The Wests Tigers have been blasted for hiring recruitment boss Scott Fulton without consulting their coaching staff amid reports of friction between him and assistant Benji Marshall.
Only a couple of months after joining the Tigers from the Sea Eagles, Fulton, coach Tim Sheens and coach in waiting Marshall are reportedly at odds over potential signings to improve the roster, with the club currently in second last place on the ladder.
“We have heard the rumours and with Lee Hagipantelis coming out to defend that there is a rift between Fulton and Marshall, is there nothing in it?” Braith Anasta asked on NRL 360.
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James Hooper slammed the decision not to run Fulton’s appointment by the Tigers’ coaching staff and believes the current friction was inevitable.
“With the greatest respect to Lee Hagipantelis I think he has been drinking the Kool-Aid and he needs to stop drinking it in relation to the Wests Tigers because it is the old Jack Gibson line, winning starts in the front office and winning starts Monday,” Hooper said.
“There is no question whatsoever that at the Wests Tigers at the moment there is a huge divide and a major rift around the fact that the CEO and the Chairman went and appointed Scott Fulton to be the club’s head of recruitment without any consultation whatsoever with Tim Sheens, Benji Marshall or Robbie Farah, who are all on the coaching staff.
“That’s not smart business, simple as that.”
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Michael Carayannis revealed the Tigers coaching staff and Fulton have been in disagreements over several potential signing targets as well as the botched re-signing of halfback Luke Brooks.
“Lee said those roles are meant to complement each other and not conflict, well they are conflicting,” Carayannis said.
“There is no doubt Scott Fulton and Benji Marshall for whatever reason aren’t aligned in their way of thinking.
“They didn’t agree on should Luke Brooks stay at the club. Benji wanted to keep him and Tim Sheens wanted to keep him.
“Benji Marshall wanted to pursue Shaun Johnson and Tyson Frizell. Scott Fulton wasn’t a fan of those potential signings.
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“Scott Fulton wanted to push Josh Schuster to the club and Benji had his reservations, so there is no doubt there is some unrest there and they are just not aligned in their way of thinking.”
Anasta cleared Fulton, Marshall and Sheens of any wrongdoing and pointed the finger at management for their negligence and lack of due diligence.
“I don’t think you can blame Scott Fulton or Benji Marshall,” Anasta said.
“When Lee Hagipantelis went out and got a head of recruitment for his club and didn’t consult Tim Sheens or Benji Marshall, the coach and the future coach of the club, did he not think that this was a possibility?
“To not consult those two people who run the club and who set the standards. They know what players they want and they know why they want them.
“They are looking ahead. Benji is trying to build this club for the future. Benji is passionate about the joint. He loves the joint. He is trying to build this club.
“They hire a head of recruitment without talking to him and then expect it all to just be beautiful, sunshine and rainbows. I just don’t understand.”
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Gorden Tallis believes the power for improving the roster should ultimately lie with the coach, unless the recruitment boss brings a generational talent to the club.
“Unless he (Fulton) is walking in the door a Greg Inglis or a Payne Haas or one of those once in a generation type players he goes to the coach,” Tallis said.
“This is my understanding, all the coaches are asked what player do we need and where are we heading?
“Doesn’t the coach go, this is what we are looking for and he goes and finds it? They don’t bring them to the coach and say, this is what you need.”
Hooper used the Broncos’ situation with premiership winning teammates Kevin Walters and Ben Ikin as an example of how things can go wrong when everyone is not on the same page.
“That is generally how it works at the good clubs like the Roosters, Panthers and Storm, but let’s use the Broncos for example,” Hooper explained.
“The Broncos went out and got Ben Ikin, without consulting Kevvie and ultimately it did lead to a bit of friction and Ben moved on. And they won premierships together.
“So when you have this set of circumstances at the Tigers, it simply doesn’t happen at the well run clubs.”
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However, Tallis believes the power should ultimately be with the coach.
“Who should have the power?” Tallis said.
“Someone has got to make a decision.”
“They have got to be working together,” Hooper replied.
“The coach is the one whose job depends on the results, so if the coach doesn’t get the results he is going to get sacked, so therefore the coach should have greater say.”
Carayannis believes the coach and the recruitment boss should be working in tandem with the same direction for the club in mind.
“It is not so much about power, but they have to be aligned,” Carayannis said.
“You also need a recruitment office to rein the coach in and not overspend and that sport of stuff.
“They need to be aligned. I don’t think there necessarily has to be a power base, but they need to work together.
“They have got to find a way of common ground and they are just not finding that at the Wests Tigers at the moment between the pair.”
However, Anasta believes the current situation was a time bomb created by the front office at the Tigers.
“That’s the problem, Fulton could be the best recruiter and do a great job for the Tigers moving forward I am not questioning that,” Anasta said.
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“And Benji could be a great coach moving forward as well and they may disagree at certain times, but I just can’t get my head around how they have hired their recruitment boss without talking to the coaches.
“The Tigers now find themselves in a situation where they have got a bit of a mess there and it is through no one’s fault but their own yet again.
“People bag me for attacking the Tigers, but this is just common sense to me. This is not any agenda. This is just calling it exactly how you see it.
“And we called it months ago. We said, as soon as Lee Hagipantelis hired Scott Fulton without consulting the coaches there was going to be a problem and here we are only a few months later and there is a problem.”
Hooper urged fans to direct their frustrations at the front office, including CEO Justin Pascoe.
“You have only got to look at who has hold of the steering wheel,” Hooper explained.
“Justin Pascoe has been in charge there dating all the way back to 2016. They have sacked however many coaches it is. They got the wooden spoon last year. They haven’t played finals since 2012.
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“If you want some answers, fans need to direct their anger at head office. That’s who they need to be angry at because it is not Scott Fulton’s fault and it is not Benji Marshall or Tim Sheens’ fault that this is now the set-up at the club.
“The administration thought this was a smart play and didn’t tell anybody about it.”
Anasta also believes the current infighting between the coaches and Fulton cost the club a halfback, with zero replacements on the open market.
“And now they don’t have a halfback because of it because I know for a fact they wanted to keep Brooks at the club,” Anasta said.
“He is doing a really good job Brooks and has been playing his best footy the last few months, but there is also no other halfbacks.
“So now they find themselves not only in this little mess we have spoken about, but they have got no No.7, so who are they going to get as a halfback?”