Adam Doueihi wants to be the Wests Tigers’ captain and is going above and beyond to ensure he’s well-equipped to lead the club should he be appointed.
The Tigers are yet to announce their captain for 2023 but are almost certain to veer away from the controversial five captains model that former coach Michael Maguire implemented last season.
After the club was heavily criticised, the system was abandoned mid-season and veteran prop James Tamou was appointed the Tigers’ sole captain.
But with Tamou now back at the Cowboys, the role is up for grabs — and Doueihi has made his captaincy aspirations known.
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Doueihi believes he has the “natural leadership qualities” to be an NRL captain and revealed the extraordinary lengths he’s gone to, to be the best possible leader.
“It’s definitely something I aspire to be,” the 24-year-old told foxsports.com.au.
“When I started at Souths I was in the emerging leadership group and probably learnt my most back there off the leadership team — John Sutton, Sam Burgess, Greg Inglis, Adam Reynolds and Cody Walker.
“I was pretty fortunate to just listen to everything they had to say and watch they did day-in, day-out both on and off the field — I absorbed all that in.
“Since I’ve come across to the Tigers, I’ve been in the leadership group the past couple of years and I aspire to be a captain.
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“I feel as though I have natural leadership abilities and I’m always doing stuff off the field to help improve. Whether it be speaking to a leader of another organisation, or another sportsperson — I’m trying to pick different peoples’ brains and how it could apply to me.
“My dad’s got a business of his own and has a good network of friends that he’s introduced me to that I can lean on. There’s a few CEO’s of some pretty big companies that I just pick the brains of to see if anything overlaps into the sporting world.
“I’m still learning and developing but I feel as though I have some pretty strong, natural leadership qualities.”
Doueihi was one of the five players that made up Maguire’s unusual captaincy model.
Maguire has always thought highly of the Tigers local junior, which is why he recruited him to the Rabbitohs in 2016 and then back to the Tigers in 2020.
Doueihi was always on Maguire’s side, even slamming claims the coach was too tough as “a load of rubbish” last year.
But the Lebanon international knows rugby league is a “results-driven business” and understands the Tigers’ decision to sack Maguire mid-2022.
“Madge’ got me to Souths when he was there and then when I was off-contract at Souths he got me here so I’ve got a lot of respect for ‘Madge’ and what he’s done for me and my career,” Doueihi said.
“But we weren’t going as well as we should have been last year and personally I was a bit disappointed I couldn’t come back earlier and sort of try and help him out by doing stuff on the field to try and turn things around.
“The decision was made to go in a different direction and we have to back the board here.”
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Doueihi, who rushed back from the Rugby League World Cup to attend teammate Alex Twal’s wedding, is coming off contract this year.
While he didn’t give anything away about his future, he assured foxsports.com.au that he’s not too worried about it.
“I like to keep that in-house and not talk about it too much but I’m obviously off-contract and in no rush,” Doueihi said.
“It’s in the back of my mind but I’m not losing sleep over it.
“I’ve got a plan of what I want in the future and I’m focused on playing good here first. If I’m still off-contract come the season, I’ll let my footy do the talking and see what happens.”
An ACL injury hampered Doueihi to just 11 NRL games last year but he’s happy to say he is “feeling really fit and healthy” ahead of the Tigers’ season opener against the Titans on March 5.
He’ll partner Luke Brooks in the halves and is benefiting off a full pre-season with him.
Jackson Hastings spent last pre-season in the halves alongside Brooks while Doueihi was recovering from his knee injury.
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“We have a clear picture of how we want to play and there’s a style of footy this year that suits both our games,” Doueihi said of his combination with Brooks.
The Tigers collected the club’s first wooden spoon last season but with the addition of big-name recruits Api Koroisau, Isaiah Papali’i, David Klemmer and John Bateman they’re tipped to at least finish higher up the ladder this year.
Doueihi conceded the club’s failure over the last decade “does hurt” but believes a good opening month of footy can set them up for a much more successful season.
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“Of course (it hurts to lose). I’m one of the worst losers — it’s a part of our Lebanese culture, we hate losing. I’m personally competitive no matter what it is in life or sport,” he said.
“Coming over I had ambitions to win stuff here and make the finals and stop the so-called drought but we haven’t been able to do that. It does hurt, it makes training not as enjoyable.
“This year we’ve had a really positive pre-season but unless you win games it means nothing.
“As long as we can start the season good and win games early hopefully we can ride the momentum and get into the eight.
“(That gives you) confidence and just knowing that what you’re doing works — that’s the big one.
“You train all pre-season on your attack and defence model then if you lose the first four or five games you begin questioning your passes or your plays and you don’t want that head noise.”
The Tigers face the Titans and Knights in the first fortnight before taking on the Bulldogs at Belmore and then heading to Melbourne to play the Storm.
