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Benji Marshall has returned to his spiritual home with the Wests Tigers in 2022, and has immediately thrown his weight behind embattled coach Michael Maguire to turn the ship around this season.
Marshall said he was not worried about Maguire’s job, despite many lining Madge up as the frontrunner in the NRL sack race.
“I don’t fear for it. He may feel otherwise,” Marshall told 9News.
“The only way to solve it is to have success. If you don’t have success then coaches are going to change, as do players. We’ve seen that year in, year out.
“So he is probably feeling the heat there.”
Marshall said that Tim Sheens, who coached him to the 2005 NRL Premiership, would be able to take some of the slack off Maguire.
“He brings a real calmness about him,” said the Kiwi legend.
(Photo by Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images)
“Not only that, he’s brought the Tigers out of this position before. He’s had to rely on a lot of young kids, sign the right people… and ’05 turned out the way it did.
“He’s also a shoulder to lean on if Madge needs it or any of the players need someone else to talk to. He’s been there and done that.”
“One of the biggest things with the club is fans may have lost some trust and some respect – the appointment of Tim brings back some of that confidence.”
Benji also gave his support to former teammate Luke Brooks, backing his former halfback partner to succeed in the coming season.
“I feel for him because he cops a lot of criticism,” said Marshall, who played with Brooks from 2018 to 2020.
“Unfortunately, when you’re in the halves or the most high-profile player, a lot falls on you.
“At Souths last year we did a lot of video on him before we played him because we knew if we could shut him down we would win. That says a lot about him.
“He doesn’t need to leave. It’s all outside noise. Professional players, you can either deal with the outside noise, let it go and keep playing, or you succumb to it and do what everyone else wants you to do.
“I’m glad he’s stayed strong. He loves the Tigers. People don’t see what he does behind the scenes, but he loves the club and he’s stayed for a reason.”
Marshall will be back coaching himself in the coming weeks, helping out with the juniors in the Wests system and taking a particular interest in the young halves and hookers coming through.
Benji will hold an ambassadorial role too, something that many Tigers fans felt impossible given the long-standing rumours of a fallout with Maguire that clouded his departure from Wests to Souths in 2020.
Marshall – and plenty of fans – thought that he had been forced out prematurely, which was borne out by his 2021 performances with the Bunnies, providing vital experience off the bench as Souths made it as far as the Grand Final.
Despite the rumours of bad blood, Marshall said that he jumped at the chance to return to the club where he made his name as a skinny teenager nearly 20 years ago.
“When the club asked me if I wanted to come back I was like ‘yes’ straight away,” he said.
“What happened at the time [with my exit], it was bad miscommunication. When you’re not wanted you take it to heart, but once you accept it and move on it’s all good. I finished at Souths in a grand final. How can I be angry?
“The biggest thing I learned about footy during my career is, ‘nobody is bigger than a club’.
“When you talk about me and the club, I’ve had a massive influence on the history of this club, and they’ve had a massive influence on my life. That will never change.
“I’m keen to coach the juniors. When you’re building a club back up, it’s about bringing through the next wave of players.
“I wanted to help the hookers, halves and fullbacks in the junior grades so by the time they arrive in the NRL they are ready to make the transition.”
The Tigers have often failed to make the most of their juniors system, which incorporates both the Balmain Tigers and Wests Magpies side of the joint venture.
Tim Sheens has been brought back to the club as Head of Football Performance in part to rectify that, with an emphasis on smoothing transition from the SG Ball, Harold Matthews and Jersey Flegg age group comps through to the NRL.
Marshall will be coaching at Harold Matthews and SG Ball level – under 18s and under 16s – where the Tigers field four teams, split across the Balmain Tigers and Wests Magpies.
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