Wests Tigers coach Benji Marshall has been handed a massive new contract extension until the end of 2030, in a move that has been panned around the NRL world. It comes after a chaotic couple of weeks for the joint-venture outfit, in which the club’s majority owners – the Holman Barnes Group (HBG) – sacked four independent board members last week only to welcome them back on Thursday.
The quartet of former NSW premier O’Farrell, Michelle McDowell, Annabelle Williams and Charlie Viola are all expected to return. But former chief executive Shane Richardson – who handed in his resignation this week in response to the turmoil – has been replaced by Shaun Mielekamp, who was unveiled as the club’s interim CEO on Friday.
The Wests Tigers have extended coach Benji Marshall (R) for another three years after recent turmoil at the club that left the futures of Jarome Luai and Jahream Bula (L) in doubt. Pic: Getty
HBG holds the licence with the NRL for the Wests Tigers, while having a 90 per cent ownership of the club. And they claimed to have been “left in the dark on commercially sensitive announcements” after explaining why the four independent directors were initially let go.
The messy situation plunged the future of Marshall into doubt, and there were reports a host of players would leave if their coach was shown the door. The NRL also threatened to intervene over the drama, prompting the club’s owners to reinstate the four directors, before Marshall’s massive new contract extension was confirmed on Friday.
Marshall still had two more years to run on his previous deal, but the new three-year extension means he’ll join Bulldogs coach Cameron Ciraldo as the only two NRL coaches contracted until the end of 2030. While the move offers the Tigers some much-needed stability, it’s left many questioning why the club felt the need to extend Marshall so early in his tenure.
The former premiership winner helped drag the Tigers up the ladder to a 13th-placed finish in 2025, following three successive wooden spoons. But since taking over from former coach Tim Sheens during the 2024 season, Marshall has only overseen 15 wins.
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His new deal will be a major boost to the club’s hopes of hanging onto the likes of marquee star Jarome Luai, Jahream Bula, and Terrell May. But SEN radio host and inaugural Wests Tigers player Joel Caine described Marshall’s new extension as “another stupid decision” from the club, with NRL fans also baffled by the move.
Benji Marshall’s (L) three-year extension is set to see him remain as Wests Tigers coach until the end of the 2023 season. Pic: Getty
“Benji Marshall has got a two-year deal to run,” Caine said on SEN. “If Benji Marshall legitimately wants to be a first grade coach, and from what I’ve seen he clearly does, his best bet is to stay and ride through the challenge at the Wests Tigers, right?
“If he truly wants to be a coach and the players love him so much, he will be able to win them over and they will stay. In two years, he’s won 15 games. This would be the first coach in rugby league history who had only won 15 games, and has four years ahead of them locked and loaded.
“It’s just doubling down on wrong… Benji Marshall’s a winner and he could prove everyone wrong and be the greatest coach on Earth, but we don’t need to do that. It’s another stupid decision made by the club… It just doesn’t end and it’s so frustrating. It’s not against Benji… he is a winner, and it looks as though he is working it out.”
with AAP