NRL 2023: Wests Tigers co-founder Jim Marsden fears for club’s future, relocation

As the club approaches a second straight wooden spoon, Wests Tigers co-founder Jim Marsden has expressed “grave fears” that his club could be forced to relocate.

Tim Sheens will quit his coaching role a year early.

The high-profile lawyer who established Wests Tigers 24 years ago has expressed “grave fears” that his club could be forced to relocate.

“It would absolutely break my heart and break the hearts of many, many fans,” said Jim Marsden, the former Western Suburbs chairman, who founded the joint venture along with Balmain counterpart, John Chalk.

While Marsden desperately hopes his former club can formulate a “properly developed” plan for success, he cannot shake an uneasy angst that Wests Tigers could be targeted if the NRL calls for clubs to be relocated.

Ironically, it was rationalisation which pushed Wests Magpies and Balmain Tigers together after the NRL was formed in 1998.

Wests Tigers have been rocked yet again with coach Tim Sheens announcing he would quit the club after this season, catapulting Benji Marshall into the coaching hot seat a year ahead of schedule.

Former Western Suburbs chairman Jim Marsden helped found the Wests Tigers … and now has grave fears over the club’s future. Picture: AAP.

A second successive wooden spoon this season – the club has won just three games – has only heightened Marsden’s fears.

“From someone who was one the founders of the club, I have grave fears moving forward – something has to give,” Marsden said. “If you’re on the bottom of the ladder forever, you’re going to lose your fan base.

“The league (NRL) is always looking to expand and if they have to expand at the expense of another club, they’re more likely to do it with a club down the bottom.

“If a club has to be sacrificed in the interests of expansion, a club on the bottom of the ladder and losing popularity, is the easiest one to sacrifice.

“It would absolutely break my heart, no doubt about it, as well breaking the hearts of many, many fans. I don’t think it’s an actual threat at the moment but unless something is done, it could get to that level. It is a reality.

“From my point of view, it is extremely disappointing. When you look at it at the moment, you think: ‘There is nowhere to go.’ Disappointed is an understatement. You’ve got to go up but how do you go up?

Marsden fears the club may be forced to relocate and risk losing its identity. Picture: Robert Pozo.

“When you have radical changes, and constant changes of coaches, it’s not good for the fans, it’s not good for the players, not good for morale. It just doesn’t work.

“You can’t turn somebody from bottom of the ladder to top of the ladder overnight. You have to have a well-developed plan to do it and that plan must (include) consistency, get it right and stick to it.

“I’m not here to tell anyone what to do but you can’t allow little hiccups to change the plan. That plan may well be that you make the top eight in three years, five years, whatever it is.”

Marsden and Chalk spent “hundreds of hours” discussing the possible merger before the joint venture was formally announced on July 27, 1999, the new NRL team starting in 2000. Chalk was inaugural chairman, Marsden his deputy.

Since 2012, Wests Tigers have been coached by Sheens, Mick Potter, Jason Taylor, Andrew Webster, Ivan Cleary, Michael Maguire, Brett Kimmorley, Sheens again, and now Marshall. Ben Gardiner was a caretaker in 2022.

The prospect of a second straight wooden spoon has done little to alleviate Marsden’s fears. Picture: Getty Images.

“I’m not closely associated with the club anymore, I’m a mere observer looking in from the outside, but still a Wests Tigers fan,” said Marsden, a senior partner in Marsden Law Group.

“I don’t sit in the boardroom and I don’t sit in the management room but from my experience, you’ve got to have a plan, and that plan has to be properly developed and then properly executed. In other words, you’ve got to stick to it.

“So in doing that you then start to develop a level of constancy, I distinguish that from consistency. That makes for a better organisation.

“In this case, you’ve got three factors – sport, business and people. That doesn’t mean they’re in three rankings because they are all equally important. You’ve got to meld the sport, the business and people so you get the best out of every aspect.

“In my business, and we have a very successful and highly-respected legal business in southwest Sydney, we work on plans five years out and we stick to our plans unless something absolutely exceptional comes up to change it.

“I’m not going to criticise anyone but I can see from the outside that nothing is constant.”

COMMENT: BENJI’s BEEN THROWN TO WOLVES … BUT HE CAN SUCCEED

—Brent Read

The Wests Tigers haven’t got a lot right in recent years but they nailed the timing of their latest bombshell.

News that Tim Sheens is expected to walk away at the end of the season and hand the reins to Benji Marshall leaked on the same day the Matildas will play in the semi-finals of the World Cup.

If there was a time to reveal that Sheens – a club legend – was about to depart, this was it. Space is tight. The news agenda is chokkers. The Matildas are the bee’s knees. Nothing else really matters.

There was little room and even less appetite for deep analysis into whether the Tigers erred at the start of the year by appointing Sheens. The answer, albeit with the benefit of hindsight, is almost certainly yes.

There was little demand for a deep dive into the Tigers hierarchy and why the club continues to get in its own way. Nor was there a clamour for 400 words on why Marshall has been fast-tracked into a role ahead of time, seemingly thrown to the wolves well ahead of schedule.

When the news did emerge on Wednesday morning, there was a sense of inevitability about it all. Rumours had circulated for months that Sheens would depart the head coaching role at the end of the season, one year in advance of the original plan.

Tim Sheens will quit his coaching role a year early.

The Tigers have struggled this season and Sheens has seemingly spent most of the year on the back foot, defending the club and his appointment amid talk of player unrest over the lack of progress.

All the while, Marshall has seemingly taken more control. Some will tell you he was largely running the show. Sheens would step in when necessary, but Marshall was beginning to take over the team, albeit with Sheens still the front man taking the bullets.

Those days are just about over. Marshall is now the face of the club. He has spent the year avoiding the media – his lone public appearance came last week when the side was in New Zealand – but his time is now.

Marshall is about to become the man under the gun. It may have come sooner than anyone expected, but don’t bet against him.

History suggests Benji usually gets his way.

WHY SHEENS LEAVING DOESN’T FIX TIGERS

—Dean Ritchie

The leader will exit but the problems remain.

Tim Sheens’ decision to step down as Wests Tigers head coach after the NRL season won’t fix Wests Tigers. If only it was that simple.

The club’s issues are deep and burning. There is a decade-long culture problem and players privately feel a level of hopelessness.

Benji Marshall will take over as Tigers coach. Picture: Getty

Benji Marshall has essentially been coaching Wests Tigers for the past three months and where do they sit on the NRL ladder? Last and headed for consecutive wooden spoons.

Many would argue Marshall simply isn’t ready in his coaching education to step up. Even Benji must harbour some doubts.

Is it difficult to conjure sufficient optimism to predict Wests Tigers will take giant strides forward next season.

Arguably, on form, the club’s two best backs are Luke Brooks and Daine Laurie – both are walking away. How did this happen?

Coming in their place is Aiden Sezer and Jayden Sullivan, while the Fainu brothers, five-eighth Latu, 18, and forward Sameula, 19, will make the switch from Manly.

It’s probably unfair to apportion direct blame for Wests Tigers’ misery at any particular area of the organisation.

There is the playing group, CEO, coaching staff, management and board – each and all must shoulder responsibility.

Simply having Sheens walk won’t eradicate a myriad of problems.

Sadly for Wests Tigers fans, this mess could take another five years to recover from. The wait has been long and arduous – and it ain’t over yet.

Originally published as NRL 2023: Wests Tigers co-founder Jim Marsden fears for club’s future, relocation