Most Wests Tigers supporters have jumped to the conclusion that this whole situation has come about due to the 2026 home jersey being mostly orange and assuming it is a step in trying to eliminate the Balmain side of the merger.
This is supposedly based on various quotes of previous conversations with Dennis Burgess and backed up this morning by Lee Hagipantellis.
Contrary to this belief is the public statement made yesterday by Daniel Paton who emphasised there is no agenda against the Balmain side of the merger and stated they poor money into the Balmain juniors, they are not obligated to do this if they dislike the Balmain side of the merger so much.
Paton went on to state the big issue that led to the independent board members being removed was lack of disclosure on things that are supposed to be reviewed and passed at board level.
My understanding is these topics include the ComBank Stadium deal, the 2026 jersey reveal amongst a host of other things.
It’s fine for any fan to say why does the board need to know about these things, but the truth is these type of things, particularly the ComBabk Stadium deal would be discussed and approved at board level by any club, just the same as any business needs big agendas to be passed at board level.
It’s since been rumoured that Barry O’Farrell approved these things and believed him being chairman of the board meant he could give approval without it being raised or voted on by the board.
Common sense tells us all that if this is true, it is not right and has the possibility of dodgy dealings being done.
There has been plenty of comments stating the HBG board members would have known what was going on, well it’s likely they didn’t know anything about it if O’Farrell was making executive decisions without presenting them to the board.
Something to think long and hard about before we jump to conclusions.