Coach Benji đź‘‘

batboy said:
I’m interested to see how a new coaching director is going to last any longer than the last one Benji speared - the bloke that bought him into grade and was a father figure / mentor to him for the best part of his career.
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Pascoe and Lee undermined Sheens by bringing in Fulton at the expense of his mate Warren Mc and things went to crap after that with Sheens and the club. Not sure how you load that all on Benji.
 
innsaneink said:
NRL News

Plenty of lessons for Marshall in challenging season​

AuthorWests TigersTimestampMon 7 Sep 2026,
Learning how to cope with off field distractions is one of the biggest lessons Wests Tigers Head Coach Benji Marshall will take away from season 2026.

The Tigers finished the regular season in 15th spot with eight wins, 10 points out of the top eight.

The season started so brightly for the Tigers, winning five of their first seven matches, before a heavy injury toll, some off field dramas, and eight consecutive losses took its toll.


“I'm glad it's come to an end, if I'm honest…it was a bit of a weird year for us," Marshall said after Sunday's loss to Penrith.

"We showed such promise and optimism to start the season and then we went through a bit of a rough patch losing eight in a row and had to fight at the back end. Obviously, you want to make the semis and move forward as a club, but there is a lot we can take away from this year that we need to be better at, myself in particularly, and make sure we are not in this position next year.

"We went through a lot of publicly played out events this year.

“I think one of the big things is making sure we've got depth and positions for when we do have injuries, like we did at the start of the year, and then how to manage and navigate our way through off field things that can become a distraction and how to not let them become a distraction.

“It only becomes a distraction if you don't perform. Because if you can go and perform and win, then no one talks about it.

“If you don't, which happened this year, it becomes bigger.

"Finding a way to keep the team in a good headspace mentally and be able to perform week in, week out is probably the biggest thing.”

82497774_benji-2plp9593_202696134139.jpg

As for himself, Marshall said he continues to learn and grow as a coach after a challenging year.

“It's a pretty thankless job sometimes, where you got to give a lot of energy, time, effort, and you have to also give a part of yourself away to the team and the club that sacrifices your life,’’ Marshall added.


“What I get out of it is a purpose that I don't think can be fulfilled doing any other job.

“I feel lucky and blessed to do the job. I feel like I'm growing and learning every year.

“Some good times are coming for us around the corner.

“The most rewarding part of the job is helping these young men become good people. That's the most important thing for me.

“Along the way, teaching them what it is to be a professional footy player, and that's probably the thing that we need the most is a bit of experienced leadership, understanding on what it takes week and week out, to play at the top level.

“We've got guys like this (Api Koroisau) beside me, who week and week out give everything they’ve got for the club and for the jersey. We’ve just got to teach collectively everyone to be like that.”

Marshall added that he was on the search for players who can bring more experience to the squad in 2027.

“We’re always looking at ways to improve our squad. One of the biggest things we need right now is a bit of experience and leadership and guys who are not fringe players (but) more first graders who can do the job, so we'll be looking at that sort of area,’’ he said.

“But from my point of view, I feel like we got the crux of a squad that 1-17/18 we can really compete. After that, we need to get a bit more.”


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https://www.cowboys.com.au/
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Marshall talking about needing experienced heads to guide the team, and mentions Koriosau by name. The one big omission, no mention at all of Luai, not even as a loss of guiding experience now that he's gone. To me that's a telling omission.
 
BlackWhiteGold said:
Telling on what he left out, rather than what he said imo. No pic or mention of Benji or other coaches.
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Obviously didn't want to burn bridges.
But not happy with the dictatorship of Benji and his mates.
The new position - includes, inter alia;
  • Lead the development, implementation and continuous improvement of the Club's coaching framework.
  • Recruit, develop and support current and emerging coaching talent.
There is an underlining message here. Not happy Benji.
Step up Benji, we are watching you.
 
Tiger Stripes said:
Obviously didn't want to burn bridges.
But not happy with the dictatorship of Benji and his mates.
The new position - includes, inter alia;
  • Lead the development, implementation and continuous improvement of the Club's coaching framework.
  • Recruit, develop and support current and emerging coaching talent.
There is an underlining message here. Not happy Benji.
Step up Benji, we are watching you.
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Well SM wants the best pathways in the world apparently
 
tonza said:
Most of our players can't count or are blind. As spectators we can see the opposition moving players around to get overlaps. Amazingly our leaders cant. Why.
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So, does any of the blame for this come down to Bula's organising at fullback.

I keep hearing his organising at fullback is very good but the overlaps are still always there.

Just imagine for a minute that his organising from the back is really good and all the other players don't follow instruction or are too slow to react, but Bula is seeing what is developing, then why is he more often than not still late on the scene as the final line of defence? 🤔
 
It’s an interesting one. On one hand we began the season strongly, if that had continued, this wouldn’t be happening. It showed that we are capable but once injuries, Luai and Douiehi issues and suspensions hit, we fell in a heap. To me, that showed both a lack of depth (roster management) and resilience (mentality).

Compare the Tigers to the Swans and you can see the difference. One team facing adversity falls in a heap, the other bands together and next player up mentality has worked (so far).

I remain hopeful that some of this is working itself out. We have class in Api, Samuela, Douiehi, The May brothers and Bula. The noted improvement in players like Fonua Pole, Tony Sukkar and Ethan Roberts even Jock Madden, Seyfarth and Twal had better seasons. The emergence of Solomon Saukuru (defensive issues aside), the reinvigoration of Junior Tupou and the glimpses of talent from Latu and Javon have me thinking we are going in the right direction.

Perhaps the year we endured will be worth it as we build our resilience to match our capability.
 
innsaneink said:
“The most rewarding part of the job is helping these young men become good people. That's the most important thing for me.
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Fine ambition, but Benji you are not a social worker or parole officer, you are supposed to be an NRL coach who is coaching at the top level.

Well done if you achieve that ambition of producing some fine young men along the way, but somewhere along the line you probably need some hard headed grubs.

As an NRL coach one of your most important things should be winning or you won't be an NRL coach for very long.

Have I gone too far and over stepped the mark here, maybe I'm like so many other people on here that is just sick of losing?
 
hank37w said:
Fine ambition, but Benji you are not a social worker or parole officer, you are supposed to be an NRL coach who is coaching at the top level.

Well done if you achieve that ambition of producing some fine young men along the way, but somewhere along the line you probably need some hard headed grubs.

As an NRL coach one of your most important things should be winning or you won't be an NRL coach for very long.

Have I gone too far and over stepped the mark here, maybe I'm like so many other people on here that is just sick of losing?
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My first thoughts on reading Marshalls comment too.
 
bbobb said:
It’s an interesting one. On one hand we began the season strongly, if that had continued, this wouldn’t be happening. It showed that we are capable but once injuries, Luai and Douiehi issues and suspensions hit, we fell in a heap. To me, that showed both a lack of depth (roster management) and resilience (mentality).

Compare the Tigers to the Swans and you can see the difference. One team facing adversity falls in a heap, the other bands together and next player up mentality has worked (so far).

I remain hopeful that some of this is working itself out. We have class in Api, Samuela, Douiehi, The May brothers and Bula. The noted improvement in players like Fonua Pole, Tony Sukkar and Ethan Roberts even Jock Madden, Seyfarth and Twal had better seasons. The emergence of Solomon Saukuru (defensive issues aside), the reinvigoration of Junior Tupou and the glimpses of talent from Latu and Javon have me thinking we are going in the right direction.

Perhaps the year we endured will be worth it as we build our resilience to match our capability.
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Interesting post

My thoughts are

Jerome and less extent AD were a thorn in Squads make up. Their combination definitely did not work. Not sure if jerome knee injury early made that worse.

Then jock stepped in and looked really good with Adam and not so good with jerome.

Adam had a reall good injury free period with jock. Adam looked elite. His downfall was literally not passing seen in the sharks game where if he passed to unmark player beside him instead of running over the player and reaching out to score would of avoided the injury. I think it would be silly of the club to forgot about adam form during this period.

fundamentally I think it was coach failure to pick the best 1 to 17 along with insufficient leadership and depth to cover injuries

Not across the swans but sounds like they might have a settled squad which is the opposite of the wests tigers.

Next year same old same old who are the halves going to be, with latu in the mix who hardly played last year will benji get it right? We have been very unsettled club under benji
 
hank37w said:
Fine ambition, but Benji you are not a social worker or parole officer, you are supposed to be an NRL coach who is coaching at the top level.

Well done if you achieve that ambition of producing some fine young men along the way, but somewhere along the line you probably need some hard headed grubs.

As an NRL coach one of your most important things should be winning or you won't be an NRL coach for very long.

Have I gone too far and over stepped the mark here, maybe I'm like so many other people on here that is just sick of losing?
Click to expand...

Benji had some improvement since his first season he took the players speed boating in NZ in his first preseason

My concern from day one with benji he made comments as a player that he is everyone gets a sticker type parent or teacher

Some benji comments that stand out he said taane Milne was the best player he ever seen also made similar comments about shuster

I did like tho the NRL media shared old footage benji was playing and screaming at the players after the game to form a guard to farewell Billy slater last game after we beat Melbourne.

I think benji has some role to play but unconvinced it is a NRL coach he simply did not do enough apprenticeship
 
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