How Benji Marshall beat odds to get Tigers ‘trending’... and the $171 coffee bill that says it all

"One of Luai's best for us!" | 05:10

Shane Richardson has been around rugby league so long he remembers the days when it was expected he would slip the credit card behind the bar after a win. It was a green light for the players to let their hair down for a bit, and probably deserved too, after defying attempts to be turned into a pretzel for 80 minutes.

At the end of the evening, Richardson would settle the bill, and gladly hope he would have to do it again the next week.

Last Monday, Richardson walked into a coffee shop and the Wests Tigers players – most of whom rarely drink alcohol – asked for him a favour. They wanted his credit card on the table to pay for their orders. It was a reward from the day before when they recorded one of their most stirring wins in years, effectively ending the Sea Eagles’ season.

“It cost me $171,” laughs Tigers chief executive Richardson. “It was an absolute nick. That’s the sort of blokes they are. The day before they sat around for ages on the field (after the game). I can’t get them into the dressing room. It gives me the sh**s, but he loves it.”

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Benji Marshal lappears to have the Wests Tigers playing group behind him. Source: Getty Images

The “he” Richardson is referring to is Tigers coach Benji Marshall, the NRL clipboard carrier most thought at the start of the year would be fighting hardest to save his job after a turbulent first season which ended with defeat in the “Spoon Bowl”.

He’d emerged from a year in which he was questioned on everything: from putting his phone down for a few hours at night to spend time with family, playing golf on the morning of games and even running with his side in training drills.

Yes, the Tigers aren’t going to make the finals this year, and that is the mirror most teams hold up at the end of the season.

But they will get away from the wooden spoon for the first time in four years and probably finish closer to the top eight than last. You could even argue it’s a decent pass mark, at the very least borrowing that well-worn American term, they’re trending.

It would be easy to think after they waded through the Lachlan Galvin circus and then released another potential 10-year player, Tallyn Da Silva, the Tigers’ season could have gone south. Quickly.

But the longer the year has gone on, the more, ahem, galvanised the side has looked, and the better they’ve played. Marshall must take a lot of credit for that.

His ascension to the top job last year – without having coached his own side at any level, and with a planned two-year apprenticeship under Tim Sheens cut short by 12 months – might have been one of the greatest rugby league gambles in modern NRL history.

Why do it? How would it work? Could it possibly work?

“People have got to realise he was in a far worse situation than they give him credit for,” Richardson says.

“He had a board that was sacked, a chair that was sacked, a CEO that was sacked and he’d never coached before. Tim Sheens had left. And then he had a new CEO that he didn’t know at all.

“I think it’s important to understand that.”

Tigers fans celebrate their teams win in golden point against the Sharks on Sunday. Photo: Tom Parrish Source: News Corp Australia

There’s no doubt the recruitment of Jarome Luai has helped, even if Luai hasn’t quite hit the giddying heights on the field yet. Culturally, he’s been everything the Tigers wanted and more. “Team first” etc. Luai had planned to simplify his game at the start of the season to allow Galvin the freedom at No.6. He’s now gone back to his more familiar role with Galvin out of the picture.

Marshall retains an extremely tight relationship with Luai and co-captain Api Koroisau, to the point where the Tigers prioritised Koroisau’s retention for 2027 over Da Silva. Koroisau will be 34 when that season starts.

“They have a large influence on Benji, but more importantly Benji has a large influence on them,” Richardson says. “When Luai gives his soul, he gives his soul. He’s 100 per cent behind Benji.

“From the word go, Benji doesn’t tell lies. The thing I’ve found is Benji tells you up front what he thinks. He’s a really good listener. He wants to learn. And he’s a good human being. There are not too many bad traits there.”

Says Marshall’s manager Matt Desira: “Not many coaches in a team that was going that bad would be able to attract a Luai, a Turuva, the Mays. He’s a highly intelligent guy, and a lot of people might not know that about Benji until you meet him.”

Luai warns his best is yet to come | 01:00

The Tigers’ recruitment is an interesting point because in the three Fainu brothers and the two Mays – Terrell and Taylan – Marshall has organically created a bond for his players which runs far deeper than just the same jersey they pull on.

Professional sports coaches spend a lifetime trying to figure out the right emotional levers to pull for optimum performance. Marshall has struck a unique formula for his Tigers, and most of it centres on family.

After a game, when his team finally retreats to the dressing room, Marshall urges the players’ kids to join them. It might only be a little thing, but he has embraced it.

“He’s finally got a crew who have bought into what we want to do, understand their place is secure and understand each day Benji has a way of coaching and playing the game,” Richardson says.

But that doesn’t always guarantee success, not least of all so early in a coaching career when it’s often sink or swim.

“Benji was a really smart player and a really smart guy to talk to about football and how it should be played,” Wayne Bennett tells foxsports.com.au. “It was obvious to me he would finish up coaching. He’s very good with people.

“But you need a club that’s going to stand behind you. I was a young coach once and I’m only here because a couple of chairmen stuck behind me at different stages of my career when I was on the edge. They give you that bit of time you need to get it done.

“The problem is everyone wants results and they think the next guy can get it for you, but it doesn’t work like that.”

The NRL has been filled with young coaches who take on the top job only years after they’ve finished playing, and the delineation between going from a teammate to a coach-player relationship can be tricky.

Marshall’s last game as a player was in 2021 when he came off the bench in South Sydney’s grand final defeat to the Panthers. The final year of his career under Wayne Bennett might have fast-tracked his coaching ambition, and still only 40, he has the skills to run in drills with his players.

Is it the right thing to do? Or is a coach’s role better spent passing judgment from a distance, rather than passing the ball along the backline?

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“If you look at Wayne Bennett, he’s on the field the whole time,” Richardson says. “Wayne Bennett and Benji don’t rely on what a lot of coaches do, which is not pulling up a mistake and just getting onto the next play. They will rely on looking at a drone afterwards.

“But they’re hands-on then and there. They show you at the time, ‘you should have gone left that way, or that pass wasn’t delayed long enough…’ They stop training to make sure they fix that mistake. That’s the way he coaches.

“Benji is working out his style of coaching. Now he’s on the sideline (during games), which I think is great. He feels more effective down there.

“We’re lucky to have him. People talk about loving the club, he actually loves the club – and the fans too.”

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