‘Toughest thing I’ve been through’: Benji Marshall brutally honest following Raiders thrashing, Doueihi standoff
The week from hell ended with the result from hell for the Wests Tigers and head coach Benji Marshall admits it’s been hard to avoid the noise surrounding the Adam Doueihi saga.
Speaking after his side was belted 56-10 by the Raiders in Canberra to end any faint hope of playing finals in 2026, Marshall cut a sombre but realistic figure.
“It’s been a tough week for everyone and even tougher with that result,” he admitted.
“It’s obviously a really tough time to be a Tigers fan, player, coach.”
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“We’re in a a bit of hurt at the moment… there’s a lot of things going on, the players are definitely trying but it’s not happening for us on the field,” he continued, explaining it’s been hard to avoid the external noise and just focus on the game.
“It doesn’t matter where you look… it’s there.”
While for much of 2026 that noise has surrounded the future of Tigers captain Jarome Luai, the loudest noise this week has involved Adam Doeihi who began the week by beating a suspension charge at the NRL judiciary and ended it refusing to play after being told he would playing at lock rather than halfback.
It’s believed Doueihi and the club will meet in a crisis meeting on Monday.
“That situation was a tough one to deal with this week, unexpected to be honest,” Marshall said.
“As a coach I always try to make decisions on what I think is best for the team … for Adam, I can understand his disappointment, we asked him to play a different role and he just wasn’t in a good headspace to play this week, you have to respect that.”
“We’ll try and get to a resolution next week some stage and put the noise to bed.”
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Marshall also took the opportunity to reject reports that suggested multiple Tigers players had confronted him angrily about the decision surrounding Doueihi.
“No, no other players came to me upset, but I did have players in my office trying to get their heads around the situation,” he snapped, before stressing that players are paid to do a job — whether they like the decisions their coach is making or not.
“It’s their job, what they get paid to do, and paid pretty well, so you’ve got to go out there and do your job whether you respect (what’s happened) or not, you’ve just got to do it.”
‘Winning hides things and losing brings everything to the forefront’ admits Marshall
Looking ahead, Marshall acknowledged the past three months have been a hugely difficult period for everyone at Concord, but declared he’s still up for the challenge.
“I love my job, trying to turn this club around… obviously nine rounds in we were looking pretty good and since then it’s gone heavily down hill, but we’ve got a lot to look ahead to… we’ve had a sh— load of noise in the past couple of years,” he said.
“Where you’re winning there’s no noise, winning hides things and losing brings everything to the forefront.
“It (this period) has been the toughest thing I’ve been through, I’m human too, I’ve got feelings, I’ve got kids who feel it… it’s a stressful job, but that comes with the territory.
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“When it’s good it’s good… and when it’s bad you’ve just got to battle through.”
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