Legendary fullback Billy Slater has issued a timely warning to the Wests Tigers as internal tensions threaten to split the club.
Tigers CEO Justin Pascoe was forced to call emergency meetings with assistant coach Benji Marshall and recruitment chief Scott Fulton on Monday after an apparent feud exploded over the weekend.
Fulton was jettisoned into the hot seat by club management last month, with no consultation with Marshall or head coach Tim Sheens, who will make way for the former next season.
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Fulton’s godfather, Manly great Peter Peters, made comments on radio during round 20 which appeared to implicate Marshall in a “bombshell” regarding the pursuit of halfback Aidan Sezer.
Peters claimed a high-profile Tigers official owns shares in the management company brokering the Sezer deal, although Marshall’s agent has denied his client owns any shares in the company.
Marshall is said to be at odds with Fulton over the recruitment of Sezer. Reports say Fulton wants to sign Penrith halfback Jack Cogger instead.
The Tigers have not played NRL finals in 12 years, and Slater says that won’t change unless everyone at the club can sing from the same hymn sheet.
“The one thing I can guarantee you – you can’t have a successful club without everyone pulling in the same direction,” Slater told Nine’s The Billy Slater Podcast.
“At the end of the day you need everyone on board pulling in the same direction.
“At the moment – I don’t know if it’s true or not, I only hear reports that come through the media – there’s about five or six directions that everyone is trying to pull the Tigers in at the moment.
“The players are the ones who are suffering, the players and the supporters, they are the ones suffering.
“Everyone needs to get on the same page, everyone needs to pull in the same direction, otherwise you’re going to be rowing upstream.”
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Slater knows better than most what it takes to be successful in the NRL, having won four grand finals with Melbourne during his career.
The Tigers have been a competition laughing stock for a number of years, and this latest saga only adds to the misery for long-suffering fans.
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Marshall is due to take over as head coach next season and the club desperately hopes the 2005 premiership hero can restore the team to those halcyon days.
Slater says the Tigers have enough talent on their roster to return to finals before too long, as long as they are coached properly.
“Don’t worry about going out and buying every player under the sun that becomes available; put some time, put some effort, put some foundation into these players,” he said.
“When you get talent, go out and develop them. Lock them in for five years and put some time and effort in to develop them.
“That’s where your reward will come. Look what Penrith have done with their squad, they develop their squad.”
The Tigers collected the wooden spoon last year, and again sit last on the ladder after 20 rounds of their 2023 campaign.
They next take on the Dragons on Thursday.
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