{"id":334896,"date":"2025-12-08T12:37:33","date_gmt":"2025-12-08T12:37:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/334896\/"},"modified":"2025-12-08T12:37:33","modified_gmt":"2025-12-08T12:37:33","slug":"departing-richardson-urges-nrl-to-protect-tigers-fans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/334896\/","title":{"rendered":"Departing Richardson urges NRL to protect Tigers fans"},"content":{"rendered":"

Shane Richardson has urged Peter V’landys to look after Wests Tigers fans and declared Benji Marshall must stay on as coach, after resigning as the NRL club’s CEO.<\/p>\n

Two years after arriving as the Tigers’ white knight, Richardson capped a tumultuous week at the club on Monday by confirming his immediate exit.<\/p>\n

His decision to quit comes after the club’s owners, the Holman Barnes Group, removed the four independent directors from their board last week.<\/p>\n

\"Richo\"<\/p>\n

On his way out: Richardson outside Wests Tigers headquarters at Concord on Monday. (Dean Lewins\/AAP PHOTOS)<\/p>\n

After telling staff of his exit, Richardson walked out and delivered a passionate six-minute monologue to media, incidentally with a dead magpie lying just metres away.<\/p>\n

In it, the veteran administrator made clear he had taken up the role of CEO on the condition he could work under a majority independent board.<\/p>\n

That board was appointed in January after recommendations from an external review, only for the Holman Barnes Group to axe the independents last week.<\/p>\n

Richardson on Monday stood by those directors, backed ousted chairman Barry O’Farrell and denied the owners’ claim they had been kept in the dark on decisions.<\/p>\n

He also maintained his decision to leave had nothing to do with a complaint to the NRL about his dealings at the club, adamant there had been no wrongdoing.<\/p>\n

\"Api\"<\/p>\n

Wests Tigers captain Apisai Koroisau (r) walks back to the club after Monday’s training session. (Dean Lewins\/AAP PHOTOS)<\/p>\n

The departing CEO refused to publicly criticise the club’s owners, but at the same time urged the NRL to look after Tigers fans after calls from head office intervention.<\/p>\n

“PVL made a comment the other day that it’s all about the fans and we’ve got to support the fans,” Richardson said.<\/p>\n

“Well I hope he carries that through because at the end of the day our fans are magnificent.<\/p>\n

“A great friend of mine, Harry Eaton, used to say to me all the time, ‘Richo, they know mate, they know’.<\/p>\n

“And they know. They know.”<\/p>\n

\"Tigers\"<\/p>\n

“They know”: Loyal West Tigers fans have endured years of turmoil and disappointment. (Mark Evans\/AAP PHOTOS)<\/p>\n

Richardson also declared it was vital for the club to remain a joint-venture of Western Suburbs and Balmain, with the Holman Barnes Group also the Magpies owners.<\/p>\n

“It’s the Wests Tigers. That’s what it is. The Wests Tigers,” Richardson said.<\/p>\n

“Twenty-five years of history and one premiership.”<\/p>\n

The club’s owners responded on Monday by thanking Richardson, while maintaining they had no plans to boot Balmain out of the merged club.<\/p>\n

In their brief stint at the club, Richardson and O’Farrell had turned a profit, locked in ground upgrades for Leichhardt and Campbelltown and helped lifted the Tigers from last on the ladder.<\/p>\n

Richardson’s exit will raise questions over the futures of stars Jahream Bula and Jarome Luai, after he told AAP a fortnight ago he was very confident they would stay.<\/p>\n

\"Bula\"<\/p>\n

Jahream Bula (c) returns to club HQ with teammates after their pre-season session. (Dean Lewins\/AAP PHOTOS)<\/p>\n

The departing CEO said on Monday the club now “has a task” to keep the fullback and five-eighth, but backed Marshall and football boss Shaun Mielekamp to do so.<\/p>\n

He also insisted Marshall was the right man to return the Tigers to the finals, after 15 years in the doldrums.<\/p>\n

“Benji Marshall loves this club,” Richardson said, while becoming emotional.<\/p>\n

“You can’t start (turning it around) until you get somebody who loves this club and he does. So stick with him and you’ll go a long way.<\/p>\n

\"Marshall\"<\/p>\n

“Stick with him”: coach Benji Marshall after Monday’s training. (Dean Lewins\/AAP PHOTOS)<\/p>\n

“What Benji Marshall does, and his word is his bond … If you haven’t got your integrity you’ve got nothing. Benji’s got a load of it.”<\/p>\n

AAP understands Mielekamp is the frontrunner to replace Richardson, and is likely to be appointed as interim CEO this week.<\/p>\n

Mielekamp was CEO of Central Coast Mariners between 2015 and 2024, lifting them from the bottom of the ladder and financial difficulties to back-to-back champions.<\/p>\n

\"Shaun<\/p>\n

CEO role frontrunner: Shaun Mielekamp. (Jeremy Ng\/AAP PHOTOS)<\/p>\n

Richardson also said he’d welcome an NRL investigation into the club contracting a digital marketing company he part owns with his son, following a complaint.<\/p>\n

The former Cronulla, South Sydney and Penrith boss has maintained all dealings were transparent and approved by the club’s board after a tender process, and the situation would not impact his exit fee.<\/p>\n

“There’s nothing to hide and I’ve got no qualms whatsoever about it,” Richardson, who wants to stay in the NRL, said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Shane Richardson has urged Peter V’landys to look after Wests Tigers fans and declared Benji Marshall must stay…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":334897,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,182251,9421,181251,761,762,158,9420,85,36522,4515],"class_list":["post-334896","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-barry-o39farrell","tag-benji-marshall","tag-holman-barnes-group","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-nrl","tag-shane-richardson","tag-sports","tag-the-tigers","tag-wests-tigers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/334896","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=334896"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/334896\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/334897"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=334896"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=334896"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=334896"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}