“I lost my head”: Doueihi and Marshall deny reports of Wests Tigers rift

Wests Tigers playmaker Adam Doueihi has conceded that he made a mistake by refusing to play after coach Benji Marshall informed him of a positional switch from halfback to lock.

The Tigers slumped to their sixth consecutive defeat following a 56-10 thrashing at the hands of the Canberra Raiders. Doueihi has since been recalled to the team to take on Parramatta in his preferred seven jersey.

However, Doueihi was adamant that there is no relationship fracture between he and Marshall despite a horror week for the joint venture.

The 27-year-old fronted the media on Wednesday morning determined to turn the struggling Tigers’ season around.

“Looking back on it, I can be a bit stubborn and I know I can be a hard player to deal with at times,” Doueihi said in his press conference.

“My love for the club has never gone away. My actions last week, I definitely should’ve played. I was wrong in that sense.

“There was a bit of miscommunication there. I lost my head a bit.

“I’ve had a really good conversation with Benji and (CEO) Shaun (Mielekamp) about my care factor for the club. All I want to do is bring success to this club.

“I know it’s hard for the media and fans to see but I do feel for our fans. I let them down over the weekend.

“I will never put myself above the team. That’s just something I won’t do.

“I’m happy to wear all the criticism that comes my way.”

The rumour mill went into overdrive about the contributing factors that led to Doueihi’s decision to sit out of Round 21 including falling standards at training.

Whilst he refused to mention specifics, Doueihi said it was incumbent on all of his teammates and staff in lifting professionalism at the club.

“Standards at any organisation, when things aren’t going good, we have to change stuff,” Doueihi added.

“All of us at this club have to be better.

“There’s been a lot of speculation about things that go on at this place.

“Conflict happens (but) conflict is good.”

Doueihi is managed by controversial figure Isaac Moses who has had a chequered history with the Wests Tigers.

In addition to having a rocky relationship with coach Benji Marshall, Moses manages Lachlan Galvin who had a controversial exit from the Tigers in the 2025 season.

Doueihi rejected any and all claims that this latest saga at the club is a tactic from his manager to agitate for a release from his contract.

“I want to protect Isaac Moses in this, my agent.

“Thinking we have this big master plan behind this, it’s not his intention at all.

“He wanted me to be out there playing. He was begging me to play.

“Isaac has nothing to do with this. He’s fully supportive of me, the club and of Benji.

“I’m here for the next three years. I’ve never walked away from a contract in my life.”

Marshall also fronted the media on Wednesday morning and reiterated that him and his halfback remain aligned in the club’s ambition to reach the finals for the first time since 2011.

“I love Adam and we have sorted things out,” Marshall said to the media.

“We've definitely had things to say to each other. We both love the club so much and want the club to succeed.

“Adam reaffirmed to me about his position here at the club. He’s all in. It was reassuring to hear that.

“There was zero awkwardness. We both want the same thing.

“I didn’t want it to get to this stage because I wanted him to be at the club. No one wants him to leave.

“What I saw was a young guy who was hurting and he wasn’t in a headspace to play.

“Whether it’s tactically right or wrong, as a coach you must make those decisions that you feel are the best to win.

“We never got to see whether that decision was right or wrong.

“We’re in a tough spot at the moment. We are going to try and do everything to get out of it.

“The best thing for us moving forward is for him to play this week.

“There are times that you have to put your ego aside and what our fans need is a win.”

The club has been rocked by allegations of players vaping in the team facilities which Marshall emphatically denied.

“If there are issues, we’ll definitely address that internally among the players,” Marshall added.

“I can tell you right now that no one has vaped in the gym. That’s actually fabricated or misinformation.

“Is there a vaping problem with players? Probably but with young men, you can’t tell them not to vape or smoke because I’m not with them all the time.

“I don’t feel like there’s a culture problem. If we’re talking about standards, there’s a few things we may have walked past.

“There are a few things that have popped up that I didn't know. You have conversations with the leaders and some of those things need to be brought to my attention sooner rather than later.”

The Tigers take on the Parramatta Eels on Sunday afternoon at CommBank Stadium.