‘No-one’s vaping in the gym’: Doueihi apologises for Tigers walkout as he and Marshall address club culture

Updated July 29, 2026 — 10:10am,first published July 29, 2026 — 9:29amAdam Doueihi has apologised to Tigers fans and his teammates after controversially standing himself down from playing as coach Benji Marshall addressed allegations of players using e-cigarettes during training sessions.Doueihi returned to training on Tuesday and addressed teammates, having clashed with Marshall over the coach’s decision to move him from the halves for last week’s game against the Raiders, which the Tigers lost 56-10.Adam Doueihi returned to Wests Tigers training on Tuesday.Audrey RichardsonAn irate Doueihi took the opportunity to speak his mind, telling the coach he was fed up with the lack of accountability and professionalism that had led to another failed NRL campaign, and told Marshall he would not be playing against Canberra.Doueihi raised several issues over standards at the club, though refused to elaborate on Wednesday morning as he reiterated that he is committed to his three-year deal with the Tigers and is not eyeing an early exit.“I should’ve played,” Doueihi said, conceding he took Marshall’s positional call “the wrong way”.“It hurt watching the boys on the weekend that I wasn’t out there … I’ve had a really, really good conversation with Benji, Shaun and the club about my care-factor for the club.Adam Doueihi and Benji Marshall at training on Tuesday.Audrey Richardson“I play and wear my heart on my sleeve. I know it’s hard for our fans to see. I let them down on the weekend.“I’m happy to wear all the criticism … Did I want to bring that noise to the club? No, that wasn’t my intention. I had a really good conversation with [my teammates] after.”Minutes earlier, Marshall denied suggestions of double standards among the playing group, as well as reports that Tigers players have been vaping in the gym, claiming the stories were “fabricated”, but acknowledged players using e-cigarettes is an issue for the club.“There are issues that if they are issues, we’ll definitely address internally among the players,” Marshall said. I can tell you now that no one’s vaped in the gym, that’s actually fabricated or misinformation.“Is there a vaping problem? Probably with players, but like with young men, you can’t tell them whether to vape or smoke or whatnot, and I definitely can’t control what they do 24/7, and I’m not with them all the time, so I don’t feel like there’s a culture problem.“If we’re talking about standards and that, there’s probably a few things we might have walked past recently that we need to address ... whatever the concerns were from Adam’s perspective, they were all dealt with in the room.”Marshall said his decision to recall Doueihi immediately into his starting side against the Eels, at the expense of rookie Javon Andrews, was the best call in pursuit of a win.“I didn’t feel disrespected [by Doueihi’s withdrawal],” Marshall said.“What I could see was a young guy who needed support and wasn’t in the head space to play … I saw a guy who was hurting and who wasn’t in the position to play. You can’t force that.”The development came just 24 hours after Doueihi held peace talks with Marshall, chief executive Shaun Mielekamp and football manager Pat Richards, with the rugby league news cycle dominated by the latest drama to engulf the joint-venture.More to come.Dan Walsh is a sports reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via X or email.Adrian Proszenko is the Chief Rugby League Reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via X or email.From our partners