Benny Elias' revelation about Tim Sheens after 'disgusting' treatment at Tigers
The league great's comments come after the veteran coach's ill-fated time at the Wests Tigers was cut short.
Balmain legend Benny Elias has expressed his disgust at the way veteran coach Tim Sheens was pushed out as head coach at his beloved Tigers. The NRL strugglers turned to the former premiership-winning coach when they sacked Michael Maguire in 2022.
The veteran mentor signed on to a five-year succession plan with assistant coach Benji Marshall, whom he was meant to mentor in the first two seasons, before handing over the reins to the club legend in season three. Less than 12 months into that succession plan, however, the Wests Tigers board decided to fast-track Marshall's promotion to the top job by announcing that he would take over from Sheens in 2024 - one year earlier than planned.
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The move ultimately saw Sheens pushed out of the club in August, with Tigers powerbrokers and stakeholders concerned with the direction the club was taking as it lurched towards a second straight wooden spoon. Speaking to News Corp, Elias said the treatment of Sheens was "disgusting" and insisted that the man who steered the joint venture to its one and only NRL premiership deserved better.
“I walked straight up to him and said: ‘I’m sorry on behalf of the club, it was embarrassing’,” Elias said to News Corp. "The way they treated him, it was disgusting. They signed him saying: ‘Help us, help us’ so he puts his heart and soul into the club and then they sack him again.
“It was the board’s decision to punt him, that’s not my decision, but I was genuinely embarrassed at the way it happened and how he was treated. This bloke is a legend. This is the coach who has won four grand finals at two clubs, coached NSW and Australia. When it comes to the elite in terms of coaching, he is up there in the top three coaches."
Benny Elias slams re-election of Tigers chairman
Elias has been a vocal critic of the way the Tigers have been run for years now and was left fuming last month after chairman Lee Hagipantelis was re-elected to the position for another three years. Elias was seething that it happened before an external review into the club's disappointing NRL season could be completed.
“This bloke spends more money than any other bloke at the club and there’s no way you’re going to challenge him. All of a sudden he’s bought his way into this club and has absolutely zero, zero impact on what’s happening off the football field," Elias said.
“This is the bloke who only said a couple of weeks ago that there are certainties in life — taxes, death and one thing is for sure: Tim Sheens will be coaching the club next year in 2024. This is the chairperson that just got re-elected for three years... he said it himself the buck starts and finishes with the board.”
The Tigers legend says he was contacted for feedback into the club's independent review by ex-NRL executive Tony Crawford, who he praised for holding a microscope to the club and asking the "hard questions people don’t like to ask". It came after long-suffering Tigers fans unfurled banners at the club's final game of the season against Manly, calling for the axing of club CEO Justin Pascoe. The group handed out flyers that stated “end the Pascoe fiasco” and were heard singing chants calling for him to be sacked.
Elias says he believes the club is at a "crossroads" and hopes the review will be "the turning point" for the joint-venture club.
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