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‘Glad it’s come to an end’: Benji’s big admission after ugly Tigers rollercoaster and ‘public’ fiascos Tigers coach Benji Marshall revealed he was “glad” his team’s turbulent 2026 campaign has come to an end, opening up on some of the club’s biggest issues. The merger club’s season came to a close with a 38-10 loss to the Panthers, finishing in 15th after sitting third after eight rounds with an impressive burst to start the year. Following the defeat, Marshall cut a relaxed figure when asked how it felt now that his team had played their final game in 2026. Watch every game of every round of the Premiership Season LIVE with no ad-breaks during play on FOX LEAGUE, available on Kayo Sports | New to Kayo? Join now and get your first month for just $1. “I’m glad it’s come to an end, to be honest. Yeah, it was a bit of a weird year for us,” he said in the post-match press conference. “We showed so much promise and optimism to start the season and then we went through a bit of a rough patch of losing eight in-a-row through there and had to fight the back end. “Yeah, like obviously you want to be in the semis and move forward as a club. But yeah, there’s a lot we can take away from this year that we need to be better at. “Myself in particular, and make sure that we’re not on this position again next year.” While the Tigers’ on-field performances fell flat, off the field the merger club also endured a number of moments that cast a spotlight on Marshall’s team. Adam Doueihi walked out of training and stood himself down after Marshall informed him he would be shifting to lock to accommodate young gun Javon Andrews’ debut. Elsewhere, Jarome Luai signed with the PNG Chiefs for their inaugural 2028 season before being informed he was free to leave the club in 2027 to clear up salary cap space. When asked what his “biggest learning” was from his time as head coach in 2026, Marshall highlighted his club’s off-field issues. “Well, there’s been heaps, honestly. Obviously we went through a lot of publicly played out um events this year,” he said. Get all the latest NRL news, highlights and analysis delivered straight to your inbox with Fox Sports Sportmail. Sign up now!!! “I think one of the big things is making sure we’ve got depth in positions for when we do have injuries like we did at the start of the year. “And then how to manage and navigate our way through off-field things that can become a distraction and how to not let them become a distraction. “So yeah, there’s a lot of things to take away from a coaching perspective for sure... it’s a pretty thankless job sometimes where you have to give a lot of energy, time, effort. “You also have to give a part of yourself away to the team.” When pressed on the “distractions”, Marshall explained that the only way to silence the noise around the struggling club was to win games. “Well, I think the biggest thing is it only becomes a distraction if you don’t perform,” he said. “Because if you go and perform and win, then no one talks about it. If you don’t, which happened this year, it becomes bigger. MORE NRL NEWS TALKING POINTS: Broncos’ blunder that could haunt Madge; Roosters’ fresh headache ‘NO MORE TITANS’: Departing star’s partner takes huge Gold Coast swipe ‘GOT WHAT WE DESERVED’: Moses, coach rip into Eels with huge ‘s*** attitude’ spray ”So finding a way to keep the team in a good head space mentally and be able to perform week in week out is probably the biggest thing.” As aforementioned, the Tigers will be eyeing off adding to their squad in 2027 to improve their depth according to Marshall. “We’re always looking at ways to improve our squad. I think one of the biggest things we need right now is a bit of experience and leadership and guys who are not fringe players, more first graders who can do the job,” he said. ”So we’ll be looking in that sort of area. But from my point of view, I feel like we got the crux of a squad that one to probably 17-18, we can really compete. “After that, we need to get a bit more.”