The Wests Tigers are apparently working on a 2005 Grand Final reunion after hiring new assistant coaches and head coaches for their NSW Cup teams.
Following the departure of previous NSW Cup coach Wayne Lambkin from the club in September of this year, a new assistant and NSW Cup coach has been hired.
One of the most seasoned rugby league coaches, Lambkin began working for the Wests Tigers in 2019, taking over as the team’s Jersey Flegg coach before switching to the reserve-grade team in 2022.
His appointment as head coach of the North Sydney Bears NSW Cup club after a successful 20-year coaching career at Westfield Sports High School.
According to News Corp, the Wests Tigers have apparently hired Aaron Payne as his replacement. Payne will serve as the head coach of the club’s NSW Cup squad, the Western Suburbs Magpies, and will help Benji Marshall as an assistant coach.
The former Cowboys legend, who played in 219 games for the team between 2002 and 2012, mostly as a hooker, was let go from his prior position earlier this year.
Payne served as the Townsville Blackhawks’ head coach for five seasons starting in 2018 before being fired from the position earlier this year. Payne took over when Kristian Woolf left for St Helens RLFC.
Payne will join colleagues 2005 Grand Finalists Benji Marshall (head coach), Robbie Farah (assistant coach), and Chris Heighington (assistant coach) at the Tigers upon his arrival.
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In a prospective player trade, the Tigers may be about to get Storm centre Justin Olam, who is now out of favour.
According to The Daily Telegraph, the Storm would receive forward Shawn Blore in exchange for the Tigers receiving Olam.
If successful, this would be the second player trade between the two teams in the past three years, after the loan of Storm hooker Harry Grant to the Tigers for the 2020 campaign in exchange for centre Paul Momirovski.
Given that Olam was in and out of Melbourne’s first-grade team and was not chosen for the Storm’s playoff match against the Broncos, the news of his transfer is not entirely unexpected.
Blore recently agreed to a one-year agreement with the Tigers through 2024, but the organisation also re-signed forwards Alex Twal and Alex Seyfarth, which led to a bit of a stalemate and made Blore considerably more disposable.
If a trade is completed, it seems to be a deal where both parties stand to gain.
