It's not that people really think Wests Ashfield are going to cut out Balmain and return the Magpies to the NRL.
It's that these WA owner keep undermining forward progress with their own internal nonsense, some of which includes objections to jerseys or public comments about the return of the Magpies.
Dennis Burgess said in public that he hoped the Magpies would return, it has been widely reported. So even if that's not really going to happen, you should not have the Chairman of HBG (and representative on the Wests Tigers Board) saying such things. It just continues to open up opportunities to drive a wedge in.
Apart from all that, I am personally sick of the HBG dysfunction. The WT Independent Board members have gone about their business professionally and quietly. No ructions, no public spats, no leaked information... and generally speaking people could see the forward progress - the new stadium strategy, the profits and increase in corporate/sponsorship etc.
Compared to HBG - Simon Cook steps down, HBG have a civil war and 3 of the OG Wests Ashfield people are hooked and banned for a decade, HBG resist then finally follow the independent review, Julie Romero gets knifed, and then the independent board gets sacked.
THIS ALL HAPPENED INSIDE 12 MONTHS.
Sick of the HBG bullshit. Sick of the club failures being tied to the lack of stability or capability of the owners. They run a successful Leagues Club based on pokie revenues - that is not translating into on-field success. Since Wests Ashfield took over Tigers have never made the finals and claimed 3 wooden spoons. The club was not a great success story prior to that, but the worst years have undoubtedly been the Wests Ashfield ownership years.
I don't want to be associated with Wests Ashfield any more; I love my Wests Magpies brothers and sisters and they are in the same pickle as we all are - our club is owned by morons who can't help but get in the way, barge into the kitchen, poke the baking cake, taste-test the stock and just touch everything because 30 years ago they put up money for a chook raffle. FO HBG, nobody cares about you or your egos or your feelings or your photo on the website. FO back to your pokie den and leave the football club to people who care more about Wests Tigers than themselves.