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‘I regret taking on the role’: Lee Hagipantelis makes stunning revelation as former Wests Tigers chairman urges changes at the club
Former Wests Tigers chairman Lee Hagipantelis has made a stunning admission about his tumultuous time at the club.Former Wests Tigers chairman Lee Hagipantelis has revealed he “regrets taking on the role” and says that more change is needed to ensure the club moves forward to “adapt to a new reality”.
The stunning comments came during an interview on Mornings with Vossy and Brandy on SEN on Tuesday when he said it was a mistake to accept the role in 2019, with Hagipantelis and the Tigers board dismissed at the end of 2023.
The club endured a torrid few years while he was there with coaches coming and going, poor results and division at the top, with the Tales from Tiger Town documentary descending into a “Michael Maguire biopic” according to Hagipantelis.
“I was asked a little while ago whether I missed being chairman of the Wests Tigers,” he said.
“My response was ‘not only do I not miss being chairman, I regret taking on the role’.
“In retrospect, I think it was a mistake (because) there is no upside to the role. It’s an honorary role and you have no real authority or power to effect any change.
“You sit on a board of eight people and the real authority and power vests in those who own the club – the Holman Barnes Group.
“You are the figurehead, so you have to go out and front the media all the time, cop the hits and defend positions that you don’t necessarily agree with, but those are the board’s decisions, so you’ve got to put a unified front forward.
“In the confines of a board environment with a rugby league club, there are so many narratives and so many agendas and so much self-interest that looking back on it, it was a mistake taking on the role.”
Hagipantelis lamented not having a binding vote as chairman during his tenure and said the club had to shake things up, including changing the name of the reserve grade team to marry up with the Wests Tigers brand.
“Nothing could have made me happier to come out and tell the real story about what goes on,” he said.
“But you can’t, you maintain the inner sanctum restraint.
“I think there has been some improvement, there has been change. There are some that are still there from the merger in 1999. They don’t need to be there anymore, they need to move on.
“They need fresh blood in there and fresh ideas and adapt to a new reality.
“Unfortunately, those tensions that exist between Western Magpies and Balmain Tigers continue to this day. The stories I could tell you about the inner dramas between the inner factions and trying to resolve those (are considerable).
“You see it for yourself. The Magpies play as the reserve grade team, and that shouldn’t be the case. They should be the Wests Tigers. That creates a division because if you drop from the Wests Tigers, you go and play for the Wests Magpies.
“It doesn’t make any sense.”
