There has been a massive twist in Adam Doueihi’s falling out with Benji Marshall, with a report emerging that there could be an ulterior motive behind the Tigers halfback’s move.

The 27-year-old sensationally withdrew from Saturday’s must-win clash with the Raiders following a reported dispute with coach Marshall.

That disagreement was reportedly over a positional switch, but that claim has now been turned on its head with The Sydney Morning Herald reporting it had nothing to do with Marshall asking him to play lock.

According to the source, who spoke to SMH under the condition of anonymity, Marshall had confirmed boom rookie Javon Andrews would be debuting at halfback in place of Doueihi, before the star half had even fronted the judiciary in a bid to get his careless high tackle charge downgraded.

That decision reportedly left Doueihi aggrieved and of the belief he was being taken for granted.

The Herald reports that after speaking with Marshall, Doueihi then addressed chief executive Shaun Mielekamp and told him his withdrawal was about sending a statement that he would no longer be the team’s “fall guy”.

The report states Doueihi’s stance came from a place of pure love for the Tigers and that he doesn’t want to just sit by and watch the club stumble to another disappointing finish.

Doueihi is not expected to be at Saturday’s game in Canberra and reportedly has every intention of seeing out his contract that runs until the end of 2029.

However, Paul Kent has claimed otherwise, suggesting that there could be an ulterior motive behind Doueihi’s move and that the Tigers star could be eager to secure an early release.

“There’s a little bit of a whisper around Wednesday night that if this was going to unfold as it did, Doueihi would not play,” Kent said on Kenty Blitz.

“It was planned …. he’s an employee essentially, and you do what the coach tells you to do.

“For years, if a player dared do this he’d be straight out the door.

“What I find interesting is that there are two new clubs coming into the competition and his manager Isaac Moses had a similar stunt last year with Lachlan Galvin where he caused disruption at the club.

“Doueihi’s never played better football than he has this year so you can correlate out of that that he’s never been worth more.

“He’s basically tried to bully Benji. I think there could be kind of a motive around it to try and get released from his deal.”

James Hooper said similar on Fanatics TV, revealing he got a phone call on Wednesday night from “someone in the game” claiming Doueihi was going to walk into training on Thursday and tell Marshall he wasn’t going to play.

Doueihi is reportedly set to meet with both coach Marshall and CEO Mielekamp over the weekend to hash out a resolution.

It is understood that Doueihi won’t request a release nor would the Tigers grant him one.

Originally published as ‘It was planned’: Huge twist in Tigers saga as reason for Adam Doueihi act revealed