Buzz Rothfield: Benji Marshall treading dangerous line in NRL’s great coach cull

There have been 30 NRL coaches sacked in less than a decade. Phil ‘Buzz’ Rothfield asks Wests Tigers boss Shane Richardson - who has axed three coaches in his career - whether Benji Marshall will be 31.

Wests Tigers boss Shane Richardson has been around forever in rugby league administration and knows all about the brutal business of having to sack head coaches.

He’s axed three – Shaun McRae (2006), Jason Taylor (2009) and Michael Maguire (2017) – all while at South Sydney.

This is a sport in which no less than 30 coaches have been sacked in the past decade.

That is not a typographical error – 30 coaches. Dumped, axed, fired, discharged.

Many of them are career-ending.

Even super coaches Wayne Bennett, Ivan Cleary, Tim Sheens and Des Hasler are among the casualties. And they’ve won 17 premierships between them.

“It can be made tough by boards that expect too much too quickly,” Richo says. “There’s sometimes not a lot of patience.”

On McRae, Richardson says: “Souths were going terrible but it was still difficult.”

On Taylor: “Jason went for disciplinary reasons and the fight with David Fa’alogo in the pub.”

And Maguire: “I employed ‘Madge’ and he won us a premiership. He never lost the dressing room but the players weren’t listening to him anymore. It was hard because he’s a good person.”

Shane Richardson says Benji Marshall has all the ingredients to succeed.

Richo’s past record illustrates the amount of pressure on Benji Marshall this year at Wests Tigers in such a performance-­driven business at a club that has won three straight wooden spoons.

So, for something different, I turn to AI. It is supposed to know everything and you don’t get your standard CEO or management line.

I type into their search engine: “Is Benji Marshall’s job safe at the Wests Tigers?”

It spat out the following: “As of January 31, 2025, Benji Marshall remains the head coach of the Wests Tigers. Despite the team’s challenges, including finishing with the wooden spoon in the 2024 NRL season, there have been no official indications that his position is under immediate threat.

“Marshall has been proactive in strengthening the squad, securing key signings such as Jarome Luai, who will serve as co-captain alongside Api Koroisau in the upcoming season.

“However, some NRL analysts have noted that if the ­Tigers do not show significant improvement in 2025, the responsibility will likely fall on Marshall’s shoulders. As of now, the club appears to be supporting Marshall as he leads the team into the new season.”

It makes you think about the scrutiny and pressure these coaches are under.

You pick up Ivan Cleary’s book that was published before Christmas. He might have won four straight titles and comes across as a cool and relaxed dude.

Yet his account of his struggles in the 2019 season is almost frightening.

Read this: “I am looking at the box of antidepressants in my hand, wondering if I should take them or not. ‘Shit,’ I say to myself, ‘I can’t take much more?

“It’s May 2019. I’ve seen my doctor and explained how the world is closing in on me.

‘It has become too much. I feel overwhelmed and I need help.”

This is extraordinary stuff and very brave.

He goes on: “Coaches aren’t supposed to be vulnerable. They’re supposed to carry the load of the entire club. I know people look at me and think I’m calm, even laid-back. But what you see on the outside doesn’t always reflect what’s happening on the inside.”

It should make us all stop and think.

A coach loses three or four on the trot and the pile-on begins.

Your columnist is as guilty as anyone.

It’s the opening segment on NRL 360. This column. Radio, online, social media. Everyone’s got an opinion on struggling footy clubs. And it’s all negative.

Benji last year faced criticism about taking a short family holiday to Fiji on the back of nine straight losses. That he sometimes plays a morning round of golf on match day. That he’s made it very clear that he’s a dad to his family as much as an NRL head coach.

Richardson is hoping – and confident – that Benji won’t become the 31st sacking.

“Sometimes you can pull the trigger too soon,” he says.

“You need time to build a club into what you want, although I understand at the end of the day the business is about winning.

“Benji this year has got the team he wants. We’ve recruited very well.

“He is highly intelligent and works very hard.

“He’s learning all the time and I’m very comfortable with where he’s going with the team.”

So I finished up by putting in a phone call to Manly legend and favourite son Geoff Toovey, one of the 30 coaching casualties.

Toovey is now working in the club’s pathways, 10 years after he was ruthlessly sacked.

He was filthy at the time but looks back now with a better understanding of why coaches are so often in the firing line at under-performing clubs.

“In professional sport it’s a job all about performance,” he said. “It’s the coach’s responsibility to deliver results. If you don’t deliver, like in any industry, you say goodbye.

“It doesn’t matter if you haven’t got the cattle. If you’re in charge and you’re not winning, that’s it.

“You know there are no guarantees in the job when you sign up.”