‘Traumatic day’: Richardson backs Benji as plans for turning cellar dwellers into title winners revealed
Tigers boss speaks on ‘traumatic day’; Benji backed as plans for title revolution revealed
www.foxsports.com.au
Mark St John from Fox Sports
December 13th, 2023 12:50 pm
In a wide-ranging interview interim Tigers CEO Shane Richardson revealed how he plans to support Benji Marshall to build the club from wooden spooners to title winners.
Richardson has only accepted a six month role after the board clean-out that claimed his predecessor Justin Pascoe and Lee Hagipantelis.
However, he feels he can emulate his success at Penrith and Souths where he turned both clubs from last place to first during his tenure.
“I thought I got away from all this, but I’ve been thrown back into the ditch, but I look forward to working with you,” Richardson said.
“Barry O’Farrell is disappointed he couldn’t be here, but he is excited bout the challenge like I am and I am looking forward to working with him in the future.
“I would like to thank the board of the Wests Tigers for this opportunity and also the members. No club is there without a strong membership.
“I think it is really important to acknowledge at the start of all this just how important they are to this club and what we are doing and our sponsors. Hopefully the can give our club the support they have in the past.
“But overall it is an interesting start for me here and I am looking forward to the challenge.
“I have always had challenges previously. I have never been at a club yet that wasn’t on the bottom of the ladder when I started.
“And we managed to make a couple of grand finals and win a couple of premierships, so hopefully we are going to try and set things up strategically to work towards that goal there.
“I don’t want to go on anymore. You all know me for good or bad and you can ask any questions you want. Thanks.”
TIGERS NOT THE BIGGEST TEST OF HIS CAREER
The Tigers are back-to-back wooden spooners, but Richardson believes it is not the toughest job of his career to date.
“I think Souths was the biggest challenge,” Richardson said.
“Souths were thrown out of the competition, bottom of the ladder, no money and in complete disarray.
“And without the chairman Nick Pappas who changed the board of the club there in a big way, which was a massive change.
“That took a long while because financially we weren’t strong, which is not the same as this club.
“So I think Souths was a bigger challenge than this is because if I look at this club for a start we didn’t have the roster.
“The Tigers have a roster. Whether they are 100 per cent there yet I don’t know, but they have a roster.
“They have a quality young coach who is steeped in the history of the club. You have financial backing from sponsors, which is fantastic.
“They have a great recent but important history, so Souths was a tougher challenge.”
Richardson believes Souths was the toughest job of his career.
TAKING TEAMS FROM BOTTOM TO TOP
Richardson has joined every club he has been at while they have been at their lowest, which he believes makes him the right man for the Tigers job.
“If you look at my career I went to Cronulla who were on the bottom of the ladder and in liquidation,” Richardson said.
“I went to Penrith on the bottom of the ladder. Hull on the bottom of the ladder. Souths on the bottom of the ladder, so I am right up for challenges.
“I think Roger Cowan summed it up when I left Penrith after winning the premiership when he said, Richo loves a challenge.
“The bottom line is I have been in rugby league since I was seven years old. I have been lucky enough to use my business background to parlay it into rugby league for the last 30-somthing years as CEO.
“I haven’t been sacked yet, which is a big thing.
“But at the end of the day it is about I love the game. I love what I am doing. This opportunity was one that if you were going to do the job whether it was at Souths or at Penrith you had to have true corporate governance.
“You have to have control to be able to do the things required to build the club and I would never have taken this role on if I didn’t believe the governance was in place.”
LENGTH OF HIS DEAL
Sceptics will point out that it is very hard for Richardson to turn the club around in six months given he is only interim CEO at this stage.
But he left the door open for a longer deal once that period comes to an end.
“We said down and talked about long-term, but I said look you are putting an interim board in for six months and I have got to work closely with Barry O’Farrell on that board,” Richardson said.
“I don’t want to come in with any preconceived ideas. I never met any of the previous regime, so I want to come and have a look at it and see how it is structured and how it needs to be set up.
“Then that is something that I will assess at the end, but six months is a nice start for it and we can all work towards that. They mightn’t like me. At least they don’t have to sack me then.”
HAGIPANTELIS AND MAJOR SPONSOR
Outgoing Chairman Lee Hagipantelis has some less than favourable comments about the club and its owners decision to sack the entire board.
But Richardson is focused on the future and hopes Hagipantelis and Bryden Lawyers can be a part of the future of the Tigers as a sponsor.
“I’m not worried about worrying about what has happened in the past,” Richardson said.
“If we do that we are going to waste a lot of time. I think wherever I have been I have shown you don’t linger in the past.
“You look to the future and everything I want to do is in the future.
“As far as Brydens Lawyers go they have been a magnificent sponsor of the club and they are a sponsor again for next year. They are up behind me.
“And the reality is we would like them to stay on long-term. That is always a decision for their board to make regarding going forward.
“But I have only spoken to Lee Hagipantelis on the phone once. I don’t know Lee at all. But I am sure I will be trying to make some contact with him over the next few months.
“I have got no comment on what he said. It was a traumatic day for everyone yesterday and I have been through that before.
“I have been through trauma before. There was plenty of trauma at Souths, so that’s the target.
“And you don’t win games by looking back because you have not got a lot to work on looking back.”
SUPPORTING HEAD COACH BENJI
The Tigers will field a rookie coach in club legend Benji Marshall in 2024 and Richardson believes it is his duty to help put the tools in place to allow him to shine.
Richardson has worked closely with people who speak highly of Marshall and his commitment to the cause.
“I don’t know Benji hardly at all,” Richardson said.
“I brought him to Souths under Wayne’s regime, but I wasn’t there long enough after that to comment.
“But everybody who I respect in Wayne Bennett and the club at Souths who dealt with him in Mark Ellison and Blake Solly. Everybody says he is a great human being and he is enthusiastic and he wants to win.
“He wants to be a successful coach. My job is to put everything around him to allow him to be successful because he is the head coach and he is the guy that has got to front up every Sunday.
“My role is to support him in any way I can and I think I have a track record of supporting coaches in their roles and choosing the right coaches going forward. Benji has got nothing but my support.”
One area that has hindered Marshall’s coaching is his battle with head of recruitment Scott Fulton, but Richardson believes everyone deserves a clean slate.
“I’ve never met Scott Fulton, so I don’t know that,” Richardson said of the feud.
“It is ridiculous for me to even comment on that until I get inside the tent and speak to Benji and Scott and everybody else.
“It is unfair to single out Scott Fulton or anybody else in this arrangement. It is abut building a club that is internally strong and works together and that is my task over the next six months.
“I don’t want to make any comments about any individuals.”
Benji Marshall.Source: The Daily Telegraph
RECRUITMENT
One of the biggest obstacles the Tigers have to on-field success is player talent and attracting stars to the club.
Richardson gave his blessing to the club to go after Jarome Luai and Addin Fonua-Blake if Marshall feels they can help the Tigers win.
“I am not aware of the negotiations,” Richardson said.
“I will meet with Benji over the next day or so and discuss what the situation is there. “Obviously I will have to be ready to step in to be part of that negotiation if that’s what Benji wants.
“I have made my feelings on Luai well known for a long time. In my opinion he was the best young half coming through.
“He has proven at the highest level he was the best young half coming through. Not only that he is a great team leader.
“That Penrith side revolves around Luai. He is a great person off the field despite what many media people like to try and make out. You couldn’t meet a better person than him.
“You couldn’t ask for a better person at the club.
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