In early 2022 the Wests Tigers brought in former coach Tim Sheens to do a complete review of the club. The result of that review is that Sheens recommended that the club sack then coach Michael Maguire, and install the best man for the job to coach the club going forward. Tim Sheens.
Thats right, Tim Sheens recommended himself as the clubs coach.
Instead of thanking Tim Sheens for his time and disregarding this ridiculous suggestion, the Wests Tigers decided they were all in. They sacked Michael Maguire and gave Tim Sheens a 3 year deal. On top of that the club signed Robbie Farah and Benni Marshall to deals that were five years long, with Benji Marshall supposedly to take over from Sheens once Sheens taught him how to be a coach, with Farah looking to be an assistant coach.
If all of this sounds needlessly complicated and totally ridiculous, its because it is!
Today the Wests Tigers announced that Tim Sheens would not coach the Wests Tigers in 2024, with Benji Marshall taking over one year early. This comes after Sheens has “led” the clubs to back-to-back wooden spoons.
The Wests Tigers have not made the NRL finals series in over a decade. Something that is almost impossible to achieve in a salary cap controlled era. Just a couple of days ago I asked the question, Should The NRL Step In A Fix Clubs Thats Are Failing. The Wests Tigers are a prime example of a club that is failing.
Wests Tigers supporters can not vote on who stands on the Wests Tigers board. That means that once a Wests Tigers board member gains their position they are not accountable to their customers, the supporters of the club.
Is there any question that, if given the chance, Wests Tigers supporters would vote out the current board?
On top of that the board appoints the clubs CEO. That means the CEO is not accountable to anyone except the clubs board, who are not accountable to anyone.
The Wests Tigers are nomads of the NRL, playing games all over the place and claiming them as “home” grounds. They have the entire Mcarthur region they could call their own, the fastest growing region in Sydney, with new development racing forward, a new airport being built, new infrastructure, and yet the Wests Tigers chose to build their “centre of excellence” in Concord and refuse to embrace the “West” part of their name.
The Tigers have the second biggest junior base in Sydney to draw from, behind only the Penrith Panthers, and yet the club produces nowhere near the junior talent it should.
The Wests Tigers neglect the Macarthur region to such an extent, you could make a really good argument that the area could have an expansion club of its own to take over the region!
Basically, there is no area that the Wests Tigers are doing a good job at being an NRL club.
So, when will the clubs board and CEO be made accountable for their consistent failures?
Tim Sheens is just a symptom of the club being so poorly run. Benji Marshall will take over, and he will get sacked too. As will the next coach. The club won’t make the finals, the club won’t have a permanent home ground, and it will keep going on until the management at the club is completely cleaned out and new people come in who can fix this club.
