CEO - Shane Richardson

[BAGNF05]

I’m referring to the Leagues club grants specifically

And my point is that’s just a small component for the wealthy clubs, as I’ve said Easts are getting nothing from the leagues club for the past 6 years.

I think Richo has emphasised we need to become viable as a business in our own right. Can’t be a handouts club.

 

[twentyforty]

Season	Base Salary Cap	Motor Vehicle Allowance	Veteran & Developed Player Allowance	Total Top 30 Salary Cap
2023	$11,050,000	$100,000	$300,000	$11,450,000
2024	$11,250,000	$100,000	$300,000	$11,650,000
2025	$11,400,000	$100,000	$300,000	$11,800,000
2026	$11,550,000	$100,000	$300,000	$11,950,000
2027	$11,700,000	$100,000	$300,000	$12,100,000

 

[Tom Shines]

And my point is that’s just a small component for the wealthy clubs, as I’ve said Easts are getting nothing from the leagues club for the past 6 years.

I think Richo has emphasised we need to become viable as a business in our own right. Can’t be a handouts club.

The Roosters are not the only club ! I have listed three others that contribute millions more than ours..
And my point is that it’s a handicap that we obviously struggle to overcome looking at the history of the club

 

[BAGNF05]

And my point is that it’s a handicap that we obviously struggle to overcome looking at the history of the club

Couldn’t agree more. It’s why we can’t knock back 600 grand per game if we can get it at Parramatta stadium. Simple economics.

 

[Tom Shines]

Couldn’t agree more. It’s why we can’t knock back 600 grand per game if we can get it at Parramatta stadium. Simple economics.

The Roosters are not the only club ! I have listed three others that their Leagies club contribute millions more than ours per year

 

[BAGNF05]

The Roosters are the pillar of relatively continual success as a Sydney rugby league club since the money came into the game. It’s where you need to get to if you’re aiming to be the best.

 

[Tom Shines]

The Roosters are the pillar of relatively continual success as a Sydney rugby league club since the money came into the game. It’s where you need to get to if you’re aiming to be the best.

I’m going with Penrith as the current bench mark…. They also have a similar , of more successful pathway system to ours

 

[BAGNF05]

I’m going with Penrith as the current bench mark

On the field. Hard to argue.

But they’ve been nearly broke and had more down years, I’m talking about consistent success.

 

[Tom Shines]

On the field. Hard to argue.

But they’ve been nearly broke and had more down years, I’m talking about consistent success.

They have a similar pathway system to ours …more successful obviously

We have been broke too and had to get the NRL to bail us out with a loan … shouldn’t happen these days with the grant money

 

[BAGNF05]

They have a similar pathway system to ours …more successful obviously

We have been broke too and had to get the NRL to bail us out with a loan … shouldn’t happen these days with the grant money

Yeah we don’t rate a mention in this conversation, we’ve been paupers from day one.

Hopefully Richo has time to change stuff.

 

[Tom Shines]

Yeah we don’t rate a mention in this conversation, we’ve been paupers from day one.

Hopefully Richo has time to change stuff.

I’m not disagreeing with you .. they are richer and always will be probably …

It means we are at a disadvantage to them regardless on how good a job Richo does at the helm … I look at Canberra this year having a rare year at the top … but they have a much wealthier owner than ours too,,,

 

[Tom Shines]

Richo started to memtion something about the board/hbg i think...towards the end.of the interview tonite but then seemed to check himself and cut it short

Just rewatched this part again … you are right ,,, he does seem to catch himself …

“Shareholding situation…. We are working out what happens to the share holding agreements going forward “…

Interesting …. Maybe they are punting Balmains 10 percent ? Couldn’t blame them …. Total speculation on my part

 

[Tucker]

@Tucker told me once that we have the best fans in the game.

I don’t often see people wearing our colours but when I do they are usually being hurled out of a pub because they are off their face at midday or they are wandering around scabbing cigarette butts off the ground and donkey rooting them from the one they already have going.
I give them a nod…

 

[poopy_diaper]

What are they going to do ? Sack the current board and take over again?

Are they changing the name to Wests Magpies as well ?

Sounds very messy and Richo will be out the door ..

I mean …if they are going to deliberately sabotage the team … so be it… seems pretty dumb though… any owner could potentiality do the same

That's a lot of things I didn't say.

 

[poopy_diaper]

Too many people focus on the delivery and not the action.

What I can see is a well thought out plan being executed patiently at the club.

Peoplr slag him, but never put their neck on the line when you ask them what they'd do differently. It's likely these people have never been in his position before and are the same people that criticise their own company from the comfort of their 100k a year job...or worse...government workers who have no idea how business works. Apologies to all the gov workers out there.

You think I have an issue vocalising my perspective?

Frankly I wouldn't have done much differently than what he's done.

That is why I can see through it.

My role is his stakeholder. I am a fan. If my role was CEO my perspective would be different.

 

[tig_prmz]

Do people not understanding that the club making a profit ties in to future success on the field? If the club is returning profits every year then there's room for the club to start hiring additional staff, additional resources to the team, additional programmes for pathways/juniors etc.

It goes both ways.

If you're not winning, you're more likely to lose money.

If you're not putting in money, you're more likely to lose.

Chicken or the egg?

But more importantly, how do you break the cycle? You can't just throw in minimal money and wait til you start winning to put more money in to it. If you want to constantly win and if you want to get off the bottom of the ladder in all grades, you need to put more money in to see if returns come.

In terms of HBG, they just need to maintain their NRL license and they got $18m or so to play with each year. Their busineses get further exposure due to the brand of Wests Tigers.

Losing games doesn't seem to give them financial losses as NRL grant is quite significant.

I got no idea what the bottom line is, but years and years of failures, unhappy elite ex- players and the overall bad rep suggests we are an unprofessional club.

To me, good coaches, good admin staff, good support staff costs money which we may not be spending.

Maybe I'm completely wrong with this and would love to know how much extra $$ is given to WT from the owners compared to other NRL clubs.

 

[innsaneink]

Do people not understanding that the club making a profit ties in to future success on the field? If the club is returning profits every year then there's room for the club to start hiring additional staff, additional resources to the team, additional programmes for pathways/juniors etc.

Maybe im missing something but i thought this would exactly be the case

 

[innsaneink]

If I'm reading the latest annual report correctly, the latest grant from HBG for WT was $1.775M. See page 19.

https://holmanbarnesgroup.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Annual-Report-24_web.pdf

Compared to the Dogs almost $7.5m last year

 

[Tom Shines]

That's a lot of things I didn't say.

Ok… I’ll simplify it … you are worried about something that likely won’t happen

 

[Sully]

Richo is saving more money by having the members day on a Thursday 10 July 2pm-4pm

That is looking after the members who don't have to work. He can save on the free sausage sizzle.
Some of the Administration decisions make you scratch your head as to how out of touch they are.