Wests Tigers interim coach Brett Kimmorley heads into his fifth game at the helm still searching for a win but regardless of how the rest of 2022 plays out he says he's keen to stay involved when Tim Sheens takes charge next year.
Handed the job halfway through the season after Michael Maguire was sacked, Kimmorley has overseen losses to the Sea Eagles, Bulldogs, Warriors and Eels but with Adam Doueihi moving to his preferred five-eighth position and Jackson Hastings to lock there's cause for optimism on Sunday against a Penrith side missing its Origin stars.
The club announced on Thursday that 2005 premiership winning coach Sheens would take over as head coach in 2023, with his former premiership-winning playmakers Marshall and Robbie Farah by his side, leaving Kimmorley with eight more weeks to get the Tigers off the bottom of the ladder.
Sheens will assume the role of head coach for the next two years, with Marshall then taking over in 2025 for at least a further three seasons.
“Coaching anything is something I’d be interested in in the future, I love coaching, the more professional you go the busier it is and the more time you have to consume to get it right but I’ve enjoyed coaching," Kimmorley said on Saturday.
I love this game and I will keep coaching and I will keep wanting to be around this great organisation and see where it takes me
Brett Kimmorley
“I didn’t have a side at the start of this year and then I became the women’s coach and then the NRL head coach.
"It’s enjoyable, it’s challenging, it’s rewarding, but I love this game and I will keep coaching and I will keep wanting to be around this great organisation and see where it takes me.
"My job is to stay for the 12 weeks I was made interim head coach and I will make the club as good as I think I can make it in the 12 weeks I’m here.
"I’ll make sure that by November 1 that the club is in a better position than it was when I was handed the opportunity to coach."
Sheens, 71, is the longest-serving and most successful coach in the joint venture’s history, having won almost 49 percent of the 250 games he coached during his previous decade long tenure from 2003 until 2012.
He also took Canberra to premiership triumphs in 1989, 1990 and 1994 before a stint with North Queensland and coached Australia for six seasons from 2009, including the 2013 World Cup victory in 2013.
His most recent coaching roles have been in England with Hull KR (2017-2019) and Widnes in 2020.
The Tigers had hoped to lure Penrith assistant Cameron Ciraldo to replace Maguire but after missing out on his services they turned to Sheens, who returned to the club this year as head of football.
Marshall, who retired after last season's grand final with South Sydney, also returned to the Tigers this year to work with the club's pathways, while Farrah is already employed in a coaching capacity and has been assisting Kimmorley.
The former Kiwi superstar outlined his coaching ambitions earlier this week on NRL 360 as the Tigers were finalising the appointments.
“The dream for me would be to be an NRL coach and at the Wests Tigers would be an ideal situation,” Marshall said on Tuesday night.
“Obviously it has been reported that Tim Sheens is going to get the job and mentor someone. If the opportunity was for me to be mentored under him with a pathway to become a head coach it is something I would definitely consider.
“I love my job that I do now, but that is an opportunity that I might never get again - the opportunity to try and become a head coach.”
The combination of Sheens, along with Farah and Marshall, will see the three most influential figures in the club's history, who boast more than 1300 games of combined NRL playing and coaching experience, at the helm of the Wests Tigers.
"This is about having Wests Tigers DNA surging through the club, and it’s about putting together a rock-solid coaching plan for the next five years," Wests Tigers CEO Justin Pascoe said.
"This is a very clear path forward for this club and we are delighted to have Tim, Benji and Robbie reunited for the next phase of our club’s growth.”
