Benji 2025 and Beyond

[batboy]

They've moved him on before. Twice.

The media will take his side. Who gives a shit if we actually sign a coach who had coached in the NRL in the last 5 years and actually served an apprenticeship.

We will squander a good recruitment period to keep a "club son" who has shit on us twice before when things didn't go his way.

I'd have thrown the kitchen sink at Unca Wayne. He had an affinity for Benji and could have worked with him for a future in coaching. A stupid move not to entertain it.

Once…
Because he was arrogant enough to think he could wait until the end of the season to worry about if he wanted a contract for the next one - and the club would just hold out that amount of money for him.

The first time, we was overweight and playing rubbish and wanted a 2 year extension on top of the 2 years he still had to run… we declined and he threw his toys out of the cot and threw on a Union jersey

 

[Telltails]

I remember when Jason Taylor thought the same. He knew exactly what the problems were, but he couldn’t fix them.

Add Maguire and Cleary who jumped at the first opportunity. I would argue that JT had the best roster of them all and at that point the rot had not set in but can't argue that this club has provided little joy for its coaches.

 

[Bellend]

JT problem no back him from senior management and was more suited to been a assistant manager not the main man.


Benji needs to hire a new strength coach, tackling coach, A coaching mentor he will look after all coaches not just Benji and hook will be a great addition.
Attacking coach -Ryan Carr or James Maloney

 

[GNR4LIFE]

I think Benji has come too far to be prepared to step back into an assistants role. I could only see that happening under a Bellamy or Bennett type. I don’t think he’d be willing to do that for anyone else. Unfortunately, we’re stuck with him till at least the early part of 25

 

[palms]

Don’t speak too much sense mate, you’ll wake up the haters.

I get that these guys aren't stars. They won't worry defensive lines and will definitely make some poor read in defence but surely they learnt how to catch and pass a footy. The errors we were making were schoolboy stuff. You can't throw excuses out for that.
We have been doing it for years.100% it's a training and culture issue I put it down to.

 

[Oldman]

Young Players
Benji has given a run this year that should be bigger and stronger next year.
Galvin
3x Latu
Luke (winger)
TDS
Mason


Richo said we are moving to be a development club and looking at the age of these KIDS above he is sticking to his word.
I think it will be a couple of years before we see the real benefit but I for one are happy with their vision for the future.

 

[watersider]

No idea if Benji is a good coach or not.

I support the Bengals in the NFL and they got a young unproven coach 4 years ago. First season ran last and fundamentals of defensive and offensive line were getting dominated by the opposition, great vet players were unhappy and played badly and were moved on or left. 2nd year not much better, finished 4th last (out of 32) and again just could not compete physically. Throughout that time the young players seemed to be drinking the koolaid because they backed him and liked him. Then third year they make the Superbowl and the Bengals had their best season since the 80s. At the end of that 2nd season most the fanbase (including me) were absolutely livid he'd been retained. Everything looked terrible, absolutely no progress, defense an embarrassment. They kept him, team started winning. Fans were wrong.

I don't know if Benji is any good. Api believes in him, luai and others want to play for him. I guess I just mention the Bengals and their coaching to say that you can't always judge coaching by performances on the field. It takes players and coaches time to adjust and get things to go the way they want. I hope this is true of Benji, I'd love for him not to tarnish his career with a bad coaching stint.

 

[Tiger Tarl]

And this is all it’s ever been, a fairytale. Sheens and the club hoodwinked the supporters with stupid romanticism, by giving the job to the clubs favourite son without any experience. I really don’t want to hear talk over the off season about his potential because he doesn’t have any. Because he has no results on the board. No can objectively argue against that.

In fairness, he has managed to get more wins in a season than the two coaches before him, which are widely considered great coaches in Tim Sheens and Madge Maguire.

End of 2025 we'll know where we stand and see how high the bounce back will be or if Benji is a bridging coach. No use going off half-cocked either way.

 

[Telltails]

I get that these guys aren't stars. They won't worry defensive lines and will definitely make some poor read in defence but surely they learnt how to catch and pass a footy. The errors we were making were schoolboy stuff. You can't throw excuses out for that.
We have been doing it for years.100% it's a training and culture issue I put it down to.

I think it's more about fatigue when your back pedalling and being stretched mentally and physically.

 

[Tiger Tarl]

No idea if Benji is a good coach or not.

I support the Bengals in the NFL and they got a young unproven coach 4 years ago. First season ran last and fundamentals of defensive and offensive line were getting dominated by the opposition, great vet players were unhappy and played badly and were moved on or left. 2nd year not much better, finished 4th last (out of 32) and again just could not compete physically. Throughout that time the young players seemed to be drinking the koolaid because they backed him and liked him. Then third year they make the Superbowl and the Bengals had their best season since the 80s. At the end of that 2nd season most the fanbase (including me) were absolutely livid he'd been retained. Everything looked terrible, absolutely no progress, defense an embarrassment. They kept him, team started winning. Fans were wrong.

I don't know if Benji is any good. Api believes in him, luai and others want to play for him. I guess I just mention the Bengals and their coaching to say that you can't always judge coaching by performances on the field. It takes players and coaches time to adjust and get things to go the way they want. I hope this is true of Benji, I'd love for him not to tarnish his career with a bad coaching stint.

Great comment and comparable situation. Coaches need three years to prove their worth.
Now we just need to get the Bengal-esque tiger stripes on our jersey! 😉

 

[batboy]

No idea if Benji is a good coach or not.

I support the Bengals in the NFL and they got a young unproven coach 4 years ago. First season ran last and fundamentals of defensive and offensive line were getting dominated by the opposition, great vet players were unhappy and played badly and were moved on or left. 2nd year not much better, finished 4th last (out of 32) and again just could not compete physically. Throughout that time the young players seemed to be drinking the koolaid because they backed him and liked him. Then third year they make the Superbowl and the Bengals had their best season since the 80s. At the end of that 2nd season most the fanbase (including me) were absolutely livid he'd been retained. Everything looked terrible, absolutely no progress, defense an embarrassment. They kept him, team started winning. Fans were wrong.

I don't know if Benji is any good. Api believes in him, luai and others want to play for him. I guess I just mention the Bengals and their coaching to say that you can't always judge coaching by performances on the field. It takes players and coaches time to adjust and get things to go the way they want. I hope this is true of Benji, I'd love for him not to tarnish his career with a bad coaching stint.

Your Bengals coach had absolutely zero experience coaching at any level at all (straight out of school so to speak)
Before taking over the job.

Or just no experience at ‘top level’ coaching?
There may be the difference in your comparison

 

[palms]

I think it's more about fatigue when your back pedalling and being stretched mentally and physically.

In certain situations I would agree but most of the time it's our guys incompetence to concentrate. We've gotta stop making excuses for these guys

 

[BAGNF05]

I get that these guys aren't stars. They won't worry defensive lines and will definitely make some poor read in defence but surely they learnt how to catch and pass a footy. The errors we were making were schoolboy stuff. You can't throw excuses out for that.
We have been doing it for years.100% it's a training and culture issue I put it down to.

Pretty unforgiving place to learn the NRL.

Strong clubs debut 2-5 guys a year.

We debuted 13 I believe.

 

[watersider]

Your Bengals coach had absolutely zero experience coaching at any level at all (straight out of school so to speak)
Before taking over the job.

Or just no experience at ‘top level’ coaching?

He'd been an assistant. Was a quarterback in college that didn't make it in NFL and had coaching roles after that but mainly as junior assistant type roles. He's still younger than Benji I think. He was called one of two 'offensive coordinators' at Superbowl winning la rams but he didn't even call the plays and was just the 'passing game coordinator' whatever that is. He was something like 36 when he started, had plenty of assistant roles but only called plays in one indifferent season as offensive coordinator at college, after which he was sacked, and for 5 games at the dolphins after the coaches got sacked and he was caretaker coordinator after that. He got sacked after that stint too. He basically had no credentials apart from being mates with the young exciting coach at the rams that everyone was trying to replicate. Usually you only get head coach positions after proving yourself as a coordinator and calling plays, he never did that and was massively under qualified. So he was in coaching but never a proper coordinator who ran one side of the ball and had nowhere near the usual experience in which coordinators work for years calling plays before they're finally given their shot after years of success.

So not a perfect comparison to Benji but it had the exact same feel of some unproven coach seemingly having no idea how to manage a team and get results.

 

[BAGNF05]

He'd been an assistant. Was a quarterback in college that didn't make it in NFL and had coaching roles after that but mainly as junior assistant type roles. He's still younger than Benji I think. He was called one of two 'offensive coordinators' at Superbowl winning la rams but he didn't even call the plays and was just the 'passing game coordinator' whatever that is. He was something like 36 when he started, had plenty of assistant roles but only called plays in one indifferent season as offensive coordinator at college, after which he was sacked, and for 5 games at the dolphins after the coaches got sacked and he was caretaker coordinator after that. He got sacked after that stint too. He basically had no credentials apart from being mates with the young exciting coach at the rams that everyone was trying to replicate. Usually you only get head coach positions after proving yourself as a coordinator and calling plays, he never did that and was massively under qualified. So he was in coaching but never a proper coordinator who ran one side of the ball and had nowhere near the usual experience in which coordinators work for years calling plays before they're finally given their shot after years of success.

So not a perfect comparison to Benji but it had the exact same feel of some unproven coach seemingly having no idea how to manage a team and get results.

Most understudies of McVay go onto coach in the NFL. He might be the best head coach in world sport.

 

[Marella Jube]

Games are often decided by what teams do without the ball, as much as what the do with it. Tigers need to drastically improve in these areas to be consistently competitive.

It doesn't seem Marshall values these aspects to drive the improvements needed.

 

[BAGNF05]

Games are often decided by what teams do without the ball, as much as what the do with it. Tigers need to drastically improve in these areas to be consistently competitive.

It doesn't seem Marshall values these aspects to drive the improvements needed.

Ever watch any of the old Toyota cup U20’s? Teams would win 40-36 routinely.

Kids have kids bodies and haven’t learned about the grind of NRL footy until around their 3rd year.

 

[batboy]

He'd been an assistant. Was a quarterback in college that didn't make it in NFL and had coaching roles after that but mainly as junior assistant type roles. He's still younger than Benji I think. He was called one of two 'offensive coordinators' at Superbowl winning la rams but he didn't even call the plays and was just the 'passing game coordinator' whatever that is. He was something like 36 when he started, had plenty of assistant roles but only called plays in one indifferent season as offensive coordinator at college, after which he was sacked, and for 5 games at the dolphins after the coaches got sacked and he was caretaker coordinator after that. He got sacked after that stint too. He basically had no credentials apart from being mates with the young exciting coach at the rams that everyone was trying to replicate. Usually you only get head coach positions after proving yourself as a coordinator and calling plays, he never did that and was massively under qualified. So he was in coaching but never a proper coordinator who ran one side of the ball and had nowhere near the usual experience in which coordinators work for years calling plays before they're finally given their shot after years of success.

So not a perfect comparison to Benji but it had the exact same feel of some unproven coach seemingly having no idea how to manage a team and get results.

Cheers,
I can wear experience at some level....

We're paying for no experience - at any level. And we employed 3 of them at the same time....
3/4 coaches in their 2nd year at any level in Top Flight sport - It is what it is....

 

[happy_tiger]

No idea if Benji is a good coach or not.

I support the Bengals in the NFL and they got a young unproven coach 4 years ago. First season ran last and fundamentals of defensive and offensive line were getting dominated by the opposition, great vet players were unhappy and played badly and were moved on or left. 2nd year not much better, finished 4th last (out of 32) and again just could not compete physically. Throughout that time the young players seemed to be drinking the koolaid because they backed him and liked him. Then third year they make the Superbowl and the Bengals had their best season since the 80s. At the end of that 2nd season most the fanbase (including me) were absolutely livid he'd been retained. Everything looked terrible, absolutely no progress, defense an embarrassment. They kept him, team started winning. Fans were wrong.

I don't know if Benji is any good. Api believes in him, luai and others want to play for him. I guess I just mention the Bengals and their coaching to say that you can't always judge coaching by performances on the field. It takes players and coaches time to adjust and get things to go the way they want. I hope this is true of Benji, I'd love for him not to tarnish his career with a bad coaching stint.

A draft would be helpful though

First pick of the bunch the last few seasons

 

[twentyforty]

Last in. NRL
Last.in reserve grade
Last.in WNRL
Last.in.Matts (Balmain)
Last in SG Ball (Balmain)
2nd.last in that other female.comp

Anyone see a pattern?

Ink, If the last game of the season provides any insight into the culture of WT then we are sinking further into the abyss. We have won 3 of these games since 2014.

2014 26-10 Sharks

2015 30-32 Dragons

2016 10-52 Raiders

2017 28-16 Warriors

2018 10-51 Rabbitohs

2019 8-25 Sharks

2020 24-28 Eels

2021 0-38 Bulldogs

2022 10-56 Raiders

2023 12-54 Sea Eagles

2024 26-60 Eels

I realise we have some good players signed for next season, just as we've had previously. Players and coaches come and go, but the cavalier mediocrity remains.