{"id":822680,"date":"2026-07-25T09:32:34","date_gmt":"2026-07-25T09:32:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/822680\/"},"modified":"2026-07-25T09:32:34","modified_gmt":"2026-07-25T09:32:34","slug":"nrl-2026-benji-marshall-breaks-silence-on-standoff-with-adam-doueihi-press-conference-wests-tigers-vs-canberra-raiders-jarome-luai-release","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/822680\/","title":{"rendered":"NRL 2026: Benji Marshall breaks silence on standoff with Adam Doueihi, press conference, Wests Tigers vs Canberra Raiders, Jarome Luai release"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wests Tigers coach Benji Marshall has addressed the Adam Doueihi controversy<\/a> for the first time, revealing that they can repair their relationship as they look to \u201cfind a resolution\u201d.<\/p>\n

The \u2018Doueihi Saga\u2019 has dominated headlines over the past couple of days with the star playmaker deciding to make himself unavailable for this week\u2019s match after being told that he would switch from the halves to lock.<\/p>\n

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His decision came after Marshall wanted to unveil the new-look halves pairing of Jarome Luai and Javon Andrews, handing the latter his NRL debut.<\/p>\n

Speaking after their 56-10 loss to the Canberra Raiders on Saturday afternoon<\/a>, Marshall said that the situation had been \u201cunexpected\u201d, but he understood Doueihi\u2019s disappointment that led to his decision.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to find a resolution,\u201d Marshall said post-match.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat situation was a tough one to deal with this week, unexpected to be honest.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut at the same time, as a coach, I guess from my point of view is that I always try and make decisions on what I think\u2019s best for the team to try and win.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor Adam, I can understand his disappointment around me asking him to play a different role and then he just wasn\u2019t in a good headspace to play this week.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve got to respect that which we did and then we try to move on, but it\u2019s tough.\u201d<\/p>\n

‘Terrible Tigers’ get thumped by Raiders | 03:42<\/p>\n

Marshall was then asked by Fox League\u2019s Jake Duke whether his relationship with Doueihi was \u201csalvageable\u201d after the latest chapter in their turbulent history.<\/p>\n

The pair had previously clashed, with reports from last year revealing that they were involved in a heated confrontation at training in the lead-up to their Round 16 clash against the Raiders.<\/p>\n

According to those reports, they exchanged words before the situation escalated after the coach allegedly tackled the Lebanon international in a training drill.<\/p>\n

Despite that history, Marshall remains confident that they can move past the latest dispute.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah (it\u2019s salvageable). I can understand it, to be honest. I\u2019ll always try and make the best decision for the club and the team to try and win,\u201d Marshall said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s my job, but at the same time Adam\u2019s human too so he\u2019s going to feel how he feels.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll obviously try and get to a resolution next week (at) some stage and put the noise to bed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Adam Doueihi refuses to play for Tigers | 08:31<\/p>\n

Marshall also dispelled suggestions that his decision to ask Doueihi to switch positions had caused unrest within the playing group.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo other player came up to me upset, but I did have a lot of players in my office trying to get their head around the situation, but no other players came to me upset,\u201d the coach continued.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t answer for them, but I guess the most important thing is this is their job that they get paid to do, paid pretty well to do.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve got to go out there and do your job whether you respect it or not. You\u2019ve just got to do it <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re also in the world where if you don\u2019t feel mentally right to play, you can\u2019t make him play. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s tough, man. We\u2019re men, we have feelings, and we\u2019re in the day and age where you need to express those feelings.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe did so (and) as a club you\u2019ve got to stand by that and move on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tigers on verge of ‘IMPLOSION!’ | 04:13<\/p>\n

The club\u2019s co-captain Apisai Koroisau also addressed the controversy, admitting that it had been a difficult week for the playing group.<\/p>\n

However, he said they remain united despite the outside noise.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it was a big week for us just trying to go out there and do my job,\u201d Koroisau added.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s a complicated situation. Not everyone had all the information.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor us it\u2019s about staying tight as a group and just make sure we had to go out there and try to do our job today.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Wests Tigers coach Benji Marshall has addressed the Adam Doueihi controversy for the first time, revealing that they…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":822681,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-822680","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\/822680","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=822680"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/822680\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/822681"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=822680"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=822680"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=822680"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}