Tigers legend\u2019s sad admission over club\u2019s latest messy saga<\/a><\/p>\nBenji Marshall has signed an extension with the Tigers.Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
\u201cThat plan will stay in place. The only reason I wanted to come here today was actually to reassure our fans and talk to our members about how important it is to know that our players are not going to use anything that happens externally as an excuse, or let it affect what we\u2019re doing. <\/p>\n
\u201cIf you came in the building and you watched us train (and saw) the camaraderie here, you\u2019ll understand that we\u2019re all on the same page, and we\u2019re fighting to make the top eight and make a splash. That hasn\u2019t changed for us. <\/p>\n
\u201cObviously, Richo\u2019s gone, but with Shaun in place, we\u2019ve got the same people doing the same jobs, pushing in the same direction. So the plan\u2019s still the same.\u201d<\/p>\n
The off-field drama is the last thing the Tigers needed after a promising 2025 season, which saw them finish 13th after collecting three-straight wooden spoons. <\/p>\n
The tension hit a tipping point last Monday when chairman Barry O\u2019Farrell and three independent directors were sacked by club owners the Holman Barnes Group, with HBG claiming they were \u201cleft in the dark\u201d on decisions. <\/p>\n
But then in a stunning twist, there were reports on Thursday that O\u2019Farrell and two other directors would return to the Tigers board just 10 days after being axed.<\/p>\n
Harry Grant wins 2025 golden boot award | 00:29<\/p>\n
O\u2019Farrell had previously described the dismissal of himself and the three other directors as a \u201cbrain fart\u201d and warned it if \u201ccontinues to go to hell in a hand basket\u201d, the NRL may be forced to step in.<\/p>\n
On the field, there were also concerns high-profile players including Jarome Luai and Jahream Bula could leave if the Tigers moved on from Marshall given both had clauses to leave.<\/p>\n
As a result, locking in Marshall will go a long way to also keeping the core members of the playing group together. <\/p>\n
Marshall said he sat down with Luai \u201cat length\u201d and admitted the clauses in his deal, which essentially allow him to sign with rival clubs from 2027 onwards, \u201care not going anywhere\u201d. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s fully committed to the club, like fully committed,\u201d Marshall said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe copped a lot of flak for the clauses he had in his contract. I\u2019ll be honest, those clauses are not going anywhere. <\/p>\n
\u201cBut he\u2019s given his full commitment to our side and if there\u2019s anyone I trust in our team the most, it\u2019s that bloke.\u201d<\/p>\n
Marshall also said the club was doing \u201ceverything possible\u201d to keep Bula at the Tigers and was \u201cconfident\u201d he will stay.<\/p>\n
7 Tigers players threaten to quit! | 02:05<\/p>\n
But Marshall was willing to explain why he signed on for so long.<\/p>\n
\u201cStability for the players, stability for myself. So the noise goes away about you\u2019ve got to make the top eight or you\u2019re getting the sack at the end of this year,\u201d Marshall said.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously, at the end of the day, if you don\u2019t have performance, you\u2019re probably going to be in trouble anyway. <\/p>\n
\u201cBut to give that stability to the players and understanding what\u2019s going to happen here in regards to my role and the coaching structure and the plans we\u2019ve made, I think it\u2019s very important.\u201d<\/p>\n
. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Tigers have locked up head coach Benji Marshall with a long-term contract extension despite the 40-year-old admitting…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":342910,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[40371,64,63,689,9421,190142,184149,190138,11241,190141,188013,1208,2057,15915,2105,159211,159210,5330,181251,33441,190139,60457,4746,190144,761,762,673,764,3583,158,677,672,190140,190143,9420,85,670,51019,4515],"class_list":["post-342909","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-andrew-abdo","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australia-and-new-zealand","tag-benji-marshall","tag-board-room-debacle","tag-boardroom-saga","tag-boardroom-turmoil","tag-contract-extension","tag-dan-paton","tag-enforcer-inks-extension","tag-england","tag-europe","tag-football-department","tag-getty-images-inc","tag-golden-boot","tag-golden-boot-award","tag-head-coach","tag-holman-barnes-group","tag-long-term-contract-extension","tag-long-term-extension","tag-mark-metcalfe","tag-mark-st-john","tag-mega-extension","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-new-south-wales","tag-north-queensland-cowboys","tag-northern-europe","tag-nrl","tag-oceania","tag-richmond-tigers","tag-sacked-board","tag-sacked-board-members","tag-shane-richardson","tag-sports","tag-sydney","tag-three-year-contract-extension","tag-wests-tigers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/342909","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=342909"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/342909\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/342910"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=342909"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=342909"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=342909"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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