Tigers’ plan A to retain big four stumbles
WESTS Tigers’ chances of retaining their ‘‘big four’’ offcontract stars have plummeted after negotiations to bring their mystery mentor to the club broke down.
Tigers powerbrokers were in talks to find a role for Joe Wehbe, known in football circles as the ‘‘football whisperer’’. Wehbe has been a sounding board for free agents Luke Brooks, Mitchell Moses, James Tedesco and Aaron Woods, who are among a legion of NRL stars secretly seeking his counsel. Knowing of the bond between Wehbe and the quartet, Tigers officials realised his presence at the joint-venture outfit could be an inducement for them to re-sign.
Wehbe spent time with the entire Tigers squad some weeks ago on a trial basis in a pointer towards an ongoing role at Concord. It is understood that Woods, Tedesco, Moses and Brooks welcomed the move, to the point they were poised to put pen to paper and commit to the Tigers long term. However, there was some resistance to Wehbe’s presence from some staffers, resulting in the property developer walking away from the club.
Wehbe’s departure has angered the quartet and is a major setback in contract negotiations. It is one of several hiccups in signing discussions with Isaac Moses, a friend of Wehbe’s and the manager of all four players.
The Tigers stars continue to consult with Wehbe, a peak performance coach during Stephen Kearney’s stint with the New Zealand test team, on their own time. Wehbe is an intensely private person and the players respect his wish to keep their sessions confidential. Kearney, while an assistant at the Broncos last year, brought Wehbe to Red Hill for a series of training sessions. However, any media queries about the man described as a ‘‘touch footy guru’’ were quickly shot down.
The Wehbe situation is one of several stumbling blocks the Tigers face in retaining their most valuable players. Coach Jason Taylor is also off contract and the players would prefer to know who they’ll be playing under before deciding whether to recommit. The club has also been rocked by revelations from disgraced former centre Tim Simona, who claimed he took cocaine with teammates during mad Monday celebrations several years ago.
Rival clubs are prepared to make big-money approaches to the Tigers quarter but the club is still hopeful of retaining them all. The players’ preference is to remain together but it remains to be seen whether that will eventuate. The Sun-Herald