Phil Gould has delivered a stern warning to the Wests Tigers, urging everyone inside the four walls to stop leaking information to the media in the wake of Adam Doueihi’s public falling out with head coach Benji Marshall.
In the latest crisis to hit the joint venture, Doueihi walked out of training last week and refused to play in the Tigers’ round 21 loss against Canberra.
Adam Doueihi will report for Wests Tigers training on Tuesday. Getty Images
His grievances reportedly stemmed from being told by Marshall that he would be playing lock instead of halfback, allowing young gun Javon Andrews to debut.
The 27-year-old took issue with Marshall’s decision and what has followed is one of the most disastrous situations the Tigers legend has faced as coach.
Doueihi and his manager Isaac Moses met with Marshall, chief executive Shaun Mielekamp and football manager Pat Richards on Monday to try to make peace, with the Lebanon international expected back at training on Tuesday.
But with fingers being pointed in both directions and conflicting reports coming out from the club and inDoueihi’s camp, it has made a bad situation worse.
That’s why, according to Gould, the biggest headache facing the Tigers moving forward is controlling the narrative and creating trust inside the club.
“At the forefront of that is everyone in the media that wants to comment on this claims to have some sort of inside source, to give them the real story behind what’s happened – yet a lot of those stories conflict,” he said on Nine’s 100% Footy.
“For me, that’s the first thing the Wests Tigers have to get right for the future, is about who talks to the media and who doesn’t talk to the media, being able to trust the people in their office and trust the people inside the locker room.
“It seems that anyone who’s anyone in the media claims to have an inside source at that club and that inside source seems to get the news out to the club very quickly in even the most private of conversations. It’s incredible how this gets out and once it’s in the media, the club loses all control.
“That opens its way up for everyone else who has got a podcast, column or any sort of comment piece, to give them advice. I’m not gonna give them advice, other than that they’ve gotta fix that part of their organisation going forward.
“They’ve gotta take control over who talks to the media – either through the correct channels or through leaking, as doing a favour to mates in the media.
“What worried me was, over the weekend there were stories circulating all of a sudden in support of Adam Doueihi for that action and somehow, he was standing up and doing it on behalf of his teammates.
Adam Doueihi is facing a clouded future. Getty Images
“There was all of a sudden this swing around, instead of Adam Doueihi being slammed by every ex-player and current player saying ‘you just don’t do that’ … to saying that Adam Doueihi is being really tough and standing up for the rest of the team and what he thinks is right for the club, which I find absolute crap.
“It was just a smoke job, the whole lot of it is.”
Gould conceded that Doueihi did the wrong thing by not playing, but pointed to a deeper issue at Concord that has become a recurring theme over the years.
NRL legend Paul Gallen echoed those sentiments, but took aim at Doueihi for the “embarrassing” saga and urged Tigers officials to punish him.
“Gus is 100 per cent right, but the problem for Adam Doueihi is, all we can talk about is what we know and what we know is Adam Doueihi has stood himself down from the team,” the former Sharks captain said.
“There’s no bigger breach of trust in the game than standing yourself down … you’ve put yourself above the team, that’s the biggest betrayal of trust.
“What does Benji do now? Apparently, (Doueihi is) coming back into the side and it’s gonna be very interesting to see where he plays. If he gets put straight back into halfback, it’s like he’s thrown his toys out of the cot and got everything he wants.
Jarome Luai. Getty Images
“I think the whole situation is embarrassing, the club should have at least breached him, if not fined him. What he’s done here is absolutely unacceptable and if I’m one of his teammates, I’m almost saying that I don’t want him to play.”
Darren Lockyer believes the Doueihi situation is a flow-on from Jarome Luai’s call to leave the club and sign with the PNG Chiefs for 2028.
“The first thing is trying to calm the players down and not listen to the outside noise – there’s a lot of it,” the Queensland legend said.
“The other part to this I think is that the club has been fractured since the Jarome Luai signing, and that’s nothing against Jarome.”
Luai originally signed a five-year contract with the Tigers, but will only see out two years before moving to the Parramatta Eels next season on a stop-gap deal.
With their finals hopes dashed in the 56-10 drubbing at the hands of the Raiders last weekend, Marshall’s men will face the Eels on Sunday afternoon.