Between Phil Gould and Shane Richardson, there isn’t much that two of rugby league’s greatest survivors don’t know about rebuilding, renovating, or flat-out razing an NRL club.
A few weeks ago, the Wests Tigers made their 51st roster move since the start of the 2023 pre-season when they landed Terrell May – arguably the most improved front-rower in the game.
Gould had seen enough. The Bulldogs boss took to social media and declared the Tigers may be coming off a third straight wooden spoon, but now boast “a top eight NRL roster”.
In Benji Marshall’s words, “the club’s been flipped upside down”.
Marshall’s progression in the Tigers coaching succession plan was fast-tracked two years ago, with the joint venture’s greatest player taking charge from Tim Sheens in November 2023.
Just seven players now remain from the 2022 season, Marshall’s first and only as an NRL assistant coach – Adam Doueihi, Alex Twal, Fonua Pole, Alex Seyfarth, Starford To’a, Brent Naden and Justin Matamua.
Four-time premiers Penrith, by way of comparison with possibly the greatest benchmark in modern rugby league, have regularly farewelled stars and promoted largely from within their prize-winning nursery. Thirteen players remain from the Panthers 2022 top 30 squad, with 33 ins and outs in their rosters since.
Much was made of Gould and new Canterbury coach Cameron Ciraldo flipping their entire top 30 between 2021 and the start of this year when Raymond Faitala-Mariner left.
The Tigers are entering a similar ballpark, particularly since Richardson took charge as CEO a year ago.
The best part of $3.5 million has been spent on Jarome Luai, Sunia Turuva, Royce Hunt, Jack Bird, Jeral Skelton and May for 2025 – the shiny, pointy........