Wests Tigers rookie coach Benji Marshall has broken his silence on parting ways with his former teammate David Nofoaluma and who will replace Luke Brooks before Jarome Luai arrives.
After a string of disagreements with new coach Marshall this off-season, the Tigers terminated veteran winger Nofoaluma from the remaining two years of his contract.
It happened after Nofoaluma received his second breach notice in as many months after the team punished him for arriving late to a scheduled preseason training session.
On the eve of the season, Marshall had a long Q&A session with Brent Read of The Daily Telegraph, during which he discussed the Nofoaluma situation and the highly valued signing of Luai.
Marshall remarked, “I played with David, and he spilt a lot of blood, sweat, and tears for our club.”
Although he accomplished a lot during his time here and is undoubtedly the club’s all-time try-scorer, it was perhaps time for him to go on.
“We both felt that was the best course of action for him. We hope the best for him.
Luai, a three-time premiership player, was enticed to the team by Marshall from the Panthers on a five-year contract starting in 2025.
However, because it would be “disrespectful” to his existing players, rookie coach Luai will not be discussed within the confines of his club this season.
Although he isn’t here right now, Jarome will play a significant role in our work in the future, according to Marshall.
One year is a long time in football, so take charge of what you can right now. As an assistant coach last year, I can attest that our lack of depth in the halves plagued us throughout the season.
It is therefore advantageous to have rivalry for spots and depth in the halves. Thus, you must go out and acquire that.
I want to win now, though. He won’t assist us in winning right now. I’m not concerned about what will occur in five years with this approach.
“I wanted to win every year when I played in my career. It doesn’t matter if you are favourites or wooden spoon favourites. That is meaningless.
A team that strives to win every game and competes on every play is what I want. We want to be that kind of squad. Even though Jarome is a fantastic addition for our team’s future, we won’t be talking about him much this season.
“I believe that worrying about that and involving Penrith in it is disrespectful to the players we currently have.”
In addition, Marshall stated that he won’t hesitate to give a young player the initial opportunity to replace Luke Brooks in the second half.
Lachie Galvin is a candidate to play in the second half. He might be one of the individuals the team chooses to start with. He must merit it. Regarding rugby league players, one thing I do know is that you are old enough if you are skilled enough.
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