@joel I agree Matamua was given plenty of opportunities to show he wanted a spot .. but just seemed not interested . How long do you keep players around that either have reached there ceiling are just not good enough or just do not have the drive to succeed …there still are a few at the club at present that meet these criteria’s unfortunately.
@joel I agree Matamua was given plenty of opportunities to show he wanted a spot .. but just seemed not interested . How long do you keep players around that either have reached there ceiling are just not good enough or just do not have the drive to succeed …there still are a few at the club at present that meet these criteria’s unfortunately.
Not sure if it was that Matamua was not interested... I think it was more that he got opportunities so young that he thought he was entitled to more opportunities without putting in the hard work... only speculation from the outside
With the season about to commence after seeing the talent coming through after last weeks trail the Magpies reserve grade is going to be very competitive in fact more so than in many many seasons .This raise my question seeing HBG are all about the Magpies isn’t it a negative for HBG to suffocate the Weststigers of funds ! As this money would be used to retain the talent coming through and lure better credentialed players that certainly would be playing for the Magpies which would lead to greater success for that entity. So this seems to be a very unusual way to support the entity that ranks as your first priority for HBG . I would have thought with the bravado of keeping the Magpies as your feeder to the NRL side HBG would provide better funding as this would benefit the Magpies to become a top tier reserve grade side.
With the season about to commence after seeing the talent coming through after last weeks trail the Magpies reserve grade is going to be very competitive in fact more so than in many many seasons .This raise my question seeing HBG are all about the Magpies isn’t it a negative for HBG to suffocate the Weststigers of funds ! As this money would be used to retain the talent coming through and lure better credentialed players that certainly would be playing for the Magpies which would lead to greater success for that entity. So this seems to be a very unusual way to support the entity that ranks as your first priority for HBG . I would have thought with the bravado of keeping the Magpies as your feeder to the NRL side HBG would provide better funding as this would benefit the Magpies to become a top tier reserve grade side.
You would think they would be trying to bump up that level for sure 👍 but then losing and being on struggle street is so richly and deeply ingrained. It is their identity- the battlers.
Wests Tigers Podcast - Talking everything Wests Tigers since 2018!
@mike no problem - liked how well he spoke about the club and Benji. He's played his part in our turnaround.
Wests Tigers’ owners are bidding to give themselves a pay rise three months after a shambolic episode in which they sacked chairman Barry O’Farrell and three other directors before backflipping at the behest of the NRL.
The Holman Barnes Group, which owns 90 per cent of the Tigers and holds the licence for the NRL team, has for the past year been embroiled in turmoil that has threatened to spill over into the football club.
Now, its board members are seeking a boost which would see them collect more than their counterparts at most other Sydney clubs with ties to NRL teams.
HBG is proposing that its chairman’s annual honorarium be lifted from $51,341 to $65,000, the deputy chair’s fee to be raised from $33,371 to $50,000, and all other directors to get $32,500 instead of $25,670. All would also receive an extra $5000 if they sit on a club committee.
The effective $70,000 payment per annum for the chairman would eclipse the amounts paid to those in charge at most of Sydney’s major NRL-affiliated leagues clubs, including those with much larger membership bases.
Parramatta Leagues Club, which owns the Eels and has 65,000 members, gives its president $30,000 a year and other directors $20,000.
The 60,000-member Canterbury League Club, which is strongly linked to the Bulldogs and backs them financially, allows for a total of $229,801 to be paid to its seven directors including the chairman – an average of $32,828, although the chair and deputy chair receive a greater share.
St George Leagues Club, which owns 50 per cent of the Dragons and has 25,000 members, hands its chair $16,000 a year and ordinary directors $12,000, plus $2000 for each committee they sit on.
HBG has 27,000 members and the proposed honoraria for its board are exceeded only by those at Penrith NRL team owners Panthers Group, where total revenue was nearly $180 million in 2025 and which has a membership base of 148,000. The Panthers’ chairman receives $80,000 a year, its two deputies get $40,000 each and the remaining directors pick up $20,000 per annum.
Like those at other clubs, the HBG board members can take advantage of other perks of the position such as food and drinks. At the club’s annual general meeting on March 21 members will also be asked to approve its chairman and deputy receiving $500 per month hospitality cards.
As Holman Barnes Group’s business has expanded, the workload and governance responsibilities placed on directors have increased substantially,” said HBG vice-chairman Frank Primerano, who also sits on the Wests Tigers board.
“The proposed adjustments simply bring board honorariums into line with the scale of the organisation and the time commitment required, particularly as directors are increasingly involved in committees and strategic projects during this period of significant growth and investment.”
A source familiar with the activities of HBG, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said: “How can the most chaotic board in NSW simultaneously become one of the highest paid?
“If the stipend for the board were based on performance then quite obviously these people would be getting a pay cut, not a pay day.”
HBG, which oversees venues including Wests Ashfield, returned a net profit of $11.9 million in 2025 after raking in $52 million from poker machines and recording overall revenue of $100 million, according to its annual report.
But the organisation has been plagued by dysfunction during the past 18 months, with several board members controversially removed and former NSW premier O’Farrell and three other independent directors then sensationally axed from the Tigers last December less than a year after they were installed following a governance review.
After concerns were raised by the NRL, HBG reinstated them days later and O’Farrell was Tigers chairman. But the club was forced into a costly payout to Tigers chief executive Shane Richardson, who resigned amid the boardroom chaos 18 months into a four-year contract, and settled out of court with former HBG director Rick Wayde, a key instigator of the Tigers review, after he was banned for eight years.
HBG, which owns the NRL team via its control of Wests Magpies, has since beefed up its representation on the Tigers board, giving it an effective majority.
While the Tigers are governed separately to their owners, NRL funding for the team flows through HBG.
According to its latest financial report, HBG received $20 million from the NRL in 2025 and owes $36 million to players and head coach Benji Marshall over the next five years.
HBG is unusual in that the balance of power lies with 20 so-called debenture holders, who choose the majority of its directors under a decades-old, undemocratic system.
Only two of nine board seats are directly elected by the wider membership and there will not be a ballot for those spots at this month’s AGM after one of the three nominations withdrew.
The two remaining are well known to HBG board members: Shannon Cavanagh, a director of Wests Magpies alongside HBG chairman Dennis Burgess and Primerano, and Aldo Di Mento, a director of APIA Leichardt FC – the inner-west soccer team in which HGB bought a stake last year and on whose board Primerano and HBG chief executive Daniel Paton also sit.
SMH
Wests Tigers Podcast - Talking everything Wests Tigers since 2018!
I have to admit I don’t have a great deal of knowledge of the finances of HBG or the processes they go through to increase stipends (if that’s the correct word) but I wonder how this impacts the football operations? As far as I can tell there’s no impact besides a journo getting hold of this news and looking to upset Wests Tigers members & fans whose opinion of HBG isn’t all that great. If this story (for want of a better description) wasn’t published would any Wests Tigers member really care? It’s as if we’re waiting for such things so we can be upset about it.
@russtutty63 From reports the Weststigers have only a part time reserve grade coach and no head of Football dept (which is critical)the club being bled of of funds by HBG now these untouchable directors want a huge pay rise for themselves …deliberately throwing another bomb into the Weststigers bunker 6 days out from our season opener . A post by Allan Fallah with a picture of a room full of geriatric board members saying.. Quote :The more they criticise us the more unified we become SO THANKS! ..so that message to the fans from HBG is FU . Time for action …time for a generational change ..Darcy Byrne the hero of Weststigers unite time to pull the finger out and honour your word !
@russtutty63, your comment is so spot-on, as always; a comment clearly and concisely giving your opinion with no vitriol or hidden agendas. You really are a standout contributor to this forum.
By comparison, I tend to ignore posts that contain comments like "from reports ..." or "I've been told ...." because, well, it kind of demands agreement from the reader about everything else that follows. And, I'm too old (experienced?) and too cynical to bother with that.
Listening to a pod during the week there were expressions by one of the team that attended a function (charity game ) sponsored by HBG . The retired Weststigers players were made to wear Magpie jersey’s .. this in the scope of things is no big deal but it also emphasises the path and thinking of the core group of untouchables within the HBG of what they perceive as there main priority and alas it’s not the Main franchise that they own … Time for the Weststigers to be sold to an entity that will put in 100% effort to MWTGA…
I went out to that game & didn’t think a great deal of the jerseys or the giant magpie. It was a charity day and that’s what I thought of the day, not “Oh HBG are driving us into the ground or they’ve stuffed up again”. I think the majority there would’ve thought the same. But if you are looking for something to have a dig at you’ll find something all the time. The players there & coaches I’m pretty confident saw the day for what it was, I haven’t heard different but maybe they’re disappointed with it as well, I don’t know.
Does anyone know the amount of funding HBG are putting into the new Tigers Club development at Rozelle? Must be quite substantial I’d think. It’d be interesting to know in terms of their assets how much is allocated to each etc.
Why would it be quite substantial, they won't own the site and will only be tenants.
In memory of Geoff Chisholm (1965-2022)
