League: Tigers cut Sheens as head coach

Tim Sheens has been cut as Tigers head coach.  (Photo by Matt Blyth/Getty Images)
Tim Sheens has been cut as Tigers head coach. (Photo by Matt Blyth/Getty Images)
He didn't quit and he wasn't sacked, yet after ten years at the helm, Tim Sheens will no longer be the coach of Wests Tigers.

The man who steered the Tigers to their only NRL title in 2005 was on Tuesday told the coaching position was no longer his as Sheens paid the price for the club's dismal 2012 campaign.

Sheens has been offered the opportunity to remain at the Tigers in an as yet undefined role - a hefty payout of close to $900,000 seemingly a key factor in the cash-strapped club not wanting to cut him outright.

Claims of a player revolt and the board's desire to go in a new direction would seem to make a new Tigers position for Sheens untenable, the club perhaps hoping he can pick up a role elsewhere to potentially limit the extent of any payout.

Sheens has been linked with the vacant Warriors job but David Kidwell has recently emerged as favourite to take up the role.

But Tigers chairman David Trodden remains adamant the man who has coached more NRL games than anyone else still had a future with the club.

"We would love to see him continue in a senior role with our club, but to be fair to Tim this has all happened quite suddenly," Trodden said.

"There was a consideration that we had come to a point in time when it was appropriate for the organisation to try something different in the NRL coach role for 2013."

Told it seemed as if Sheens was being forced out, Trodden said:

"I think (that's) really disrespectful of Tim and disrespectful of the people in this club who hold him in high regard," Trodden said.

"We want him to be involved in this club because he's been the most influential figure in this club during the course of its history."

While speculation over Sheens' future has been a hot topic ever since the club failed to make the top eight, Trodden insists the decision to restructure the Tigers' football operations was only determined on Tuesday afternoon.

While the failure to make the finals was a catalyst for the review, Sheens' fate was seemingly sealed when players voiced their displeasure over the cleanout of the squad - particularly the departure of popular pair Chris Heighington and Beau Ryan to Cronulla.

Chief executive Stephen Humphreys was non-committal when asked if the playing group could still work under Sheens.

"All of us at Wests Tigers including all of the players and the senior players have nothing but the highest regard for Tim," Humphreys said.

"There are lots of roles in our club that may or may not involve being around the NRL squad."

Trodden praised Sheens' role in turning a dysfunctional joint-venture into a premiership contender during his ten years at the club.

But his term was also blighted by a failure to turn promise into success with the 2005 title a beacon within a reign which featured seven missed finals campaigns.

Humphreys said a sub-committee had been formed to find a new coach, and while no one had been approached about the position, Manly assistant Matt Parish is considered a frontrunner for the role.

Former St George Illawarra coach Nathan Brown - who is set to start his role as St Helens coach later this year - has also been mentioned as a contender, as has Melbourne assistant Kevin Walters.

 

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