{"id":314066,"date":"2023-07-06T06:03:07","date_gmt":"2023-07-06T06:03:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=314066"},"modified":"2023-07-06T07:00:09","modified_gmt":"2023-07-06T07:00:09","slug":"joeys-grim-advice-for-tigers-as-benji-promotion-looms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=314066","title":{"rendered":"Joey's grim advice for Tigers as Benji promotion looms"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rugby league Immortal Andrew Johns<\/a> says Benji Marshall<\/a> won't be able to improve the Wests Tigers until the club recruits new players, following speculation the joint venture's favourite son would be fast-tracked in time for the 2024 preseason.\n<\/p>\n

Marshall, who is currently an assistant coach under Tim Sheens<\/a>, signed a five-year deal with the
\n club that would see him take over head coaching duties in 2025 after a two-year apprenticeship.\n<\/p>\n

With the Tigers currently positioned at the bottom of the ladder with only three wins to
\n their name, questions have been raised
\n about the success and impact the coaching duo has had, with the Tigers' 74-0 thrashing against the Cowboys<\/a> putting those questions into even sharper focus. <\/p>\n

READ MORE: <\/strong>Top umpire tears down England's fragile protests<\/strong><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

READ MORE: <\/strong>'Someone forgot': Incredible blunder allowed Dog to walk<\/strong><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Joey flames 'insulting pile-on' aimed at Blues rookie<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Speaking on Wide World of Sports' Freddy and The Eighth<\/em><\/a>, Johns said he doesn't know
\n how the "inexperienced" side is going to rebuild under Marshall.<\/p>\n

\"Wests<\/p>\n

He added that Marshall needs to "sign back some key players" in order to make ends meet.\n<\/p>\n

"Look, you could have [coaching greats] Tim Sheens, Wayne Bennett, Warren Ryan, and Craig Bellamy
\n there at the moment but they haven't got class players in key positions," Johns said.\n<\/p>\n

"It's a tough period there at the Tigers, really tough."\n<\/p>\n

Following news that Luke Brooks would be ending his 11-year
\n career with the club to join Manly from next season, Johns suggested Marshall and the Tigers should "think outside the square" and recruit
\n international talent.\n<\/p>\n

"They've lost Luke Brooks. There is no halfback," Johns said.\n<\/p>\n

"Halfbacks over the last few years are very rare. I think they have to go to England, think
\n outside the square.\n<\/p>\n

"Go to New Zealand, look over there. Maybe go to rugby union, look at the junior rugby
\n union players."<\/p>\n

\"Blues<\/p>\n

Freddy and The Eighth<\/em> host Mat Thompson questioned the immediate impact Marshall could have on
\n the Tigers having never coached a side before, saying the incoming coach will be under
\n immense pressure to resolve the team's issues.\n<\/p>\n

"Well, apparently Benji is doing about 70 per cent of the head coaching work there anyway, but
\n he's never coached before," Thompson told Johns.\n<\/p>\n

"Benji's not going to jump up to the head coach's box and fix everything straight away for
\n Tigers. Doesn't that just put him under more pressure?"<\/p>\n

Stream the NRL premiership 2023 live and free on <\/strong><\/em>9Now<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

\"Sheens<\/p>\n

While there has been intense speculation suggesting that Marshall would take the reins next season, Wests Tigers chairman Lee Hagipantelis denied that plan was in the works, in an interview on SEN 1170 Breakfast.<\/p>\n

"We remain absolutely committed to the path that we are on," Hagipantelis said.\n<\/p>\n

"Benji will be parachuted into the head coaching role, but in 2025\u2026 Tim will be the head
\n coach in 2023 and 2024."\n<\/p>\n

The West Tigers will take on the Cronulla Sharks on Thursday night at CommBank Stadium.<\/p>\n

For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/strong><\/em> clicking here<\/strong><\/em><\/a>!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rugby league Immortal Andrew Johns says Benji Marshall won't be able to improve the Wests Tigers until the club recruits new players, following speculation the […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":314069,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314066"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=314066"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314066\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":314074,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314066\/revisions\/314074"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/314069"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=314066"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=314066"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=314066"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}