Red88_Tiger
Well-known member
Liked this bit“You know differently, and I know differently,” Sheens said. “And if I was coming for his job, I’d have a five-year contract and I haven’t. It’s not the case. I’m a bit disappointed in that.
“It didn’t work out for Madge, but in saying that I didn’t particularly want the job straight up, as you very well know who I chased [Cameron Ciraldo], and got criticised for offering him [a five-year contract]. It’s funny how he’s now at the Bulldogs for five years, but anyway.”
While the Tigers went all-in for Ciraldo, the disappointment was quickly allayed by the excitement surrounding the Sheens-Marshall package deal.
The reality of the situation is Sheens handed Marshall, only 12 months retired, an NRL head coaching job from 2025 without having watched him coach a day in his life.
It’s a gamble in anyone’s books. But Sheens is convinced that his protégé has all the traits required to make it as a coach.
“He’ll kill it,” Sheens said. “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.”
The new-look Wests Tigers added a new sponsor, Pepper Money, this week.
When Marshall sat down with Sheens to audition for the job that was only ever going to be Ciraldo’s until he exited the one-horse race, the meeting was just a few minutes old when Sheens realised that his former star five-eighth was ready.
Marshall, having made a successful transition from player to media commentator in his roles for Triple M and Fox League, no longer had a purpose.
“First thing Benji said was, even though he was earning good money and he was working with you guys in the media, he wasn’t getting any satisfaction out of it,” Sheens said.
“The satisfaction he gets now if you sit around and see him talk to players and converse with them, and skill them, and work with them. You should see it, they just gather around him. They listen to everything he says. And he’s got the background to say, ‘Well, I’ve done it’. He’s getting a lot out of that and Robbie is the same.”
“I always said they were too smart for their own good. You could never bluff them. You had to be smart for those two kids to give you respect because they don’t suffer fools those boys.
“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 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.”
One of the major tasks of 2023 will be for Marshall and Farah to unlock halfback Luke Brooks. The much-maligned halfback, who struggled to fit into Maguire’s game plan, is heading into the final season of his lucrative deal.
“The first thing you do is set up a game plan where he is involved, Offensively playing on his best side of the field that he plays on – the left side, with him at halfback,” Sheens said.
Wests Tigers playmaker Luke Brooks.CREDIT:GETTY
“People are on him and on him and on him. Media … he seems to be a whipping boy. He’s withstood that really well. Benji and I are working really hard with all the spine, not just him, all the spine, to finally get a combination because the club hasn’t really settled on a combination for some time.”
“You can’t expect him to win every game for you. Everyone seems to think it’s the only thing a good halfback can do. Admittedly, there’s a lot of pressure on the pivots, but it’s not just the seven.
“To say the No.7 is the one that runs the game is not always true. A No.9 and a No.6 a No.1 is even more important. If you have a good team you’re playing with 14 men. That’s having your fullback turn up everywhere. If you haven’t, you’re playing with 12 men.”
Playing with 13 men, let alone 14, has often been a battle for the Wests Tigers.
“I promise you if we lose games, we won’t get beat,” Sheens says.
“People say, ‘Oh, what does that mean’? It means we will be having a go right until the end of the game.”
“That’s having your fullback turn up everywhere “
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