Wests Tigers news: Adam Hartigan the first victim of Tim Sheens return, Josh Hodgson deal
The first casualty of Tim Sheens’ arrival at Tigertown has been announced with the head of football shown the door, while the club is edging closer to securing another English international.
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The new Tim Sheens era has claimed its first casualty but the Wests Tigers could add Test hooker Josh Hodgson by next week.
Head of football Adam Hartigan is the first high-profile axing from the club with Sheens’ arrival all but resulting in Hartigan’s exit. He joined the club from the Roosters in 2019 and was responsible for signing the Tigers best young prospects, including Stefano Utoikamanu, Daine Laurie and Shawn Blore.
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The Tigers confirmed Sheens was now the director of football – giving the premiership winning coach unfretted power. He signed a three-year, $1 million deal.
Coach Michael Maguire reports to Sheens in the new structure.
Sheens also wants to bring ex-recruitment manager Warren McDonnell to the club. It will be McDonnell’s third stint at the club after they parted ways just months ago.
Hartigan has had to work with a disjointed salary cap but made moves to improve that situation significantly.
That has enabled the Tigers to pursue Hodgson from the Raiders.
Still in the UK, Sheens has been working the phones in recent days with the Tigers hierarchy — making it clear that Hodgson should be a priority pick-up with the English international’s experience and class desperately required by the club.
Significantly and the key to the deal being done, is that the 70-year-old has also maintained a strong relationship with many of the Raiders key decision-makers. Sheens spent more than a decade in Canberra and is the longest-serving coach in the club’s history.
The Tigers are prepared to offer Hodgson a two-year deal. His contract expires with Canberra at the end of next season.
News Corp has been told Raiders coach Ricky Stuart and Wests Tigers coach Michael Maguire have spoken in-depth about Hodgson’s possible transfer to Concord.
The major obstacle will be exactly how much Wests Tigers want Canberra to tip in for the deal to eventuate. Canberra fears the amount might be too high.
Maguire was the person under most pressure to retain his job at the Tigers just months ago. But Maguire survived a review into his position. Instead, Hartigan and assistant coaches Wayne Collins and Shane Millard are the ones who are no longer at the club.
The Tigers are yet to finalise who will join Maguire’s coaching staff. Shane Flanagan, Ben Gardner, Ryan Carr and Nathan Cayless have been interviewed for the role.
$1M MESSIAH RETURNS FOR TIGERS RESCUE MISSION
— Michael Carayannis
Forget Tiger Town. The Tigers are now Tim’s Town after premiership-winning coach Tim Sheens was given unfettered powers over the Wests Tigers football operations.
Sheens is due to arrive in Australia from England later this month and he does so with the remit of rebuilding the Wests Tigers.
The joint venture’s most successful coach has inked a three-year, $1 million deal. Sheens formally agreed terms with the Tigers on Tuesday night to return as director of football, presiding over the front office to help coach Michael Maguire bring success back to Concord.
Sheens’ role has been significantly increased in recent months. He was originally slated to return as the club’s head of performance when the Tigers’ trumpeted the announcement in June.
That role was to have Sheens overseeing recruitment, pathways, football administration and club culture.
Now he will run the entire football operations of the club. Maguire will report to Sheens as will the club’s head of football Adam Hartigan.
Maguire somehow defied the odds to keep his job and he will have the senior backing of Sheens, who coached ‘Madge’ at the Raiders during his golden tenure at Canberra that netted three premierships in 1989-90 and 1994.
Now, at age 70, Sheens is back to spearhead a new era for the Tigers following a politically-charged 2021 campaign that almost led to the sacking of Maguire as part of an end-of-season internal review.
Currently in quarantine in England, where he served at Salford and Widnes, Sheens is poised to return to Australia within seven days after signing a deal to link with the Tigers until the end of 2024.
The deal is worth more than $300,000 a season and caps a Concord resurrection for Sheens, enshrined as the Wests Tigers’ most successful coach after his decade-long stint between 2003-12.
Sheens has been in talks with the Tigers for some time but had delayed signing the deal until club bosses worked out exactly how his role would operate and where he would sit in the official pecking order.
His decision to finally put pen to paper with the increased role could mean a shake-up of a football department which has already cut a swathe through its coaching staff.
The club has been conducting interviews with potential assistants to Maguire in recent weeks - among the candidates are former premiership-winner Shane Flanagan, ex-Sydney Roosters assistant Nathan Cayless and Parramatta reserve grade coach Ryan Carr.
TIGER CUBS CAN CLAW WAY INTO FINALS
— Nick Campton
Whenever the Tigers end the longest finals drought in the NRL you can bet it’ll be homegrown products, not big money buys, that get the job done.
Michael Maguire’s side are seemingly linked with every big name free agent on the market only to miss out time and again, but the joint venture are committed to building their future from within.
The club revamped their junior system earlier this year with former Cricket Australia coaching and development manager Matthew Betsey joining the club as head of pathways with former Test and Origin halfback Brett Kimmorley also signing on.
Their mission is simple – to keep the best Tigers kids in the club’s vast catchment area, from Balmain to Macarthur and everywhere in between, in Tigers colours.
“If they grow up in our area we want them to have aspirations to play for the Wests Tigers,” Kimmorley said.
“It’s such a big area – we have Balmain, Wests and Macarthur and the club has made a significant investment into those pathways.
“We want to give these kids the opportunity to pursue a dream. I’ve been really excited since I joined the club, we’re having regular catch ups with the entire pathways team. I think the club has taken a significant step and I’m really excited to be a part of it.
“All we can do is provide a good environment. We want to coach the kids in our own backyard so they don’t feel like they have to leave or go elsewhere.”
Patience can be in short supply in rugby league and the pandemic has put the brakes on most of the last two seasons when it comes to junior and lower grade football.
But the Tigers have quietly put together an impressive production line – Jake Simpkin, Tuki Simpkins, Zac Cini, Jock Madden and Kelma Tuilagi all made their NRL debuts this year after standout seasons for the club’s NSW Cup side, which finished the season in second place.
The Jersey Flegg team, led by impressive halfback Liam Scolari and powerful hooker/lock Rua Ngatikaura, was even more dominant, going unbeaten until the season was suspended in July.
The club’s vast catchment area – particular the fast-growing Macarthur region – could see them emulate Penrith and become a production line of top tier talent.
In terms of junior representative football the Western Suburbs Harold Matthews team was the pick of the bunch in 2021, finishing one game short of the grand final with talented utility Solomone Saukurua standout.
“It’s a good pathways program we’ve already got, we’re just trying to create opportunities for local kids to want to stay with us and grow with us and become part of the Wests Tigers family,” Kimmorley said.
“The end picture is we want to produce as many kids as we can for the senior program and they have the core skills they picked up in the program.
“As they get older we want to make sure they understand the principals, rules and structures of how the NRL side play.”
TIGERS’ MISSION TO BRING BACK PRODIGAL SON
— Dean Ritchie
It’s now time to come home, Benji.
On the day Benji Marshall announced his retirement from rugby league, Wests Tigers chairman Lee Hagipantelis revealed plans to lure the club legend back to Concord.
And Marshall may return directly onto the Wests Tigers coaching staff and reunite with the club’s two other favourite sons – Robbie Farah and Tim Sheens.
Marshall, 36, retired on Wednesday, his final game being for South Sydney in Sunday’s grand final loss to Penrith.
The Daily Telegraph has learned a selfless Marshall decided to retire several weeks ago but wanted his decision kept secret to avoid a media frenzy during Souths’ premiership bid.
While he also played for Brisbane, St George Illawarra and South Sydney in rugby league – and Auckland Blues in rugby union – Marshall has always considered him a Wests Tiger.
He had two stints at Concord, playing a total of 257 NRL games including victory in the 2005 grand final.
He wants to coach and would ultimately aim to coach at Wests Tigers, the club he cherishes. Although unlikely, Marshall could even be fast tracked and considered for the Wests Tigers assistant coaching position vacated on Monday by Shane Millard.
“He would be an incredible ambassador, mentor and coach of sorts,” Hagipantelis said. “In what capacity I do not know, these are discussions that would have to be held with the football department.
“Benji is such a unique individual and is so experienced, he would be able to coach these young players as to what is involved in being a successful NRL player. That level of experience cannot be bought.
“I’d be more than happy to sit down with him and discuss what opportunities are available within our organisation.
“Benji would be welcomed back with open arms to the Wests Tigers in some capacity. He is a 2005 brother and premiership winner so we would warmly welcome him back.
“He has roamed far and wide but Wests Tigers is his spiritual home but they always come back home.
“His association with Wests Tigers goes back many, many years and it’s an association which could never be compromised in any way, no matter what has occurred in the meantime.”
Marshall has a new two-year contract with Fox Sports but would have the time to commit to a coaching gig at Wests Tigers.
Bringing Marshall back would continue a club trend of having former players return after retirement.
Farah and former winger Pat Richards are coaching consultants while utility Chris Lawrence is employed in the club’s player wellbeing department with ex prop John Skandalis in corporate sales.
And with Sheens to start shortly as director of coaching, the trio which masterminded Wests Tigers’ famous ’05 grand final win may soon be back together again.
In his retirement speech, Marshall said: “I’d like to make extra mention of Wests Tigers, where I’m a life member. I spent the majority of my rugby league life playing for Wests Tigers. I won a competition in 2005 with them, something I will never forget.
“I’d like to make special mention of Tim Sheens. He really helped me come through and become the player that I am today. His mentorship, his coaching, his encouragement of me to be able to use my skills is second-to-none.
“I will get through today first and assess what is next from there on. I really just want to enjoy this moment, especially with my family, I suppose you could say celebrate what I have been able to achieve in my career.”
WHY MARSHALL SAID NO TO TITANS LIFELINE
— Travis Meyn
Benji Marshall knocked back a 2022 contract with the Gold Coast Titans because he knew the time was right to call curtains on one of the NRL’s great careers.
Marshall announced his retirement on Wednesday following a glittering 346-game NRL career which has seen him enter the debate to become New Zealand’s first rugby league Immortal.
Marshall, 36, played a remarkable 19 seasons in the NRL with Wests Tigers, St George Illawarra, the Broncos and South Sydney.
He starred in the Tigers’ 2005 NRL premiership season and played 31 Tests for New Zealand, including the Kiwis’ memorable 2008 World Cup triumph.
Marshall’s final season ended in heartbreak as the Rabbitohs lost last Sunday’s grand final 14-12 to Penrith and he had a one-year deal on the table from the Titans. But he knew the time was right to go out on his terms.
“I don’t think it gets any better in terms of timing,” Marshall said.
“The more I thought about it, if I didn’t make this decision now I would have played until I was 40. I just love the game so much.
The greatest. ðŸ¯ðŸ‘‘ pic.twitter.com/ffUnxVQvoF
— Wests Tigers (@WestsTigers) October 6, 2021
“It feels like the right time. There was a lot of good stuff being said about me and I’d hate for that to go on for one season too long.
“I did consider playing on but the more I thought about it, the more I felt it was time to move on. My family’s put a lot of sacrifice into moving around and doing things for me. It’s time for me to change that and put my family first.
“I still love what I do, I’m just glad I get to go out this way.”
Marshall made his NRL debut for the Wests Tigers as an 18-year-old in 2003, but it was the 2005 season that he came to life.
He played 27 games for the Tigers that season on the way to Wests Tigers winning the premiership, which remains the joint venture’s only NRL title.
Marshall’s famous flick pass to sink North Queensland has long been remembered as one of the greatest moments in NRL grand final history and he played 201 games across 10 seasons in his first stint at the Tigers before making a shock switch to rugby union with the Auckland Blues.
Marshall’s Super Rugby experiment lasted just six games before he found himself yearning for a return to the NRL, with St George Illawarra bringing him back to the 13-man game.
After three seasons with the Dragons, Marshall’s career was at a crossroads and if not for a lifeline from Wayne Bennett at the Broncos in 2017 it may have come to an end.
After one year in Brisbane, Marshall then made a fairytale return to the Tigers and spent another three seasons at Wests before being squeezed out again.
A one-season cameo at Souths ended with the Rabbitohs falling agonisingly short and Bennett said Marshall deserved to be remembered among the game’s greatest players.
“When they talk about the great players of the game, he will always be in that category,” Bennett said.
“How do you define the greatest player of all time? I can’t do that, but he’s in that category.
“The influence he’s had on the game and the way he’s played … the players that wanted to be like him are many.
“The greatest legacy for players is that young boys grow up seeing them play and want to be like Benji Marshall, Andrew Johns, Allan Langer and those wonderful players. He’ll be up there in all of those conversations.
“He’s won premierships, World Cups and everything the game can offer. He doesn’t have to be an Immortal to know his career was all that it could have been.
“I’ve always gravitated towards him. I would be over football but I loved watching him play. He brought that unpredictability all of his career.
“There was another part I learned about him – what a great bloke he is and how committed he is to everything around him.
“I’ve never had any hesitation when he’s rang me to look for a club. I always knew what he brought. It dumbfounded me that clubs couldn’t see those values.”
Marshall arrived in Australia from Whakatane in his early teens after being offered a football scholarship by Gold Coast league nursery Keebra Park.
Two decades later, he leaves the game following one of the great NRL careers.
“I’ve done a lot of things in my career, I’ve had a lot of highlights and achievements,” Marshall said.
“The thing I’m most proud of is I set a pathway for our family which was different from the normal back home. I gave them something to aspire to and chase.
“I made it possible for them to think if I could live my dream they could live theirs. That’s what I’m most proud of.
“I had five shoulder reconstructions in the first five years and got told to retire. Through perseverance and resilience, I was able to get through it. I’m really proud of how I fought back from my setbacks. That’s testament to the way I was raised.”
BENJI MAGIC: TOP 10 MOMENTS OF LEGEND’S CAREER
— Nick Campton
After 19 years, 346 NRL matches and 31 Tests for New Zealand, Benji Marshall, who looked like he would play forever, is retiring.
From his debut all the way back in 2003 it’s been a wild ride of flick passes, big steps, wins, losses and everything in between as the skinny kid from Whakatane became the most beloved player of modern times.
The 36-year-old has called time on his stellar career after playing his final match for Souths last Sunday’s grand-final loss to Penrith.
We could sit here all day talking about our favourite Benji moments, but here’s 10 of the best from a career with a highlight reel as long as your arm.
10) First grade debut vs Newcastle, 2003
Marshall was still just 17 and a student at Keebra Park on the Gold Coast when Tim Sheens flew him down to Sydney to start at halfback against the Knights at Campbelltown late in the 2003 season. He was still raw, and so slight he could blow away in the wind, but there were glimpses of what he would become as Marshall impressed in the 52-12 romp.
9) 50-metre field goal vs Gold Coast, 2010
At the start of his career, Marshall couldn’t kick the ball much further than he could throw it. But through consistent application he developed one of the biggest boots in the competition, as shown by this incredible field goal from his own side of halfway. It banged off the crossbar and proved to be the difference in a 15-14 win over the Titans.
8) Last win at Leichhardt vs Brisbane, 2020
Marshall had plenty of great days at Leichhardt Oval, mainly on sunny Sunday afternoons, but his last win at the famous old ground in Tigers colours came on a rainy Friday night. The joint venture legend wound back the clock, scoring a try and setting up two more in a 48-0 win over the Broncos in front of a raucous crowd who salivated getting one more glimpse of their heroes best football.
7) Try vs Dragons, 2005 preliminary final
Tim Sheens was the master of scrum plays, so much so that he would draw them up with his playmakers on the shortest notice and the biggest stage. In the warm-up of the 2005 preliminary final, Sheens called Marshall, Scott Prince and Brett Hodgson and instructed them to run a certain backline spread off the first attacking scrum. They did, and Marshall ran 30 metres to score and help propel the Tigers to a 20-12 win an progress to their first grand final.
6) Try vs Australia, 2008 World Cup final
After three years of shoulder and knee injuries, Marshall’s career was at something of a crossroads heading into New Zealand’s World Cup campaign. But under the coaching of Stephen Kearney, and with Wayne Bennett on staff as an assistant, Marshall rediscovered his best form through the Kiwi’s victorious campaign, capped with his opportunistic intercept try off a Billy Slater speculator pass in the New Zealander’s 34-20 win in the final, which helped secure the country’s first RLWC title.
5) Try vs Brisbane, 2005 semi-final
With Brisbane attacking the Tigers line early on in their sudden-death final in 2005 things looked dire until Marshall managed to swoop on Darren Smith’s inside ball and go the length of the field to score next to the posts amid the roars of 36,000 Tigers fans. From there it was a route, with the Tigers running out 34-6 winners, but it was Marshall’s instinctive grab that opened the door.
4) Man of the match display, 2010 Four Nations final
There have been many peaks and valleys through Marshall’s career but 2010 was his highest high and his display in the Four Nations final against Australia is perhaps the greatest game he ever played. As captain, Marshall set up all three New Zealand tries in the 16-12 triumph, including Nathan Fien’s last-second matchwinner, outpointing the likes of Cooper Cronk and Darren Lockyer in his finest hour in his beloved Kiwi jersey.
3) Try assist vs Cronulla, 2005
When Marshall was at his best as a Tigers he played like nobody could touch him and try as they might, the Cronulla Sharks certainly couldn’t in the lead up to this incredible try which formed part of a 46-6 drubbing by the league’s deadliest attacking machine. Marshall bounced off his left foot three times, accelerated through a gap and launched a 20-metre no-look pass to Pat Richards, who dropped it back for Daniel Fitzhenry to score a try that is as remarkable to watch now as it was back in 2005.
2) Flick pass to Blake Ayshford, 2009
Part of the thrill of watching Marshall was seeing him make impossible plays look as if they weren’t just easy, they were natural. Who else, on tackle zero after 20 minutes of a must-win game against Parramatta, with a finals berth on the line, would throw a no-look, behind the back pass when a regular one might have done the job? Only Marshall, who hit Blake Ayshford with a little bit of magic that allowed the centre to dive over the score. Nobody else could do it like Benji, because nobody else would dare.
1) Flick pass to Pat Richards, 2005 grand final
You have seen it a thousand times. You probably saw it a hundred times in the last week alone. And yet, 16 years later, it’s still like something out of a dream. Brett Hodgson collects a kick on his own goal line. Marshall, defending on the wing, hits a gap off the fullback. He beats three defenders and hits open pasture, only to be corralled by North Queensland fullback Matt Bowen, so Marshall does what only Marshall would do — he ducks towards the sideline and flicks a pass to Pat Richards. Richards powers the remaining 40 metres to score one of the great grand final tries. At first, it’s not quite clear what happened. Everything went too quickly. When it comes up on the replay, and the crowd sees what Marshall has done, there’s no so many cheers as there are gasps of astonishment. At 20 years old, Benji produced the play of a lifetime in the 30-16 win that delivered the Tigers their first premiership. It will be remembered for as long as rugby league is played.
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