{"id":804651,"date":"2026-07-16T20:24:19","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T20:24:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/804651\/"},"modified":"2026-07-16T20:24:19","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T20:24:19","slug":"wests-tigers-identity-crisis-why-the-nrl-club-is-struggling-to-find-a-home-and-a-sense-of-purpose","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/804651\/","title":{"rendered":"Wests Tigers identity crisis: Why the NRL club is struggling to find a home and a sense of purpose"},"content":{"rendered":"

Opinion<\/p>\n

\"NeilNeil Breen<\/a>National sports editor<\/p>\n

July 17, 2026 \u2014 5:22am<\/p>\n

July 17, 2026 \u2014 5:22am<\/p>\n

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AAA<\/p>\n

Sweet Caroline is a fan favourite at sporting events around the globe.<\/p>\n

The Neil Diamond classic from 1969 is universally known, upbeat, and easy for the crowd to sing along to. For many fans, it\u2019s a great way to get the party started.<\/p>\n

The Wests Tigers, though, align more with one of Diamond\u2019s lesser-known and more introspective songs, the broody 1970 hit I Am, I Said.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s that song about? Well, it\u2019s about Diamond himself. Brooklyn born-and-raised, he loved New York City with a passion. But, to grow his musical career, he moved to the showbiz capital of the world \u2013 Los Angeles \u2013 \u201cpalm trees grow, and rents are low … and the feeling is lay back\u201d.<\/p>\n

That sounds ideal, but he goes on to explain: \u201cI\u2019m New York City born and raised and nowadays, I\u2019m lost between two shores \u2026 LA\u2019s fine, but it ain\u2019t home, New York\u2019s home, but it ain\u2019t mine no more\u201d.<\/p>\n

Within those words lies the same existential crisis that engulfs the Wests Tigers.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe Zurich Centre at Concord might be the Taj Mahal of centres of excellence, but for the Wests Tigers it has been a centre of mediocrity.<\/p>\n

They are a club with so many homes it doesn\u2019t know which way is up, or which master to serve.<\/p>\n

Take a drive down Parramatta Road beyond Five Dock and have a look at Concord Oval on the right-hand side outbound.<\/p>\n

Once a decaying old rugby union facility is now a rugby league Taj Mahal. The lavishly named Zurich Centre is the predominantly taxpayer-funded centre of excellence for the Wests Tigers<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"Jarome<\/a><\/p>\n

It has it all \u2013 a high-performance gym, which unfortunately has produced only average performances, a hot-and-cold plunge room which at least mirrors the team\u2019s patchy form, a theatre where the mounting losses can be reviewed and even a \u201csleep room\u201d which is handy for coaches who routinely need a Bex and a good lie down.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s an education and wellness hub, which is basically a glorified family home \u201cmedia room\u201d where tired parents send kids to overdose on video games. There are even some plush strapping chairs because who wants to sit in an average chair when the ankles are taped.<\/p>\n

Then we have the pool, sauna and steam room. You get the picture.<\/p>\n

While Concord is their training base, it\u2019s not their home, as such.<\/p>\n

Neither is Leichhardt Oval, where anywhere between two and six home games have been played each year for decades. It\u2019s the spiritual home of the Balmain half of the joint venture. And, of course, they\u2019ll be away from there while that venue is upgraded during the 2027 season.<\/p>\n

\"JaromeJarome Luai at Wests Tigers training on Friday.Steven Siewert<\/p>\n

About 50km and two million or so residents away is Campbelltown Sports Stadium, the home of Wests\u2019 half. While it\u2019s the home, it\u2019s not the spiritual home of Wests.<\/p>\n

That lies 40km away back towards town at the old Lidcombe Oval, where Tommy Raudonikis and teammates slapped each other in the sheds, and Roy Masters sent his band of \u201cfibros,\u201d including John \u201cDallas\u201d Donnelly, into battle breathing fire.<\/p>\n

They also play home games at CommBank Stadium, better known as the home of the Eels.<\/p>\n

The Tigers play there to service the corporates, apparently. But during home games you could fire a cannon through those areas and not hit anyone. That isn\u2019t the case at Eels home games.<\/p>\n

Financially, the Holman Barnes Group controls the club\u2019s purse strings. It runs the mega-rich, poker machine and electronic roulette-laden Wests Ashfield Club, as well as Croydon Sports Club and Markets Club at Homebush.<\/p>\n

Balmain Leagues Club in Rozelle has been closed since 2010,<\/a> meaning the Balmain side has been at the financial mercy of the Wests side for far too long.<\/p>\n

If you take out the St George Illawarra Dragons, which faced similar geographical and philosophical challenges post-merger, all other Sydney clubs have clearly defined areas, giving them a clear sense of belonging and purpose.<\/p>\n

The Roosters in the east, Souths adjacent to them along the coast and southern city areas, the Sharks in the Shire, the Bulldogs in Canterbury-Bankstown, Manly on the northern beaches and Parramatta and Penrith in their locales.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"Jarome<\/a><\/p>\n

It could be argued that in the professional sporting era, teams should be able to function anywhere, but it\u2019s not that simple.<\/p>\n

This game is tribal, and history shows split tribes don\u2019t fare well.<\/p>\n

Wests Tigers coach Benji Marshall did what Benji normally does on Tuesday when he blamed the media for spreading rumours about a fall-out between himself and Jarome Luai<\/a> in the aftermath of the news they asked him to leave at season\u2019s end.<\/p>\n

Luai, signed to provide the heartbeat that would drag them up from well below mediocrity, will soon be gone just two years into a five-year deal. Yet, somehow the media were the bad guys.<\/p>\n

Marshall would be better served to look inside the many walls of the lavish Zurich Centre instead.<\/p>\n

News broke last Thursday<\/a> the club would pay up to $500,000 of ex-saviour Luai\u2019s salary in 2027 to have him play anywhere else, and no-one at the club addressed their own fans until Marshall spoke.<\/p>\n

From that news until Marshall\u2019s media conference on Tuesday was five days. That\u2019s four and a half days too long. What did he and the club expect? Everyone to just say \u201coh well, they\u2019re getting rid of the guy who was going to save us. So what?\u201d<\/p>\n

It doesn\u2019t work like that. Then, when Luai\u2019s dad liked a post from Triple M suggesting there was a fallout between his son and Marshall, was everybody supposed to ignore it?<\/p>\n

The mismanagement of their captain and star player\u2019s exit summed up the club and speaks of management dysfunction.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"Jarome<\/a><\/p>\n

New full-time CEO Shaun \u201cI\u2019ve never failed\u201d Mielekamp would probably want to revisit how this was handled for future reference, unless he wants his self-proclaimed success rate as a CEO to go the way of everything else at the club. That direction is south, and fast.<\/p>\n

They haven\u2019t made the finals since 2011 and will miss them again this season after a promising start. Even the Titans made it to September in 2021.<\/p>\n

If Benji wants to make a proper go of coaching after 21 wins and 38 losses so far, the club needs to work out exactly who they are and who they represent.<\/p>\n

It has to stop being a transit lounge and find a way to instil a sense of purpose and belonging. That\u2019s not an easy task when you are the nomads of the competition.<\/p>\n

With governments of all levels funding redevelopments at Leichhardt and Campbelltown, they will roam the west forever.<\/p>\n

At least taxpayers have been able to share in the misery. It\u2019s their money which built every venue the club inhabits, despite how many people arrive on buses to play the pokies at Wests Ashfield.<\/p>\n

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\"NeilNeil Breen<\/a> is the national sports editor and a Walkley Award-winning journalist.Connect via X<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Opinion Neil BreenNational sports editor July 17, 2026 \u2014 5:22am July 17, 2026 \u2014 5:22am Save You have…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":804652,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-804651","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-nrl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/804651","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=804651"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/804651\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/804652"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=804651"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=804651"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=804651"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}