Ben Elias, a legend of the Balmain Tigers, has reacted to the club's entire board, which saw Justin Pascoe and Lee Hagipantelis leaving their roles.
In a mass cleanout, Pascoe and Hagipantelis have been replaced by former NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell, who is set to return to the club in an interim capacity and former Rabbitohs, Panthers and Sharks chief executive Shane Richardson.
Legally, the changes are yet to be approved, but the club legend admits he hopes it can lead to success on and off the field.
โIt's great news, it's huge news. It's something that needed to be done,โ he said viaย NCA Newswire.
โIt's been more than a decade with no success so something had to be done. They've acted in the most brutal way.
โYou've got to make some serious decisions when you're in that position, and now was the time to do it.
โIt should have happened ages ago. I've been saying it for a long while that there needed to be change in the joint.
โIf you're not successful then you need to make changes until you are successful. They've had a very thorough review and these are the actions they had to take.โ
An independent review that was launched into the Tigers at the end of 2023 saw a recommendation that the entire Tigers board be dismissed, with the club heading in a new direction from the management level.
That followed the earlier axing ofย Tim Sheensย as head coach at the end of the season, one where the joint-venture finished with their second wooden spoon in a row despite a number of off-season recruits heading to Concord.
Justin Pascoe has yet to make any public comment. However, Lee Hagipantellis has spoken about his dismissal from the club.
He revealed toย The Sydney Morning Heraldย that it was "gross disrespect" how the situation had been handled.
โI feel there has been gross disrespect shown to theย Wests Tigersย and to myself personally by my fellow directors,โ he said.
โWe were never paid the respect of being involved or consulted as to the review. Even to this day, we have never been engaged or informed as to the results of the review or the recommendations. Now it appears unlikely that we will ever see the report.
โI think the process was disgraceful. The entire thing was a knee-jerk reaction to a petition signed by 2000 disgruntled fans after theย Wests Tigersย lost 72-0 to the Cowboys.
"It's perfectly understandable that our fans would vent their displeasure, but for some reason the Holman Barnes Group embarked upon a review feeling compelled to do so.
โI believe it was some ill-conceived publicity drive which boxed them into a position which left them with no alternative but to accept the recommendations that were made, which as I understand, included the dismissal of the entire board.โ
