Wests Tigers chairman Barry O’Farrell is adamant the club isn’t fractured and has backed coach Benji Marshall to turn the team’s fortunes around after a “puzzling” drop down the premiership ladder.
It has been another torrid week for the Tigers after Adam Doueihi was reinstated in his preferred halfback position after sitting out last week’s crushing loss to Canberra following a bust-up with coach Benji Marshall.
The episode was the latest in a long list of dramas for the joint-venture outfit, who sit in second-last spot on the ladder ahead of Sunday’s derby against Parramatta.
The situation has heaped further pressure on third-year head coach Benji Marshall, who has a 32.84 per cent win ratio since taking over from Tim Sheens.
O’Farrell has kept a low profile since being reinstated as Tigers chair last December. However, the former NSW premier opened up during a wide-ranging interview about the state of play at the club, including a staunch defence of Marshall.
“I’ve got no doubt that Benji is the best man for the job,” O’Farrell said.
“Firstly, because I come from an area that demonstrates that constant changes from a leadership level normally delay the improvement that people want.
“Leadership teams are just as important as football teams, they need to be a unit. I think Benji brings a lot to his role. The things he asks of players are the things he excelled at when he was on the field. He’s not asking people to do what he hasn’t done in the past.
“Secondly, he’s incredibly bright. Thirdly, he’s incredibly sensitive to people’s family life and the like. I know some years ago that some media had criticism of Benji saying the team needed a good work-life balance.
“But footy has moved on, it’s not life in the ’50s, it’s footy in 2026. You need to ensure that your footballers’ heads are in the right space and family is a big part of that. I think Benji got all of that before a number of other coaches.
“I’m confident that we will see continued improvement. Are we happy with what’s happened in the last few months? I don’t think any member of the club is happy. Are we hopeful? We’ll always be hopeful since 2005.”
Two days after O’Farrell was reinstated as chair, Marshall’s contract was extended until the end of 2030. It has since emerged that the former premiership-winning player will receive a full payout if his contract is terminated early.
Asked if there should have been more protections for the club in the deal, O’Farrell said: “A contract is a contract. They are agreed not just by our board but, as under our ownership agreement, also by [majority owners] Holman Barnes [Group]. At the end of the day, it’s not the contract, it’s what people do.
“Benji works incredibly hard. What I like about Benji is that he’s incredibly resilient. Being a leader of a football club, a coach, politics, whatever – is tough, it’s not easy. Everyone’s convinced they can do a better job.
“But it’s not their job. The job week in and week out is Benji’s, and I’m impressed with how he has faced up to it and put effort into it … Occasionally on the sidelines he looks like a grump, but he’s actually a caring, skilled manager of people.”
The Doueihi drama dominated the news cycle for more than a week. Marshall named Doueihi in his preferred halfback position against the Eels after the former Rabbitoh refused to play at lock against the Raiders.
“Ultimately, the fact the parties have come together will deliver a lesson for both players and coaches,” O’Farrell said. “That’s ultimately something we’ll see play out.”
The Tigers began their season well, earning a share of the competition lead after six rounds. However, they have fallen away significantly, to the point they sit above only the Dragons on the ladder. Asked for his assessment of the decline, O’Farrell said: “I think it is, at best, puzzling.
“Puzzling because we started so well. Even in the middle of the season we defeated a number of teams we weren’t expected to defeat … If coaches were able to get consistency all the time for their teams, life would be easier.”
The Tigers’ fortunes nosedived from the moment Jarome Luai signed with the PNG Chiefs from 2028. Marshall subsequently asked the four-time premiership-winning playmaker to leave at the end of this season, resulting in him signing for Parramatta next year.
“I’m slightly critical of the NRL given the potential for a number of clubs to lose players whilst they are still contracted to them,” O’Farrell said.
“It’s a great initiative, PNG coming into the NRL. But I’m not sure it was properly worked through how you transition existing players of any club into PNG without creating some stresses and pressures in those clubs.”
Reminded that Luai and the Chiefs exploited an exit clause in his contract that the Tigers agreed to, O’Farrell said: “I have to tell you that rugby league contracts are the only contracts I know that can be gotten out of pretty easily.”
Asked if the Tigers were a fractured club, O’Farrell said: “I don’t believe so, for the reason I said before – it frustrates me enormously that you can have a contract with a player – and it means nothing when he wants to go.
“If it was fractured, you would have seen over the past three years far more movement than you have seen.”
O’Farrell said the club was performing well off the field, including turning “our first profit in 10 years … [and] at a governance level we have got it together.” However, he acknowledged the most important metric was on-field performance.
Marshall last week admitted that standards had slipped and that it was an area that needed addressing.
“The key is not that they slipped, the key is to ensure they don’t continue to slip,” O’Farrell said. “There’s no point looking back. Leadership is about looking forward. It’s about not being distracted by the noise, it’s about learning from the past.
“One thing I’m convinced about with Benji Marshall is that he’s incredibly smart … he doesn’t make the same error.”
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