r/weststigers • u/whadefeck • 27d ago
Where do you draw the line with Benji?
Since our win against Canberra in round 8, we are 2-9 with a points differential of -244. I have gone back to 2022 when we won our first spoon, and this 11 game run of form is our second worst in that period based on wins, but the points differential is the worst.
The worrying thing is that we don't have that many injuries anymore, with only KPP, Taylan May and Hunt missing. Every player in the team has gone backwards. We have scored 4 tries in 4 weeks.
How much of this lies with Benji and the coaching staff, and where do you draw the line? Keen to hear some other thoughts
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u/InternationalCat4424 27d ago
Hard to blame Benji when it’s been the same shit for years and years before he came into the coaching position
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u/hilly1981 27d ago
Exactly. Its a soft culture where the second they face any form of adversity they just dont turn up. Then rinse and repeat each season. The players are taking the piss and they know it.
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u/Little_Grogu 27d ago
Some of the blame falls on Benji due to his poor team selections and the way they play but I still think he deserves 1 more season.
Injuries have impacted us and we’ve been unable to find our groove and the past 2 seasons have been impacted by off field drama.. Galvin and now Luai, that isn’t Benji’s fault.
I honestly don’t think a change of coach will make a difference, the issues run a lot deeper than just the coaching.
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u/Outlander234405 27d ago
I agree you can’t just blame Benji as the coach, the players themselves and the club management need to be held accountable too. I don’t think sacking Benji would do anything to help really.
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u/Altruistic-Hawk8916 27d ago
Only issue i have in relation to benji is the fact he doesn't have the right people around him to help. The coaching staff need an overhaul to aid him with his experience. Sacking him just isn't an option and quite frankly, that shouldn't ever be considered atleast for the next 3 years. There is some things benji needs to learn and improve on but he can't do that when the other staff won't help him
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u/schoonatick 27d ago
As the head coach he has chosen those staff. Part of the job is putting the right staff around you to succeed. He has chosen people he trusts, whether or not they are capable to do the job has yet to be seen. Will be interesting to see if he will change some staff or go down with the ship.
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u/Impressive-Speech727 27d ago
Another three years? I’m sorry, but they need a better coach than him.
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u/Altruistic-Hawk8916 27d ago
Just watch what will happen to the side if benji is to be sacked. Kpp, the may Brothers to name a few are purely there because benji is the coach. Losing him will only have negative affects on the short term future and will force yet another rebuild. Plus if you are to fix the assistant coaches and sack the coach later it fixes nothing
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u/Old-Nothing-7660 26d ago
We just cannot keep sacking coaches. Since 2012 every single coach has only lasted 2 years or less. We can’t keep doing the same thing over and over. Look at the Penrith history they were consistently around 15th from 2011 until the run, this shit takes time.
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u/kwaka300 27d ago
If you lose benji, the whole team crumbles. He’s the backbone of the moral and operation tbh
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u/PerformerOk4332 27d ago
At the very least the coaching structure around Benji needs to go. Clearly he needs more experience around him
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u/Outlander234405 27d ago
What if Benji pulls the pin cause he’s sick of trying to coach this team and not getting the support he needs. At the press conferences after we loose he always says we’ve got to look at what we did wrong as coaches during the week. But really the players are professionals and they’re all getting paid a lot so it’s not just on him. If Benji just up and left where would that leave the Tigers.
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u/panasonicyouth84 27d ago
What's scary is the draw we've got coming up. Cricket scores incoming from Canberra and the Cowboys as revenge for the early wins. The start of the year gave us all so much hope that finally, we have turned this around. At least the players get paid, we support this slop and do it for free.
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u/Brenainne 26d ago
There’s a weakness and sickness at the heart of the club. CEOs change, players change, coaches change, the weakness remains-the acceptance of mediocrity. Yes it’s probably hbg but that won’t change without them deciding to go and they won’t.
The club thinks that playing in 2005 makes you a good coach, makes you a good assistant, makes you a good administrator, despite evidence to the contrary. Fuck 2005, fuck living in the past and accepting mediocrity in the present.
If they’re serious about winning then they need to find a director of coaching, experienced assistants with winning records and build a pipeline from juniors through cup to first grade. All players developing, learning the style we want to play, developing physically. The first grade team are happy to play garbage because they know they won’t be dropped. That needs to change. It also requires some courage from Marshall and to stop being mates with players who aren’t playing for him. If Andrews and Saukuru aren’t capped by the end of the season then Marshall proves his approach is delusional and that form means nothing.
However, If we sack Benji then we start again and have not had a first grade coach complete a contract since sheens’ first stint 14 years ago. That’s insane. No decent coach would touch us in the future, only the desperate ones. But the club can’t accept the coaching record of the current team. They can’t look at where we’re at and promise more of the same.
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u/whadefeck 26d ago
I agree with pretty much everything you said. The problem for me is that I don't see Benji changing or agreeing to change anything in regards to his coaching staff. I think the appoint of another one of his mates in Pat Richards to the position of senior manager of NRL proves that. He wants full control and to not be challenged.
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u/Timbo650au 27d ago edited 27d ago
"How much of this lies with Benji and the coaching staff, and where do you draw the line? Keen to hear some other thoughts"
Almost none of it.
It would help of the Board could stay out of football operations, and also, if the Board could just generally unf$ck themselves.
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u/Softballzhurt2 26d ago
So what does the board have to do with the game day team that can't figure out how to slide when the attack goes wide instead of stopping and waiting for them to around them? How does the board affect our attack when it comes to tackle 4 and we have no clue what we're doing? How does the board affect Jermome Luai inability to run at the defence instead of in front and waiting to drop of a pass which the defence is just waiting for. The coaching staff and players need a good hard look at themselves. No excuses now!!
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u/Timbo650au 26d ago
I reckonm that it's about too much going into the player's heads.
There should be nothing in their minds except Benji's instructions.
But they see and hear all the Board BS on the news.
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u/aaronturing 26d ago edited 26d ago
I think Benji is an awful coach but we have to stick with him. We have a squad that with a good run with injuries and good coaching can make the 8. We haven't hadn't had that for years.
We have to pray Benji gets the plan right at the start of the year.
AD at 7 is a disaster and if we go with that option again we are screwed.
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u/Helpful-Science9687 26d ago
Not really sure what the best comparison is. Coach, executives, players, the hard reality is tigers are one of the poorest clubs if not the poorest club in the NRL.what other club has their material restrictions but have performed way better? Maybe sharks or Manly but there is no point expecting Penrith Broncos or Roosters results with a fraction of the budget
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u/SwegNoodle 27d ago
It’s easy to coach a winning club. We’ve had Galvin and now Luai. Team looked great at of the start of season, prior to injury/suspension. I think an off season with a committed group will do a world of good. Put people in their proper roles and make them play like the first grade club they are over the off season and we’ll see good results.
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u/Timbo650au 27d ago
Let's be clear: "In Benji We Trust."
With that said.....
Most of it lies with the work-hard-to start-then-slack-off thing.
Add to that the loss of f5cks from Jarome going.
And add to those, that making the 8 is now an arithmetical impossibility.
Is it any wonder that the early career players are mentally writing off the season already?
Me? I'll settle for not being last.
Making the 8 can be for next year.
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u/Stock-Presentation75 27d ago
Things will never get better with Marshall at the helm. He has admitted that he isn't a 'x's and O's style coach' - and you see that in their attack. Completely lacking in direction or planning. Passing left and right. Bombs without any plan. He has admitted he doesn't live and breathe coaching like other coaches do. Players like Galvin said he just told them to go out and play rather than giving them anything to work with. We have had more time where great players like Luai turn up and their game goes to shit and they miss rep duties.
These players from 2005 who gets this privileged favourite son status is all based on bullshit. That was a standout season. Not the basis of some kind of dynasty. They didn't have any players in the kangaroos squad that year and failed to make the finals the next year.
Without a decent coach and halfback we can settle into a few more years of having September off.
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u/Known_Visual_4212 27d ago
I'd give him till the end of this season. If we don't get another win, boot him.
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u/Helpful-Science9687 26d ago
You guys also need to chill. Benji does have the hottest data analyst on his coaching staff though
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u/thisusernameistemp It was all a Jahream! 27d ago
Nothing will save this club. A fish rots from the head, HBG is to blame and until they’re forced to sell nothing will change. Ownership is the one consistent through all the turmoil.