Adam Doueihi refuses to play for Wests Tigers vs Raiders after argument with Benji Marshall over not playing in halves, named at lock or benched, latest news

A second Wests Tigers player reportedly confronted Benji Marshall as the fallout from Adam Doueihi’s falling out with the Wests Tigers coach deepends.

Doueihi sensationally withdrew from Saturday’s showdown with the Raiders following a reported dispute with Marshall over a positional switch.

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The club confirmed Doueihi won’t play in the nation’s capital, with young gun Javon Andrews named to make his NRL debut in the halves alongside Jarome Luai.

Code Sports first reported the news, with Doueihi not training on Thursday after he was told he’d be playing lock instead of in the halves where he’s shone as their best player this year.

“Adam won’t be playing this weekend,” Tigers chief executive Shaun Mielekamp told the Daily Telegraph.

“Adam and Benji met this morning to discuss a plan for the weekend. Benji made a call on what’s best for the team but as a result Adam has asked for some time off and we agree to that.”

Speaking on Triple M on Thursday evening, Code Sports reporter David Riccio revealed another Tigers player met with coach Benji Marshall over the situation while others have “voiced their concerns”.

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“I would argue below the surface, there is still a lot more to play out here as far as the real reasons why Adam Doueihi has decided to step down from this game this weekend,” Riccio said.

“At least one other player also spoke with Benji Marshall today, in fact I know he did. I won’t name the player, I won’t embarrass the player, and the name isn’t ready to be reported as yet.

“There’s no doubt that there are other players that have voiced their concerns, probably to the immediate response of Adam Doueihi making this decision to leave training early.

Wide World of Sports, meanwhile, reported two players close to Doueihi have leaped to his defence.

“Two of Adam’s mates in the team believe we need him to win and are angry he won’t be there at halfback,” one Tigers player told nine.com.au.

“It’s a game we need to win and Javon is a top prospect but this isn’t the time to blood him.

“I’m staying out of it, most of the young blokes are the same.

“The two players feel very strongly about it and have let the group know. It’s a mess.”

Riccio, meanwhile. said he did not believe there was underlying issues between Marshall and Doueihi but that it was a “line in the sand” moment for the disgruntled player.

“I don’t think there’s one real reason. I think there’s many layers to it, and I think the moving to the lock forward position is only one of those layers.

“I think the situation of Jarome Luai being retained in the halves – when he’s not at the football club – over Adam Doueihi, would be another layer.

“I am going on a number of conversations with key individuals that I’ve had today involved in the Wests Tigers club that suggest that Adam’s taking a line in the sand moment for some standards that he’s not willing to walk past inside the football club, and ultimately it led to this.”

Despite the drama engulfing the club, Doueihi and Marshall – Riccio doesn’t believe the relationship is untenable.

“I’m not ready to declare it’s all over for Adam Doueihi at the Wests Tigers.

“I think there is a genuine intent from CEO Shaun Mielekamp, who’s completely across the entire detail of today’s scenario, to at least meet on Monday morning to try and forge a relationship that allows Adam Doueihi to remain at the football club,” Riccio continued.

“My understanding and my information is that this has unsettled Benji. It’s disappointed him, that one of his greatest confidants in Adam Doueihi has decided to take this path.

“I think it’s a line in the sand moment for Adam Doueihi, it may be a line in the sand moment for the football club as well.”

The development comes after former Tigers interim coach Brett Kimmorley revealed he found himself in a similar position with Doueihi previously.

Speaking on SEN Radio on Thursday evening, Kimmorley revealed he was forced to deal with a parralel situation when he was in charge of the joint venture in 2022.

“In my time as an interim head coach at the Wests Tigers, as a very green interim head coach, Adam was coming back from an ACL,” Kimmorley said.

“(He) was playing limited minutes in a couple of games, playing centre in games to make sure his load was unavailable.

“I had a conversation with Adam Doueihi, (where he said) if I’ve not been picked at 5/8 in first grade, I’d rather play five-eighth in reserve grade. I didn’t have the balls to do it as the coach at that stage.

“I handed that conversation onto someone else at the club who was much more superior than myself. Tim Sheens was the director of football at that stage at the Wests Tigers.

“I was a bit unsure about where that left me as the coach. This is after team selection, (he) had been picked to play centre a number of times, and his thoughts was his body was good enough to go back to the five-eighth position.

“I’d been given some advice that centre is probably how he should play the rest of this year and his words were purely, if he doesn’t play five-eighth in first grade, I’d rather be picked at five-eighth in reserve grade.”

The former NRL halfback admitted he wishes he had taken a stronger stance.

“My mind now looking back at it, I wish in some regards I was strong enough to go, ‘you come and tell your teammates on Thursday why you’re not playing first grade and why you’re playing five-eighth for reserve grade’,” he added.

“But I didn’t have that strength in myself to do that probably as a rookie coach, so that’s why I handed it on to Tim Sheens.

“It was obviously a very, very difficult situation at the club. I can understand how he would have felt at the time. He’s been out for a long period of time with an ACL injury.

“That’s where I think it would have come from. But, to approach it how you did… that’s probably the demand of holding me to ransom, a little bit of saying, ‘hey, you’ve gotta pick me’.”

The revelation comes as fresh details surrounding the stunning falling out with Marshall.

Code Sports reports Doueihi was “highly frustrated” at the decision given his strong form and the fact Jarome Luai would be leaving the club at the end of the season to join the Parramatta Eels.

He was spotted in discussion Tigers football manager Pat Richards on Thursday morning before doing laps around the around the Tigers’ centre of excellence in his Range Rover.

“He was seen doing laps , looking visibly frustrated as he drove past the club’s training facility multiple times,” Code Sports reported.

Marshall then fronted the media at 9am while the situation threatened to boil over beind the scenes.

The club will hold a meeting with Doueihi on Monday.

Doueihi signed a contract extension back in March to remain at the Tigers until the end of the 2029 season, but it’s unclear if this latest development will affect that.

The Lebanese international was originally named on an extended bench for Saturday’s game but was cleared to play after a successful night at judiciary where he avoided a one-match ban for a high tackle.

He sounded like a guy who was keen to help his team pull off an upset in Canberra.

“I love being out there with the boys,” Doueihi said after the hearing.

“I want to help turn our season around again. It’s a good opportunity to go down to Canberra this week. They’re on the back of a few wins so we’ll go there with an ambush mentality.”

It was expected that he’d simply slot in at halfback to partner Luai, but Marshall had other plans, which led to him leaving the club’s Concord facilities.

Of course, lost in all the Doueihi headlines now is rookie Andrews, who on Saturday will run out for his NRL debut.

It’s the latest drama for the Tigers, who have lost five games on the trot and made the call to let Luai leave early despite him being contracted for the 2027 season.

“I’m flabbergasted. You have to have that team-first ethos, don’t you?” former NRL forward Bryan Fletcher said on SEN Radio after hearing the news.

“Where a coach wants you to play irrespective of what you think (you play there) and I like Adam Doueihi but c’mon Adam.”

Justin Horo added, “I don’t like the decision to move him to lock. I think Adam Doueihi should be playing in the halves but if that coach makes the decision you have to play it mate.

“It would be so tough to be a Tigers player right now.”

Latu Fainu is also unavailable after he copped a three-match ban at the judiciary.

They can’t afford to lose Doueihi who has been a key cog in their attack, with Marshall remaining coy when asked about team selections on Thursday morning.

“You always want your best players playing, and for us, it’s no different,” he said.