Watch every game of every round of the Premiership Season LIVE with no ad-breaks during play on FOX LEAGUE, available on Kayo Sports | New to Kayo? Join now and get your first month for just $1.<\/a><\/p>\n WHAT’S GAMBLING REALLY COSTING YOU? Set a deposit limit. For Free and confidential support call 1800 858 858 or visit gamblinghelponline.org.au.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re big on standards and if you don\u2019t make your f***ing times consistently and you can\u2019t perform and you\u2019re not professional, you\u2019ll be out of here,\u201d Marshall warned.<\/p>\n Is that right? <\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s happened,\u201d Marshall continued, \u201ctrust me\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve been through this s***. We\u2019re not doing that anymore.<\/p>\n \u201cAt the Wests Tigers we f***ing now stand for something and if you\u2019re not prepared to follow what we stand for, guess what.\u201d <\/p>\n At which point, Marshall motioned towards the door. Message sent. Message received? <\/p>\n At that stage, he had no idea. It was early in the pre-season and would be at least a few months before his players were actually on the field playing for competition points.<\/p>\n And externally, even if there were some fans who were hanging on to every single of his words, for others they were just that: words. <\/p>\n False hope. Broken promises. <\/p>\n It wasn\u2019t something that was lost on Marshall though. He knew he had to change. He knew this team needed to change. But he also knew none of it would matter unless the results did too.<\/p>\n RELATED: Benji\u2019s revolution is in full swing… one act \u2018everyone noticed\u2019 sparked it<\/a><\/p>\n Tigers head coach Benji Marshall has set the standards. (Photo by Darrian Traynor\/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n \u201cEvery year you\u2019ve got to reflect on what went good in the season, what didn\u2019t go good, what the players need from me as the coach,\u201d he said last week.<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019ve got to adapt and adjust. <\/p>\n \u201cOne of the things with me is because I\u2019m so fresh in the job you\u2019re constant learning. If you stay the same and you don\u2019t change the things you need to change, you\u2019re going to get the same result. <\/p>\n \u201cWithout making it about me, I didn\u2019t just change what I did, I changed the way the group did things as well. You\u2019re about to see what happens in the weekend if it\u2019s working or not.\u201d<\/p>\n Granted, it is just one game. But based on what they produced on the weekend, it looks to be working. <\/p>\n The 44-16 win against the Cowboys was their first in their opening match of a season since 2020, and it was their biggest first-up victory ever. <\/p>\n Now, the Tigers have a chance to start a season 2-0 for the first time since 2019 and if there was one thing that was more impressive than the win over North Queensland, it was their response.<\/p>\n When interviewed by Fox League\u2019s Lara Pitt immediately after the game, Jarome Luai\u2019s mind immediately went to the right side of the iconic scoreboard on Wayne Pearce Hill and those 16 points down the bottom. <\/p>\n There were just two at halftime, and even then Luai said in his halftime interview that the defence hadn\u2019t been good enough. So, after letting in three tries in the second half?<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ll work on it throughout the year\u201d, Luai said.<\/p>\n Get all the latest news, highlights and analysis delivered straight to your inbox with Fox Sports NRL Sportmail. Sign up now!!! <\/a><\/p>\n Luai runs clinic as Tigers belt Cowboys | 02:51<\/p>\n It isn\u2019t just Luai either. It seems like this mindset, one of taking every week at a time and not buying into the external hype that will inevitably come with every win, has taken hold of the entire playing group. <\/p>\n Take skipper Apisai Koroisau, who told reporters on Tuesday that they did \u201cplenty wrong\u201d on Saturday and \u201clet ourselves down with back-to-back errors\u201d that let the Cowboys gain momentum and threaten a late comeback. <\/p>\n The sort of clich\u00e9d answer you would expect from an experienced player like Koroisau who has come from one of the most professional organisations in the league at Penrith.<\/p>\n But what about Alex Seyfarth, who is now entering his seventh year with the Tigers and was there for all three of the consecutive wooden spoons?<\/p>\n He admitted the win on the weekend was \u201cpromising and a good sign\u201d. <\/p>\n \u201cBut we\u2019ll put that two points aside and really work on this week and focus on Souths,\u201d he immediately followed that up with.<\/p>\n \u201cThat game has been and gone.\u201d<\/p>\n ROUND 2 TEAMS: Madge\u2019s brutal backline decision call as axe swung; Dogs\u2019 final call<\/a><\/p>\n The Tigers have most past the win. (Photo by Brendon Thorne\/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n To say something is clich\u00e9 is to say it is so overused to the extent that it has lost all meaning. But these words, as clich\u00e9d as they may seem, carry a lot of weight and gravity for a team and, more than anything else, a coach who understands that as much as they can call themselves a \u201cnew team\u201d and refuse to talk about the past<\/a>, the Tigers will continue to be judged by that until they prove that the past is just that.<\/p>\n So, that started with changing the way they handled winning. Seyfarth told reporters on Tuesday \u201cyou probably could say in the past we\u2019ve pat ourselves in the back room\u201d.<\/p>\n And now? \u201cWe\u2019ve forgotten about it, we\u2019re working hard for next week,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n For Marshall, it started with a pre-season which included reinventing himself in some ways as a coach, both sharpening his focus and communication when it came to training standards while also staying true to the style that saw him come under scrutiny in the first place.<\/p>\n Bulldogs supremo Phil Gould was strong in his defence of Marshall at the time when he was questioned for admitting he is not a traditional \u201c24\/7\u201d coach, labelling the criticism \u201crubbish\u201d.<\/p>\n And speaking on Wide World of Sports\u2019 Six Tackles With Gus podcast this month, Gould said the latest evolution in Marshall as a coach is a matter of \u201cdrawing a line in the sand\u201d not just for the players but \u201cfor himself\u201d.<\/p>\n Tigers coach Benji Marshall. (Photo by Brendon Thorne\/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n \u201cI would say that every year Benji has coached, he\u2019s gone home and reviewed how he\u2019s done things, his relationship with players, how they train, how they are coached and how they perform,\u201d Gould said.<\/p>\n \u201cI think Benji has realised \u2018you know what, they need me to be firmer and hold them more accountable, I need to be a coach, I can\u2019t just be another player\u2019. That sounds to me like Benji drawing a line in the sand for himself \u2014 not the players, for himself.<\/p>\n \u201cMaybe that\u2019s a little bit over the top, but at least now he\u2019s said it\u2019s about accountability, effort areas, training and not cutting corners.<\/p>\n \u201cHe was a player that relied on natural ability, great skill and personal confidence to get things done and he\u2019s got players like that in his team\u2026 but as a unit, the teams who are most successful play by certain principles and structures.<\/p>\n \u201cBenji can\u2019t be Benji the player to his players \u2014 he\u2019s got to be Benji the coach.\u201d<\/p>\n Get all the latest news, highlights and analysis delivered straight to your inbox with Fox Sports NRL Sportmail. Sign up now!!! <\/a><\/p>\n Marshall impressed by Tigers start | 07:51<\/p>\n It is a process that Fox League analyst and current Dragons assistant coach Michael Ennis has learned throughout his transition from playing to the coach\u2019s box, where he has also spent time at Canberra, Parramatta and Manly. <\/p>\n Dragons hooker Damien Cook described Ennis\u2019 footy IQ as \u201cunbelievable\u201d in an interview with The Sydney Morning Herald<\/a> ahead of the season, and while Ennis has been able to lean on his strengths as a player in his coaching career he admitted finding his voice as a coach has \u201cdefinitely\u201d been a \u201cdifferent\u201d challenge.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you\u2019ve been involved in the game for a long time and played, you\u2019ve got to trust and rely on your instincts and I think that naturally comes out in your voice but then as a coach I think it\u2019s definitely different,\u201d Ennis told foxsports.com.au.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are times when you need to say things that are important and there are other times that you just need to sit back and trust the players and trust the work that they\u2019ve done and allow them to drive what you\u2019ve implemented or what you\u2019ve spoke to them about. <\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s just about getting that balance right.\u201d<\/p>\n ‘Ok I am questioning his commitment!’ | 07:42<\/p>\n For Marshall at the Tigers, it seems like he has got that balance exactly right and a lot of that comes back to having the right group of players at his disposal.<\/p>\n After all, it is easy to forget this is a very different roster to the one Marshall inherited when he first started as assistant coach in 2022 and then took over from Tim Sheens in late 2023.<\/p>\n Jackson Hastings was the biggest of the 11 names to depart in 2023, while that season saw the arrival of one of Marshall\u2019s now key figures in upholding his standards: Api Koroisau. <\/p>\n David Klemmer, Isaiah Papali\u2019i and John Bateman were among some of the other high-profile players to arrive at the club in 2023, but they all were quick to move on.<\/p>\n Then, after more than a decade, Luke Brooks departed in 2024 along with another long-time Tiger in David Nofoaluma while Latu and Samuela Fainu walked through the doors, emerging as two key pieces in the rebuild under Marshall.<\/p>\n Fast-forward to last season and Marshall brought in two more premiership winners from Penrith to help drive standards in Jarome Luai and Sunia Turuva, while Terrell May also joined the club from the Roosters.<\/p>\n There were still challenges and tough calls to be made. Jake Simpkin and Tommy Talau, young players who had debuted at the Tigers and were once seen as the future of the club, left for Manly before the start of 2025. <\/p>\n Papali\u2019i, one of their marquee recruits from just a few years prior, departed too for Penrith, while former CEO Shane Richardson famously declared \u201cwe want people that are in for the fight\u201d in the wake of Stefano Utoikamanu\u2019s exit.<\/p>\n That was just the start of the drama for Marshall, who then had to deal with the Lachlan Galvin saga and Tallyn Da Silva\u2019s early exit.<\/p>\n EARLY OVERREACTIONS: Awkward Burton reality; Eels\u2019 big Moses issue<\/a><\/p>\n Lachlan Galvin and Jarome Luai. NRL PHOTOSSource: The Daily Telegraph<\/p>\n By the end of it all, just five players remained at the club through the duration of Marshall\u2019s coaching career since first starting as assistant coach in 2022: Adam Doueihi, Alex Twal, Alex Seyfarth, Fonua Pole and Starford To\u2019a.<\/p>\n But they, along with the fresh faces in the team, have seemingly bought into the new vision that Marshall has for the club: one that blends the high-wire act with hard work.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s probably just been that perception of the Tigers over a long period of time that they\u2019ve been a really dangerous attacking side and we all know that if you look at the best sides that have consistently been in the top four and won competitions that they\u2019ve built their attacks throughout the season but their cornerstone and their backbone has always been their defence,\u201d Ennis said. <\/p>\n \u201cNo doubt that\u2019s an area that and a perception that Benji would be driving there and he\u2019s got some guys that have come out of great systems that really value that part of the game but then at the same time they don\u2019t want to lose that identity which the Tigers have always been a good attacking side to watch and moves the ball well. <\/p>\n \u201c40 points in their first week just proves that, but it\u2019s just about getting that balance right.\u201d<\/p>\n Leichhardt Oval was rocking. (Photo by Brendon Thorne\/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n Which is why as impressive as Saturday\u2019s win against the Cowboys may have been, Luai was quick to set the tone by stressing that even if it was good it wasn\u2019t good enough. Maybe for the Tigers of old, but this new version of the Tigers under Marshall is different.<\/p>\n Again, that may just sound like words and these too may just be words, but consider what Koroisau told reporters on Tuesday, mirroring the same message he had in the club\u2019s post-game press conference.<\/p>\n \u201cI feel like we have a new team, a new mentality,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cThis year is all about consistency. We\u2019ve held our standards in pre-season and those standards need to carry over into the season.\u201d<\/p>\n All because Marshall \u201cdrew a line in the sand\u201d as Seyfarth put it, making it clear what the Wests Tigers as a club were going to accept and what they were not going to accept.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd being fit was one of them,\u201d Seyfarth said.<\/p>\n So, when the Cowboys scored in the 60th minute and reduced the deficit to just three converted tries, instead of letting up these new Tigers put the foot down and scored two more in seven minutes.<\/p>\n Message sent. Message received. <\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s just a reality check really,\u201d Royce Hunt said of Marshall\u2019s pre-season address.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you don\u2019t want to be here, then you don\u2019t have to be here. We\u2019re not in a position where we have the luxury of coasting through a pre-season, so for us standards are massive.\u201d<\/p>\n Royce Hunt of the Tigers. (Photo by Brendon Thorne\/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n Reading all of this, it probably only further highlights how strange it is for a premiership-winning coach in Michael Maguire to be the subject of so much criticism despite seemingly trying to instil the same standards of consistency at Brisbane.<\/p>\n Wherever the truth may lie at Red Hill, ultimately results speak volumes and it is something Marshall has quickly learned in his coaching career. Although with the current situation at the Broncos, he\u2019s also learned that can only save you for so long.<\/p>\n \u201cThe criticism is going to come no matter what,\u201d he said last week.<\/p>\n \u201cI look at a guy like Madge who just won a grand final, he\u2019s copping it left, right and centre, he just won the competition. I actually can\u2019t believe it.\u201d<\/p>\n But if there is one lesson that Marshall has carried from his playing days into his coaching career, it is that any successful team he has been in, it is the \u201cstandards and accountability of the group and the way that your leaders drive the group that is the most important thing\u201d.<\/p>\n In other words, Marshall himself as a coach can only do so much. Even if he was the 24\/7 coach that some people wanted to force him to be, that alone necessarily won\u2019t be enough.<\/p>\n He also needs the players. He needs a captain like Koroisau, and he needs an evolving leader like Luai. <\/p>\n Luai has evolved as a leader. (Photo by Brendon Thorne\/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n The 29-year-old told <\/a>foxsports.com.au <\/a>in the pre-season<\/a> that 2025 was a \u201cmassive learning\u201d experience for him on the leadership front. The biggest lesson being that there is \u201cno right or wrong way to be\u201d. <\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s just the fact that everyone\u2019s different and everyone wants to be treated differently and reacts to different things in different ways,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n There were plenty of ways Luai was challenged in his first year at the club too. From Galvin\u2019s mid-season exit to stepping into the halfback jumper and alongside a number of different halves partners.<\/p>\n Now, after what Luai himself admitted was \u201cone of the toughest\u201d pre-seasons he has ever had, he is back in the five-eighth jumper where he feels most comfortable and in many ways he, both as a player and personality, is an extension of Marshall. <\/p>\n He has the flick passes and rock star personality. But he also knows from those four-straight premierships he won at Penrith that staying at the top of the mountain requires a lot of work.<\/p>\n \u201cYou listen to Jarome and as jovial and as fun as he is, he certainly appreciates the hard work side of things and knows how important the physical part of his preparation is both at club level and when he\u2019s played representative football,\u201d Ennis said.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you get really elite senior leaders it certainly allows you as a coach to just have great trust that you know what\u2019s important to the footy team that they\u2019re driving on the field and keeping guys accountable.\u201d<\/p>\n The Tigers are setting standards at training. Picture: Justin LloydSource: News Corp Australia<\/p>\n It was the case in 2023 when Luai was captured on camera having a serious discussion with then teammate Jaeman Salmon after he was caught out of position, with the Panthers losing that season-opener 13-12. They went on to lose just five more games that year.<\/p>\n Luai told The Sydney Morning Herald<\/a> after winning his fourth and final premiership with the club that he liked the added responsibility. <\/p>\n \u201cI had to mature,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n \u201cI think everyone does. Everyone has their time. I think mine was a bit later than others.\u201d<\/p>\n But maybe, with the position both he and the Tigers found themselves in at that point, that maturation as a leader happened at the exact right time. <\/p>\n Marshall too, seems to have matured as a coach and leader with time. It was never going to come naturally. He was constantly learning, constant evolving and now he has a roster that he has built. <\/p>\n Slowly but surely, he is building a new identity too: both for himself and this team. <\/p>\n Can the Tigers continue their strong start to 2026? Catch their game against the Rabbitohs on Saturday night at 7.35pm AEDT LIVE and EXCLUSIVE with no ad-breaks during play on FOX LEAGUE, available on Kayo Sports. New to Kayo? Join now and get your first month for just $1.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By now, almost everybody has seen the video. Of Benji Marshall, the once freestyled, flick-passing five-eighth, now entering…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":546891,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-546890","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-nrl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/546890","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=546890"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/546890\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/546891"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=546890"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=546890"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=546890"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/poster-fallback.png\"\/)
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