Whilst we are throwing about left field contenders for management, let me through a wild suggestion for either GM football or CEO. Yes it’s a wild suggestion but it’s a bloke who has proven himself as someone who gets things done and has built clubs up from scratch AND a former magpie……..
John Ribot
Thats left field! I get the logic but there’s probably a bit too much baggage and carryover from the super league war.
Wests Tigers Podcast - Talking everything Wests Tigers!
Whilst we are throwing about left field contenders for management, let me through a wild suggestion for either GM football or CEO. Yes it’s a wild suggestion but it’s a bloke who has proven himself as someone who gets things done and has built clubs up from scratch AND a former magpie……..
John Ribot
Thats left field! I get the logic but there’s probably a bit too much baggage and carryover from the super league war.
I agree and I hated him for what he did.....but if you look at what he did building Brisbane and then Melbourne from ground up as well as Queensland Roar FC, a simple job like fixing us would be easy. I genuinely think he would be great and I could look past his moral failures if he fixed us. What better way to reposition his reputation.
Great to hear!
Let's hope the HBG and WT boards listen to and act on the findings of the review.
Well done again Steve, Joel, Garry and everyone else involved
Top 8 2023
Whilst we are throwing about left field contenders for management, let me through a wild suggestion for either GM football or CEO. Yes it’s a wild suggestion but it’s a bloke who has proven himself as someone who gets things done and has built clubs up from scratch AND a former magpie……..
John Ribot
Thats left field! I get the logic but there’s probably a bit too much baggage and carryover from the super league war.
I would hand in my membership if Ribot got any gig at wests tigers
@tiger5150 man if you research it , what he did was actually pretty understandable , and generally all he wanted was the arl to launch globally , and a bigger slice of the pie for players and non traditional clubs .
It was the ARL and it’s years of nepotism to manly / bulldogs , and to be honest Balmain wasn’t too far out of those meetings .
The execution was real poor , that I agree with , but generally , in the case of the SL war everyone was selfish , and looking after thier own .
Also if the nswrl/ARL had done the right thing in the early 80s and followed AFL in making the tough choices around clubs who were insolvent , seeing the forest from the trees re. Media rights , and having foresight , which they were advised of by robot types when they were in charge of Brisbane , a lot of what went down wouldn’t have .
Even Brisbane being so powerful was a stuff up by Arko and co . They gave them sole access to the SE qld corridor , so when the qrl tried to bring in the crushers they crippled them before it began .
💯 Ribot was always looking after ribot and Brisbane , but you’d argue that he wasn’t wrong . His execution was extremely poor and he now cuts a divisive figure . But the dude is legit .
By the way I was staunch ARL when I was a kid . It as an adult , if it had have happened now , I would be 💯 pro SL.
@tiger5150 man if you research it , what he did was actually pretty understandable , and generally all he wanted was the arl to launch globally , and a bigger slice of the pie for players and non traditional clubs .
It was the ARL and it’s years of nepotism to manly / bulldogs , and to be honest Balmain wasn’t too far out of those meetings .
The execution was real poor , that I agree with , but generally , in the case of the SL war everyone was selfish , and looking after thier own .
Also if the nswrl/ARL had done the right thing in the early 80s and followed AFL in making the tough choices around clubs who were insolvent , seeing the forest from the trees re. Media rights , and having foresight , which they were advised of by robot types when they were in charge of Brisbane , a lot of what went down wouldn’t have .
Even Brisbane being so powerful was a stuff up by Arko and co . They gave them sole access to the SE qld corridor , so when the qrl tried to bring in the crushers they crippled them before it began .
💯 Ribot was always looking after ribot and Brisbane , but you’d argue that he wasn’t wrong . His execution was extremely poor and he now cuts a divisive figure . But the dude is legit .
By the way I was staunch ARL when I was a kid . It as an adult , if it had have happened now , I would be 💯 pro SL.
thats the story he tells……but it was 100% all about the brand new just opening Pay TV market
@tiger5150 man if you research it ,
With respect mate I dont have to research it, I was in meetings hearing details.
It was the ARL and it’s years of nepotism to manly / bulldogs , and to be honest Balmain wasn’t too far out of those meetings .
The execution was real poor , that I agree with , but generally , in the case of the SL war everyone was selfish , and looking after thier own .
Also if the nswrl/ARL had done the right thing in the early 80s and followed AFL in making the tough choices around clubs who were insolvent , seeing the forest from the trees re. Media rights , and having foresight , which they were advised of by robot types when they were in charge of Brisbane , a lot of what went down wouldn’t have .
This part is not 100% accurate, well at least not accurate that the ARL wasnt doing anything about it. In 1994 I was in a meeting with the BDRLFC in which Ken Arthurson and John Quayle explained to the Balmain Board and members that the ARL were implementing a series of criteria that ever club had to meet in order to be invited to continue in the ARL. The ones I remember were average home crowds of 10K, certain facilities for corporate sponsors, certain number of juniors and $10M turnover p.a.. Balmain would not make it on any of the criteria at the time and I think from memory that they had 3 years to turn it around. This is why they changed to Sydney Tigers (believed they could attract more global sponsorship), moved to Parra Stadium (sufficient corporates) and hoped for better crowds. It is not true that the ARL were not trying to shake up the clubs and they were looking at culling clubs. The criteria that they ended up implementing at the end of the Super League war were the same as the ARL applied in 1994 but in 1994 we were told that if you didnt make it you were out (not just the best 12 or 14 make it).
The shake up that "professionalised" RL after the Super League war was already started prior to the SL war. The war was 100% about content for pay TV.
My little SL story. The night that Super League broke (was it april fools or good friday or something?) my GF and I were on our way to dinner at Matt Munro's house who was playing for the Tigers at the time. We heard the news on the radio on the way over. At the time Matt Munro was in negotiations with Balmain for a new Contract but both parties knew his knees were shot and Balmain were low balling him, but he was going to take it anyway. That night I told him what was going on, and he had no idea, he hadn't heard anything about it. Long story short, he signed with SL and went to play in the UK SL.
@tiger5150 man if you research it ,
With respect mate I dont have to research it, I was in meetings hearing details.
It was the ARL and it’s years of nepotism to manly / bulldogs , and to be honest Balmain wasn’t too far out of those meetings .
The execution was real poor , that I agree with , but generally , in the case of the SL war everyone was selfish , and looking after thier own .
Also if the nswrl/ARL had done the right thing in the early 80s and followed AFL in making the tough choices around clubs who were insolvent , seeing the forest from the trees re. Media rights , and having foresight , which they were advised of by robot types when they were in charge of Brisbane , a lot of what went down wouldn’t have .This part is not 100% accurate, well at least not accurate that the ARL wasnt doing anything about it. In 1994 I was in a meeting with the BDRLFC in which Ken Arthurson and John Quayle explained to the Balmain Board and members that the ARL were implementing a series of criteria that ever club had to meet in order to be invited to continue in the ARL. The ones I remember were average home crowds of 10K, certain facilities for corporate sponsors, certain number of juniors and $10M turnover p.a.. Balmain would not make it on any of the criteria at the time and I think from memory that they had 3 years to turn it around. This is why they changed to Sydney Tigers (believed they could attract more global sponsorship), moved to Parra Stadium (sufficient corporates) and hoped for better crowds. It is not true that the ARL were not trying to shake up the clubs and they were looking at culling clubs. The criteria that they ended up implementing at the end of the Super League war were the same as the ARL applied in 1994 but in 1994 we were told that if you didnt make it you were out (not just the best 12 or 14 make it).
The shake up that "professionalised" RL after the Super League war was already started prior to the SL war. The war was 100% about content for pay TV.
My little SL story. The night that Super League broke (was it april fools or good friday or something?) my GF and I were on our way to dinner at Matt Munro's house who was playing for the Tigers at the time. We heard the news on the radio on the way over. At the time Matt Munro was in negotiations with Balmain for a new Contract but both parties knew his knees were shot and Balmain were low balling him, but he was going to take it anyway. That night I told him what was going on, and he had no idea, he hadn't heard anything about it. Long story short, he signed with SL and went to play in the UK SL.
Matt Munro - one of my favs. Him and Edmed cleaned up thanks to Super League desperately trying to get players 💰
Wests Tigers Podcast - Talking everything Wests Tigers!
@tiger5150 sorry if I came across as condescending , that’s not what I was implying .
More just when people dig they will find that their position of undeniable ARL staunch loyalist would be questioned . , of which id hazard a guess based on the club we go for , would be most on here.
I think Arko and Quayle were definitely legends of the game , but I would also say that the ARL had its bread buttered in manly , and an up and coming Greek millionaire with some very profitable card yards in the city .
If we as tigers and maybe wests fans , although I’m not sure if the invite was ever given to wests unfortunately, we should have taken the SL money.
Prime example Cronulla . Was basically insolvent for 20 years prior to SL and that money kept them afloat long enough for them to sell their land and develop the area around the marshes there .
And every one of the foundation club/established clubs who made the switch still exist today .
I dunno is all I’m saying . It’s very easy to Monday morning quarterback it.
If super league didn’t turn it into touch footy and alienate just about any moderate with that poor excuse for RL , we might have seen a completely different result .
Anyways it’s all food for thought and doesn’t amount to much .
There’s heaps of books about it , and the rugby league digest do a great job of pulling the whole thing apart .
I love listening to it . I used to sit in science with a mate and draw up potential team lists with for the Parramatta Tigers , Canterbury Tigers , Sydney City Tigers , Wests tigers , like massive football nerd teenagers would .
The whole thing , especially when the merger happened again , offered so much promise and change for the future.
Not sure any of it happened though .
The same teams who had the power then still have the power now . What a difference 25 years makes huh .
@tiger5150 sorry if I came across as condescending , that’s not what I was implying .
More just when people dig they will find that their position of undeniable ARL staunch loyalist would be questioned . , of which id hazard a guess based on the club we go for , would be most on here.
I think Arko and Quayle were definitely legends of the game , but I would also say that the ARL had its bread buttered in manly , and an up and coming Greek millionaire with some very profitable card yards in the city .
If we as tigers and maybe wests fans , although I’m not sure if the invite was ever given to wests unfortunately, we should have taken the SL money.
Prime example Cronulla . Was basically insolvent for 20 years prior to SL and that money kept them afloat long enough for them to sell their land and develop the area around the marshes there .
And every one of the foundation club/established clubs who made the switch still exist today .
I dunno is all I’m saying . It’s very easy to Monday morning quarterback it.
If super league didn’t turn it into touch footy and alienate just about any moderate with that poor excuse for RL , we might have seen a completely different result .Anyways it’s all food for thought and doesn’t amount to much .
There’s heaps of books about it , and the rugby league digest do a great job of pulling the whole thing apart .
I love listening to it . I used to sit in science with a mate and draw up potential team lists with for the Parramatta Tigers , Canterbury Tigers , Sydney City Tigers , Wests tigers , like massive football nerd teenagers would .The whole thing , especially when the merger happened again , offered so much promise and change for the future.
Not sure any of it happened though .
The same teams who had the power then still have the power now . What a difference 25 years makes huh .
Good post Lesrtonge and I didnt take your posts as condescending, apologies if I came off aggressively. It was a dark and weird time in RL.
Towards the end, Balmain was offered massive money to switch. A former Chairman of the club told me it was the most that any club was offered and the only reasonthey were offer massive money is SL needed one more club to make it stick.
well done gentleman look forward to hearing the next show this weekend, thanks for all your hardwork boys
A must-listen edition of the Wests Tigers Podcast! This pod was recorded after meeting with the man leading the Wests Tigers Review, Gary Barnier. Everything you want to know about the review is covered in this edition. Don't miss it! https://weststigerspodcast.com.au/wests-tigers-podcast-0290/
Wests Tigers Podcast - Talking everything Wests Tigers!
Thanks for the update guys, it was a great listen.
For those that met Gary Barnier - it would be good to know what you predict will be the outcome of the review, in real terms?
e.g "i think WT CEO will be scapegoated and forced out" or 'I think board directors will given fixed 3 year terms"
There was a discussion on the podcast about the finances of the club
For those interested. Wests Ashfield pocketed $41mill in poker machine revenue for the 12 months ending 31 October 2022 (up from $28mill the previous year)
WT received $16.1 mill from the NRL grant in 2022 (up from $14.6 mil the prior year) and also received more than $16mill in grants to build the Zurich Centre across 2021 and 2022. See apge 45 of the annual report below
https://holmanbarnesgroup.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/HBG-AnnualReport_2022-23_WEB-1.pdf
First of all congrats on the Petition. I didn't think it would get traction unless a few metaphorical hand grenades were thrown. Also a "qualified" congrats to the Holman Barnes Group for agreeing to the Review.
I say "qualified" because upon investigation I find that three off our Wests Tigers Board Members (aka the problem) are in fact Board Members of the Holman Barnes Group. Namely Tony Andreacchio, Julie Romero and Dennis Burgess.
- Mr Andreacchio happens to be Chairman of HBG
- Ms Romero happens to be Deputy Chair of HBG
- Mr Burgess happens to be Chairman of the WSDRLFC.
So I guess I'm asking what are the chances of three HBG Directors removing themselves off the WT Board? I'd say about a trillion to one.
Burgess has been a director of Wests since 2001. Andreacchio and Wayde since 2012. I agree that they will not walk away.
