Claws Out Podcast

[Lestronge]

A fair chunk of the Manly team are from the south west.....problem is they are getting headhunted young by other teams becasue we dont have good systems in place.

That’s what the academy is about @UWS . I think the real issue is kids wanting to represent the wests tigers , especially in the MacArthur region. Until the club is successful for a sustainable period of time , then the club simply won’t resonate with kids and ultimately they will look at other clubs.
I’ll say it again , but the fact a kid from Campbelltown Warriors can’t put on the same jersey as Jahrome Luai or Terrell May , and see a clear visual path from his u16s rep team to the nrl , is a huge L the club continuously takes .
The club should be Called Wests tigers-MacArthur , and Wests tigers -Balmain . One wears the black or white jersey , the other the orange .
But I know that would mean the death of Balmain and the magpies . Sonits probably 20 years away . Maybe my grandkids if I have them , will be able to .
It’s such a step behind a kid who can walk into Moore Park and straight away see his training shirt is the same one Tedesco or Walker has on ….. anyways .

 

[mtd#2]

I haven’t mentioned HBG you keep bringing them up.

You dont need to mention them, it oozes through in every single one of your posts.

I’m merely pointing out the contract negation with Galvin was one of the worst in the history of the NRL, it was badly bungled along with the promise that we were a development club.
Thank god those days are now behind us.

In other threads you saying "we desperately need stability now more than ever"'..

Galvin was always leaving. If he didnt leave mid year, we would have been dealing with it now, true? This would be instability prior to the 2026 season within then playing group.

So richo actually helped stabilise us, ensuring we only had players who wanted to be here...

You've managed to avoid questions again.

1. Surely hbg should be held accountable because young talent wants to leave?

2. You think that benji and richo were horrible recruiters, even though its our best recruitment window in years?

I look forward to you not answering questions directly once again mr mouthpiece

 

[wstigers11]

That’s what the academy is about @UWS . I think the real issue is kids wanting to represent the wests tigers , especially in the MacArthur region. Until the club is successful for a sustainable period of time , then the club simply won’t resonate with kids and ultimately they will look at other clubs.
I’ll say it again , but the fact a kid from Campbelltown Warriors can’t put on the same jersey as Jahrome Luai or Terrell May , and see a clear visual path from his u16s rep team to the nrl , is a huge L the club continuously takes .
The club should be Called Wests tigers-MacArthur , and Wests tigers -Balmain . One wears the black or white jersey , the other the orange .
But I know that would mean the death of Balmain and the magpies . Sonits probably 20 years away . Maybe my grandkids if I have them , will be able to .
It’s such a step behind a kid who can walk into Moore Park and straight away see his training shirt is the same one Tedesco or Walker has on ….. anyways .

cup team needs to be Wests Tigers too

 

[mtd#2]

A fair chunk of the Manly team are from the south west.....problem is they are getting headhunted young by other teams becasue we dont have good systems in place.

Must be richos fault.. after all he was here for 20+ years..

 

[EllisFan]

Some people here need to give Mielekamp a fair crack. Does he have the track record of Richo or talk a big game like he did? No. Does some of his answers sound like a LinkedIn post? Yes. but what he did do was take time out to go on a fan run podcast to be interviewed by a Wests Tigers fan. Is there any other CEO in the NRL that would do that?

Richo was the one that handpicked Shaun to come to the club, and he was the one that promoted him to manager of football and was obviously prepping him to take over as CEO once he left. Would Richo do that if Shaun was useless?

Also sounds like he’s done a pretty good apprenticeship. I have concerns in the recruitment and retention space but will hope to be proven wrong.

 

[hammertime]

No mate.
Actually, it's a lay down misere case of Balmain bias and inabilty to be accountable.
The blatant anti Wests theme throughout all of this is hilarious to see, especially when coupled with the Balmain " oh, it's not US that hold on to outdated old club affiliations". I could probably give you at least 30 examples, especially from the HBG thread alone.
Moving forward, let's hope HBG get their shit together and we have a better season . . . but at the end of the day, we need to accept why they are in charge. Balmain's board did 100X what HBG are doing.
And that IS something I'm disillusioned about.

The fact that Balmain is dead is a good thing! I don't think you'd have many to disagree with that. Can you imagine if we still had the same dinosaurs from BOTH sides? We'd be a bigger basket case than we are now.

The thing I think that is hard to reconcile is that none of this is anti-wests - it's pro-Wests Tigers. The same would be if this were reversed and Balmain were in the seat.

The reason why mate HBG are being attacked now is that the club was on the right path. We all saw that. They alone pulled the pin on that, for no discernible reason other than ego.

Their statement had to be retracted, and none of the board members has come forward with any good reason. If this had been the only instance of bad governance, people might question the reasons more, but their instability and bad governance structures have persisted for a long time.

Give us one example of anti-wests mate... I'm honestly curious how you see it as maybe it's just the interpretation. You may be right, maybe I've glossed over it.. but if so, I hope they were denounced.

 

[KevB]

I have thanked you each time for your opinions, but I don't know you. Yet I thank you for your efforts and criticisms. You obviously feel strongly about it.

I often catch myself thinking...what qualifications does this KevB have? Do I even care what he thinks? I've met plenty of bus and truck drivers named Kev, but never a pschologist. Is he just some crazy truck driver? Is this man/woman angry due to his own bias? Did he finish school? A little thin skinned? Defensive? Lack of emotional control? It's why I ask...who are you again? You seem like a fascinating and complex character.

Then there's other questions, like if I shared my opinion on you, would you take it objectively? How consistent is your own logic? Much like me, would you even care?

Really your posts pose more questions than answers, but as you can see, they provoke thought, which in a way is what you were hoping for.

Have you achieved your objective? Should we explore these questions on a deeper level?

I don't know the answers Kev. I only know I have the questions. God bless you Kev. Whoever you are.

There are a lot of personal questions there, mate. I can't figure out why, other than you are attempting to diminish my intellectual and ethical traits—such as curiosity, integrity, resilience, and critical thinking. Mate never drove a bus or truck, though I can't see how that's relevant to someone's character or ability to post on this forum.

 

[weststigers]

There are a lot of personal questions there, mate. I can't figure out why, other than you are attempting to diminish my intellectual and ethical traits—such as curiosity, integrity, resilience, and critical thinking. Mate never drove a bus or truck, though I can't see how that's relevant to someone's character or ability to post on this forum.

Well Kev, to answer your question, you provided a personal character assessment so maybe I wrongly assumed you were ok with getting a bit more personal?

A man of your critical thinking abilities already knew that though I'm sure.

 

[cochise]

I recall Gallant as a gritty little fullback.

Anyone got any intel on his abilities as basically a GM of football? It seems a fast track to such an important role. Hope he’s up to it.

He is highly respected in pathways and has very good relationships with families.

He gets given a lot credit in regards to Makasini's development and retention.

Still unproven at NRL level.

 

[area52]

He is highly respected in pathways and has very good relationships with families.

He gets given a lot credit in regards to Makasini's development and retention.

Still unproven at NRL level.

With chammas taking the same position. maybe we give the position and the nrl too much credit

 

[cochise]

With chammas taking the same position. maybe we give the position and the nrl too much credit

Mate if Chammas can do it, we should be all updating our CVs

 

[innsaneink]

I dont know why Darcy Byrnes misleading post about our ticket prices remains on social media.

Just saw a Daily Tele piece on FB hammering the club in this...as well
as the comments

 

[wstigers11]

He is highly respected in pathways and has very good relationships with families.

He gets given a lot credit in regards to Makasini's development and retention.

Still unproven at NRL level.

That’s my concern. Great with the juniors. NRL recruitment is different and clubs have shrewd operators in that role.

 

[Vicious]

You dont need to mention them, it oozes through in every single one of your posts.


In other threads you saying "we desperately need stability now more than ever"'..

Galvin was always leaving. If he didnt leave mid year, we would have been dealing with it now, true? This would be instability prior to the 2026 season within then playing group.

So richo actually helped stabilise us, ensuring we only had players who wanted to be here...

You've managed to avoid questions again.

1. Surely hbg should be held accountable because young talent wants to leave?

2. You think that benji and richo were horrible recruiters, even though its our best recruitment window in years?

I look forward to you not answering questions directly once again mr mouthpiece

@mtd#2 Yes stability was desperately needed as a result of the boardroom issues from late last year, as of now it appears to be working just fine.

1. Our former CEO was virtually given full control which included the promise that we would be a development club. His actions did not back up his words which has negatively effected our connection to our South-West and Southern Highlands based players, but that trust will be rebuilt as we move forward.
2. If you didn’t notice it was our retention that was shambolical to put it nicely. Whether Galvin intended on staying or not, the way it was handled was disgraceful and embarrassing.

If it wasn’t for Benji’s insistence we would not currently have Taylan at the club and we would be much worse off if that was the case.
So there are just a couple of examples that you have conveniently decided to gloss over and ignore.

 

[Vicious]

I dont know why Darcy Byrnes misleading post about our ticket prices remains on social media.

Just saw a Daily Tele piece on FB hammering the club in this...as well
as the comments

Propaganda at its finest.

 

[wstigers11]

@mtd#2 Yes stability was desperately needed as a result of the boardroom issues from late last year, as of now it appears to be working just fine.

1. Our former CEO was virtually given full control which included the promise that we would be a development club. His actions did not back up his words which has negatively effected our connection to our South-West and Southern Highlands based players, but that trust will be rebuilt as we move forward.
2. If you read properly you would have seen it was the retention that was shambolical to put it nicely. Whether Galvin intended on staying or not, the way it was handled was disgraceful and embarrassing.

If it wasn’t for Benji’s insistence we would not currently have Taylan at the club and we would be much worse off if that was the case.
So there are just a couple of examples that you have conveniently decided to gloss over and ignore.

Are you not concerned Benji is responsible for recruitment whilst also being an NRL Head Coach?

 

[BlackWhiteGold]

I dont know why Darcy Byrnes misleading post about our ticket prices remains on social media.

Just saw a Daily Tele piece on FB hammering the club in this...as well
as the comments

He suddenly shifted the narrative from a GA ticket being too expensive to the club messaging about the 1-Game Membership being misleading. Typical politician, never wrong!

 

[Muffstar]

I dont know why Darcy Byrnes misleading post about our ticket prices remains on social media.

Just saw a Daily Tele piece on FB hammering the club in this...as well
as the comments

2GB this morning were having ago at the Club too over ticketing prices.

 

[Vicious]

Are you not concerned Benji is responsible for recruitment whilst also being an NRL Head Coach?

Not particularly.
Imagine being a coach and not having control of your playing roster ?
It could become a problem for us if we get poor results and Benji’s future as our coach comes under scrutiny with a team full of his own disciples.

It works well for coaches such as Craig Bellamy to not have much involvement in player recruitment as he has full trust in his recruitment team based on many years of continued success.
I don’t think he would be as comfortable with it if they started missing the top 8.

 

[mtd#2]

2. If you didn’t notice it was our retention that was shambolical to put it nicely. Whether Galvin intended on staying or not, the way it was handled was disgraceful and embarrassing.

What didnt you like about the way it was handled?

What could have been done better?

Where do you think we would be today if it was handled your way?

If it wasn’t for Benji’s insistence we would not currently have Taylan at the club and we would be much worse off if that was the case.
So there are just a couple of examples that you have conveniently decided to gloss over and ignore.

I haven't glossed over it, we've never had the conversation.

Wasnt there a point in time where Taylan thought he was jesus? Or a messiah of some sort? Given this, I think its quite reasonable that Richo had his doubts and had to be convinced. On paper, it was an incredibly risky signing - i said this at the time too.