Behind the Benji-Moses Feud: Ex-Tigers and Their Next Concern – Hoops

Elias defends Galvin from Tigers leaders | 04:07

The genesis of the Benji Marshall-Isaac Moses feud at Wests Tigers can be traced back to two players no longer at the club in John Bateman and David Klemmer.

Moses looks after the negotiations for both senior NRL forwards and clearly didn’t like the way the England international and one-time Kangaroo forward were forced out of Wests Tigers.

Ironically, a big part of why Bateman left was due to the perceived preferential treatment rookie five-eighth Lachlan Galvin was receiving from Marshall.

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They all tried to deny it at the time but the truth is Bateman and Benji had a blow-up at training about the Tigers coach treating the senior players like kids and the rookies like senior players.

That was Bateman’s take. The English international didn’t last much longer at the Tigers before returning to England and then back to the NRL to join North Queensland.

The way we’ve heard it Benji did make exceptions for Galvin and did go out of his way to allow the young gun to have the latitude to play his natural game.

If you watch Jarome Luai closely since he’s arrived at Wests Tigers he’s playing differently to the free spirit who was like a jack-in-the-box winning four premierships at Penrith.

The Wests Tigers have received wide-spread support from rival NRL clubs for the way they’ve taken a stand against Moses and Galvin.

Because in the fair dinkum department this isn’t the first rodeo where we’ve seen Moses try and pull a power play on a club.

How long have you got?

The biggest ones were Joseph Suaalii at the South Sydney Rabbitohs in 2020 and the demand for get-out option clauses in his contract every year.

The Bunnies and Wayne Bennett refused to put the clauses in so Moses promptly marched Suaalii to arch-rivals the Sydney Roosters.

We all know how that ended – with Suaalii switching codes. Moses has since been given life by powerful Sydney Roosters kingpin Nick Politis.

The biggest kick in the guts was Politis was hugely influential in earning Moses a reprieve from being deregistered as an agent.

It was the ultimate betrayal.

Or what about the power play as the Canberra Raiders were charging towards the grand final in 2019.

The Green Machine were on a flying run when all of a sudden out of left field John Bateman started talking about his contract and how he had a new agent in Moses.

It was designed to be destabilising and the last thing the Raiders needed leading into trying to win the biggest game of the season.

The next big call for the Wests Tigers is how they handle the contract situation with another of the club’s young gun local junior teenagers in Tallyn Da Silva.

Da Silva, 19, won a Harold Matthews premiership alongside Galvin at Wests Magpies in 2022 and good judges regard him as the next big thing in terms of dummy-halves.

Da Silva is currently signed at the Tigers until the end of 2026 but you can guarantee rival clubs will be in the queue given his running game and creativity with the ball as a hooker.

Parramatta and the Cowboys are two club in need of a quality hooker with Reece Robson to depart North Queensland at the end of this season for the Sydney Roosters.

Where it’s going to be a balancing act for the Tigers will centre around co-captain Api Koroisau and whether the champion no.9 wants to continue playing beyond 2026.

Korisau and Da Silva are both off contract at the same time.

But unlike Galvin it’s unlikely you’ll see Da Silva’s dealings with the Wests Tigers splashed all over NRL 360 or the newspapers because of blow-ups behind-the-scenes.

The way Korisau is playing combined with the development of the Tigers new-look spine you’d think the crafty dummy-half will want to continue beyond next season.

Even though Api will be 33 by the end of 2026 it’s hard to see why he wouldn’t want to continue and he’s earned that right through what he’s brought to the Tigers since arriving at the end of 2023.

Wests Tigers coach Marshall has been rolling with a rotation of Korisau and Da Silva over the opening six rounds with the duo instrumental in the club’s 3-3 start to the season.

For the Wests Tigers sake let’s hope Da Silva is one local junior the club can retain.

The challenge will be he’s also very good mates with Galvin.