This took place when Kimmorley took over the helm in 2022 for the backend of the season after Michael Maguire<\/a> departed the joint venture.<\/p>\n Yesterday, the club confirmed to News Corp Doueihi will not play in the Tigers’ do-or-die clash against the Canberra Raiders<\/a> after coach Benji Marshall<\/a> made the call to play his Lebanese international at lock, rather than in the halves.<\/p>\n Original reports surfacing from the Daily Telegraph revealed Doueihi has opted not to play at all if he is in the lock position, and won’t take part after not training on Thursday, leaving the club without star personnel for a must-win game to save their season.<\/p>\n It has now come to light that it isn’t the first time Doueihi has made a positional demand, with Kimmorley shedding some light on a similar situation four years ago.<\/p>\n \u201cIn my time as an interim head coach at the Wests Tigers<\/a>, as a very green interim head coach, Adam was coming back from an ACL,\u201d Kimmorley told\u00a0SEN League.<\/p>\n \u201c(He) was playing limited minutes in a couple of games, playing centre in games to make sure his load was unavailable.<\/p>\n \u201cI had a conversation with Adam Doueihi<\/a>, (where he said) if I’ve not been picked at five-eighth in first grade, I’d rather play 5\/8 in reserve grade.<\/p>\n \u201cI didn’t have the balls to do it as the coach at that stage.<\/p>\n \u201cI handed that conversation onto someone else at the club who was much more superior than myself.<\/p>\n \u201cI was a bit unsure about where that left me as the coach.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is after team selection, (he) had been picked to play centre a number of times, and his thoughts was his body was good enough to go back to the 5\/8 position.<\/p>\n \u201cI’d been given some advice that centre is probably how he should play the rest of this year and his words were purely, if he doesn’t play 5\/8 in first grade, I’d rather be picked at 5\/8 in reserve grade.”<\/p>\n Kimmorley believed that his inexperience in the top role may have led Doueihi to approach him, asking for a position swap following his return from his ACL injury.<\/p>\n \u201cI took it a little bit of a \u2018you’re coming at a rookie coach’ in some regards,” he added.<\/p>\n \u201cMy mind now, looking back at it, I wish in some regards I was strong enough to go, \u2018you come and tell your teammates on Thursday why you’re not playing first grade and why you’re playing 5\/8 for reserve grade’.<\/p>\n \u201cBut I didn’t have that strength in myself to do that probably as a rookie coach, so that’s why I handed it on to Tim Sheens<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was obviously a very, very difficult situation at the club.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you sack a coach, your club’s not going well.<\/p>\n \u201cMichael Maguire<\/a> had been sacked with 12 weeks to go in the competition. I was given the opportunity to be the interim head coach.<\/p>\n \u201cI look back now\u2026 that’s probably first grade coaching.<\/p>\n \u201cA lot of it is managing the players, handling your players, keeping control of where they wanna play and how they best suit team ego.<\/p>\n \u201cWe’ve all gotta be working in the same direction\u2026. It was a difficult time.<\/p>\n \u201cI can understand how he would have felt at the time.<\/p>\n \u201cHe’s been out for a long period of time with an ACL injury.<\/p>\n \u201cThat’s where I think it would have come from. But, to approach it how you did\u2026 that’s probably the demand of holding me to ransom, a little bit of saying, \u2018hey, you’ve gotta pick me’.\u201d<\/p>\n Young gun Javon Andrews<\/a> is set to make his NRL<\/a> debut alongside Jarome Luai<\/a> in the halves.<\/p>\n Doueihi successfully downgraded his charge at the NRL’s judiciary, meaning he was tentatively named on the Tigers’ extended bench, but will take no part in the nation’s capital on Saturday afternoon.<\/p>\n![\"NRL](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/GettyImages-2158815482-scaled.jpg.webp.webp\"\/)
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA – JUNE 23: Adam Doueihi of the Tigers runs with the ball during the round 16 NRL match between Wests Tigers and Canberra Raiders at Campbelltown Stadium, on June 23, 2024, in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Matt King\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n![\"Wests](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/346876769_1192877158774065_8369886085762843920_n.jpg.webp\"\/)
Brett Kimmorley (Image via Wests Tigers, Facebook)<\/p>\n
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