DT Sport Confidential:
FACE THE CONSEQUENCES’: BENJI’S HIGH EXPECTATIONS
Wests Tigers players have been left in no doubt about what is expected from them when they return to pre-season training in November after the club delivered some home truths in their exit interviews.
It is understood the players were told that they needed to return to pre-season in tip-top shape or face the consequences.
The Tigers have won three straight wooden spoons and a fourth will be unacceptable given the club has secured some big signings for next year, chief among them Penrith superstar Jarome Luai, his premiership-wining teammate Sunia Turuva and Cronulla prop Royce Hunt.
Wests Tigers players have been warned to return to pre-season training in tip-top shape or face the consequences. Picture: Getty Images
The Tigers remain in the market and have been linked with a handful of players including Marcelo Montoya and Brisbane’s Kobe Hetherington – Hetherington is expected to visit the club’s headquarters next week.
However, they may choose to keep their powder dry and watch how the summer unfolds before making any further moves.
The club’s existing players have also been told to arrive back at training in good condition as the club looks to give coach Benji Marshall the best chance to lead a revival.
The message appears to have had the desired effect – a number of the club’s young stars were still working out in the facilities this week in a bid to ensure they hit the ground running next season.
Meanwhile, premiership-winning hero Brett Hodgson is among the coaches being considered as Marshall looks to strengthen the ranks of his assistants next season.
Hodgson, a teammate of Marshall in the 2005 grand final win and a life member of the Tigers, was most recently a member of Eddie Jones’ staff with the Wallabies, acting as their defensive coach.
He has previously been on the Tigers coaching staff as an assistant.
