Where do Adam Doueihi and Benji Marshall go from here?
The answer for Doueihi isn’t Perth or anywhere else.
As crazy as it sounds, given the past five days of drama and the annual maelstrom that engulfs the Wests Tigers, Doueihi would be just as mad to leave the club he’s called home since 2020.
It doesn’t take long to analyse the rosters of his rivals to understand that there are few, if any, teams where Doueihi can walk into a starting halfback position.
He can do that at the Wests Tigers next year.
Let’s remember, Doueihi has three years – 2027, 2028, and 2029 – remaining on his contract at the Wests Tigers.
He would need to find a deal of a similar length at a rival club for any prospect of leaving.
Sure, he can head to Perth.
And given the playmaker’s consistent form this season, he can probably demand more money than the below-average wage for an NRL half that he is earning at the Wests Tigers.
But why head to the start-up club to join what most concede will be a tougher battle up the ladder than what he’s been facing for so long at the Tigers?
Also, if Perth Bears assistant coach Ben Gardiner – who was an assistant coach at the Wests Tigers in 2022 and now influences recruitment in Perth – was such a fan of Doueihi, why didn’t the Bears pursue him before he re-signed with Wests four months ago?
Halves Toby Sexton, Tyran Wishart and Jack Cole are already signed with the Bears.
If Doueihi is smart, he locks in for the Tigers over their remaining six weeks and prepares to partner rookie half Javon Andrews in the Wests Tigers spine in 2027.
For Marshall, it’s lessons learned from the toughest week of his career. His words, not ours.
The lessons include throwing rookie halfback Javon Andrews into the fire in Canberra only to drop him back to the reserves this weekend.
The lessons include how to manage a crisis and more importantly, what needs to happen between now and next season to avoid more headlines and claims of slipping standards.
Marshall’s decision to parachute Doueihi back into the team will only provide more fuel to his detractors.
Yet here’s the thing.
Marshall boasts a water-tight contract that runs through until 2030, as announced by the jumpy Holman Barnes Group on December 12 last year during immense turmoil at board level.
In the same week that saw board members sacked and then reinstated, as well as the CEO Shane Richardson stand down, Marshall put pen to paper on a deal that is the equal-longest contract for a coach in the NRL, alongside Bulldogs mentor Cameron Ciraldo.
That’s not on Marshall, that’s on the board.
David RiccioChief Sports Writer