers powerbrokers believe they need to fast-track the handover after just nine months.
Saturday night’s 74-0 shellacking at the hands of the North Queensland Cowboys has once again placed a question mark over the club’s decision to invest so heavily in the Sheens-Marshall combination.
The Tigers have given no thought to parting ways with Sheens, but believe Marshall is ready to step up and take control of the team.
Sources with knowledge of the situation talking under the condition of anonymity confirmed Marshall has a far greater say in the running of the team than he did at the start of the year, but Sheens is still the senior figure who has the final say. Sheens is still in charge of team selection.
Wests Tigers’ coach-in-waiting Benji Marshall.CREDIT:GETTY IMAGES
Those roles are set to change over the off-season, with Marshall to become the loudest voice in the room and Sheens to take a step back to oversee the development of the man who led the club to its only premiership back in 2005.
The Tigers still want Sheens to shield his protege from the bullets over the next year, which is why the veteran coach is expected to keep his tag as head coach and front the cameras.
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Marshall has impressed the players with his demeanour and tactical nous since joining the coaching staff, with many inside the organisation of the opinion he’s ready to assume the head coaching duties.
The criticism from within the playing group under the Michael Maguire regime reflected a belief the coach lacked the communication skills for them to flourish on game day.
Benji Marshall and Tim Sheens.CREDIT:NRL PHOTOS
There is a feeling within the club that players are receiving mixed messages as a result of having two senior coaching figures. Some officials believe that having a singular figurehead on the coaching staff will help solve that problem.
In an interview with this masthead before the season, Sheens had foreseen a potential shift in the club’s plan given what he’d seen from Marshall over the pre-season.
“He’ll kill it,” Sheens told this masthead back in January. “He’ll make it, easy. There’s just no doubt. “In two years’ time he’ll be ready to go easy. In fact, I reckon in 12 months’ time I’ll have to watch my back.”
“I’m an interim coach, basically. And I’m happy about that. I have my say still. I’ve still got the big stick, but at the end of the day if they [Marshall and fellow assistant Robbie Farah] want to run with something and I’m happy with it, I let them run with it because that’s teaching them what they need to do.”
Back together: Benji Marshall and Tim Sheens at Tigers training in 2012.CREDIT:NRL IMAGERY
Tigers officials would not comment when contacted by this masthead on Sunday.
Some Tigers fans would prefer the bullets being aimed at Sheens to be directed towards management and directors, who decided an untested rookie coach in partnership with an ageing veteran mentor was the blueprint out of the club’s predicament.
While the loss to the Cowboys, the third biggest in NRL history, saw the club sink to a new low, the Tigers are clinging to the areas of improvement.
Coming into the game against the Cowboys, the Tigers had conceded just 22.9 points per game and had only once leaked more than 28 points in a match.
Tigers CEO Justin Pascoe and chairman Lee Hagipantelis look on during the 74-0 flogging in North Queensland.CREDIT:GETTY
That’s a notable improvement on the 28.3 points per game they conceded under Michael Maguire and Brett Kimmorley last year. Yet they remain at the bottom of the ladder.
The fact the Tigers have lost five games this year by a converted try or less may provide some cause for comfort to those within the building.
The development of some of the game’s best young talent, including Jahream Bula and Fonua Pole, also provides light at the end of the tunnel, yet there remains a passionate fan base fed up with incompetence and ineptitude from a team that will this season miss the finals for a 12th consecutive year.
With Luke Brooks on his way out, Marshall’s first task is to find a replacement. The club is holding out hope of signing Manly teenage sensation Latu Fainu to wear Marshall’s famous No.6 jersey.
The club has also expressed interest in the likes of Brayden Trindall and Jack Cogger to play halfback. That job is now for new recruitment boss Scott Fulton to try and sort out.
Regardless of job titles and positions, it is Marshall’s voice which will soon matter most.
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