It's time to take the fight back to HBG

[liltiger]

Is changing owners going to make Benji make better recruitment and retention decisions and better team selections ?

100%. Due to the fact according the guys on the sunday podcast in particular im pretty sure it was Gary and Rob who stated that Benji is running the whole football department on his own so the owners dont get involved. Im not surprised we have a boys club now, with Benji bringing in guys he trusts its less for him to worry about. Hes virtually running everything, if we had competent owners who knew what they were doing and wernt underfunding us our novice coach wouldnt have to carry the weight of the world. Another tid bit they dropped was HBG wanted Mestrov not Mielenkamp. HBG are a cancer on this club. We will never get anywhere with them around. I love my club. But absolutly detest, loath and hate HBG. The Ayatollah in Iran has less of a grip on Iran than these parasites do on our Wests Tigers.

 

[liltiger]

Is this true though?

Richo himself said that HBG had always come to the party when he'd asked for help.

While theyre paying his salary and payout with NDAs when he left, what else would he say.

 

[tig_prmz]

Just a question regarding coaching wages. A few people are asking if Wests Tigers pay enough for coaches etc. I'm not sure- but would the coaches be employed as Staff under this report or under the $1.5 given to the football club?

That's a great question. Unfortunately, this is all the information I have. I doubt we will ever get more information than this.
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Regardless, I don't think it matters that much. Reason being, as I said, we need to be self-sustainable.

 

[The Chad]

That's a great question. Unfortunately, this is all the information I have. I doubt we will ever get more information than this.
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Regardless, I don't think it matters that much. Reason being, as I said, we need to be self-sustainable.

Well, it matters in the context of people's concerns on the amount of money available for coaches.

$1.5m on "football department expenses" vs $40,460,497 on "Employee Benefits Expense".

I'm going to assume that the CEO etc fall under the $40m. I could be wrong. But, if it does cover the wages of people employed by the club- interesting to know who that covers before we burn the barn down.

 

[The Chad]

Also, what's the difference between the 'consolidated' amount & the 'parent' amount?

 

[balmain boy]

As I keep saying, I'm not an accountant, just have had the opportunity to sell and buy businesses.

$40m sorry, not $50m.

https://holmanbarnesgroup.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Annual-Report-25_HGB-26-Web.pdf

Not questioning your 🧾 skills mate . That number still seems rather high. I wonder how many employees they have? Does anyone know if that's listed in the annual report?
Lots of minimum wage staff in hospitality and cleaning crews. They're pretty small venues all things considered too. Surely they're not including Wests Tigers players in that number

 

[balmain boy]

I went back and listened to Richo's actual quote about funding from HBG:

"... at no stage have they rejected anything. In fact, they've constantly asked, is it enough? Can we give you more?"

HBG have probably made a few mistakes but underfunding the club does not sound like one of them.

That sounded like a quote someone says with a gun against their head. Wests Ashfield fund the Balmain junior reps, that's about all the money they give. We have the fewest coaches and support staff in almost every grade in both male and female footy. We have no scouts. We can't afford to pay our junior players. There's a whole heap of ways we could and should spend at least an extra $5 million a year in the football department.

 

[balmain boy]

I have plenty of Tigers supporters in my family and friends, I can assure you that many, especially under 40yrs old, had no idea about what was going on or who HBG are and why do we care.

If you're 40, or even 25+, and don't know who HBG are then you're nothing more then a casual supporter.

The apathy is huge amongst this club though. Complacency is at the great of absolutely everything we do on and off the field. Nothing happens, nothing changes because no one can be assed making the Changes. On the rare occasion minor changes are made they're undone by greedy selfish morons.