OFFICIAL Q&A Club discussion with Shaun Mielekamp

Hey mate,

I don't expect you to respond, but I want to tell you what this decision means to me as a fan. We tigers fans are pretty unique, we have watched this team lose year after year. We are loyal, we have pride in our jersey and still support it despite what happens. I drove from Albury to Canberra with my kids to watch one of the two games they get to see live all year, they were excited yet he couldn't be bothered to play. Reinstating him so quickly proves the club has completely lost touch with what the jersey actually means to us. When administration rewards someone who turned his back on his mates, it feels like a total betrayal of every fan who still cares.

I have faced an uphill battle to make my kids not storm fans, yet when one of their favourite players doesn't even want to play in one of the only games they get to see live, I've lost that fight. Why would I tell them to support this club anymore, when you wont even stand up for the fans when players behave this way.
 
Hi Shaun, why should Wests Tigers fans continue to pay for memberships, merchandise and game day tickets when players in the leadership group refuse to play without consequence, a 15 year finals drought, constant media leaks and when the club has been described as the worst sporting franchise in the country?
 
Hi Shaun,
Good luck with getting the club in good order. My gripe is with PVL and the NRL. The game has almost become unwatchable this year with referee bias towards the the top tier teams. We consistently have the 50/50 calls go against while the teams we play likely to benefit from the same calls. Raiders game was proof of this.

Surely the club are aware of this. I don't blame referees, but gee whiz I am sick of not being ever able to celebrate a Tigers try until the video bunker has had a 30 looks at a reason to take it away from us before confirming it.

If the club is aware of this and have any sort of data based evidence (eg average time for tries to be confirmed for each team), can we approach PVL and Sutton and bust their balls about unfair bias between top and bottom teams.

Keep going well.
 
Hi Sean, Thanks for being brave enough to open this dialogue, especially with the ever growing disenfranchised fan base. However your bravery was established when taking on the role at the Tigers. From the outside looking in, it appears HBG truly want the club to fail. The reason or end game objective I wont begin to guess at. But the cynic in me doesn't have try hard to pick it. It confounds me the sheer amount of monumental mistakes this organisation has made and proceeds to. There's a better chance of winning the Powerball every week for a year then 1 club continuing to pull off the clangers this one does.

This football team binds generations of my family together both blood, married, past, present and arriving. Both sides of our family have roots in Balmain and Western Suburbs and have been there since day 1 of the merger. As a collective we have ridden the highs and waded the ever deepening lows. After Benji's team first message at the start of the year, we could all get behind Luai leaving next year after the PNG decision. But then my brother in Christ, Adam pulled that stunt with the Canberra game and waltzes back into the team. No one respects the Wests Tigers or the jersey, Sadly not even the Wests Tigers.

At a family gathering this weekend 32 of 54 people were Tigers supporters. And 28 have walked away from the Club as of this week. I wish I had a question to ask you mate because the problem isn't of your making but honestly I just don't care any more
 
Shaun,
When will this.club get fair dinkum about the defensive side of the game.

Its been woeful for just about every one of our 27 sessons in existence

Seriously...something has to change and I'm looking at coaching staff

Defense is attitude and pride...we display little.to none of this...how can fans be proud when it appears the players arent
This MUST change!
 
innsaneink said:
Shaun,
When will this.club get fair dinkum about the defensive side of the game.

Its been woeful for just about every one of our 27 sessons in existence

Seriously...something has to change and I'm looking at coaching staff

Defense is attitude and pride...we display little.to none of this...how can fans be proud when it appears the players arent
This MUST change!
Click to expand...

Yes, absolutely.

For example, have we ever won the ruck?
 
Hi Shaun,

How do the funds we recieve HBG comapre to funds recieved for other clubs like the Bulldogs, Parra, Penrith and so on?

How can we get more money from HBG?

And someone said "Now, they're (Wests Cambelltown) are enormous. They dwarf HBG in terms of revenue. If they're brought in as a club owner,. combined with HBG we'd be one of the best funded clubs in Sydney."

Is this true? A massive question in the scheme of things.

Thanks
 
Hi Shaun,

Thanks for taking questions from the fans.

One thing I feel has come to the fore over the last few weeks is that among the many reasons we loose more games then we win is that we lack leadership, resilience and experience. We do have these qualities at different levels at the club but not enough to get us to the point that we win more games then we loose.

Looking forward to next year, I don’t see us increasing our leadership, resilience or experience to the level needed to win more games then we loose, in fact we are probably loosing this more then anything. In 2027 we know that something crazy will happen that could derail our season and we will need leadership, resilience and experience to a pretty high level.

No doubt you think I’m wrong, can you point to any evidence that shows we have enough of the qualities needed to win more games then we loose next year?
 
Suzie-Q said:
Another quick question, Shaun. Why on earth do we play our home games against Penrith and Parramatta at their home ground? And why do we wear our away jersey when we do? It's beyond comprehension 🤦‍♀️
Click to expand...
And why do Wests Magpies KOE play 10 minutes away on the same day at another ground. Is game day experience for fans not a priority? Or is it more about keeping the blazer and sausage sizzle crew at lidcombe happy?
 
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mtd#2 said:
And why do Wests Magpies KOE play 10 minutes away on the same day at another ground. Is game day experience for fans not a priority? Or is it more about the blazer and sausage sizzle crew at lidcome happy?
Click to expand...
That is an even more ridiculous decision. Do the HBG crew actually think WSM will return to the NRL and that WT supporters will support them? Get real.
 
Suzie-Q said:
Another quick question, Shaun. Why on earth do we play our home games against Penrith and Parramatta at their home ground? And why do we wear our away jersey when we do? It's beyond comprehension 🤦‍♀️
Click to expand...
He’ll say we’ve never abandoned the orange jersey and say that he’ll communicate with fans better 😂. He’s Justin Pascoe 2.0….thinks he can outrun poor results with comms and media while team performances are abysmal.
 
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Hey Shaun.

Feel like playing next week. You couldnt do any worse than our current "So called first grade team".

While where are at it, feel like coaching too. You couldn't do any worse than our current "So called first grade coach".

Not your fault, but you must admit, we are in a pretty laughable position.
 
@ShaunMielekamp how are you and club leadership addressing the embarrassing and abysmal on-field performances? Specifically What issues have you and leadership identified and what’s being done to rectify these issues?
 
Hi Shaun,

Thank you for engaging with the forum in the way you have. I know this is going to be a tough job and I wish you all the best for it.

You've been given a lot of questions that you probably can't answer, but I think this one could be answered pretty easily.

The retro tracksuit jumpers have been sold out for most of the season and I've been told that there won't be a restock of these. I've looked everywhere online and can't seem to find them anywhere. I'm just wondering why there hasn't been or won't be a restock?

It has been a long time since we've had genuinely good merch on offer and a quality supplier like Canterbury. It just seems a bit bizarre that there's a product people want and we don't seem to be willing to sell more of it.

1000126253.jpg
 
Hi Shaun,

For me this is without doubt the most pressing issue at the Wests Tigers.

Powerhouse clubs like the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs receive more leagues club funding than the Wests Tigers comes down to differing board control structures, severe geographical division of profits, and the unique financial burdens of a merged joint venture.

While the Canterbury League Club routinely pours millions into the Bulldogs NRL team, the Holman Barnes Group (HBG) operates under a completely different corporate reality:

1. Board Control: Direct Ties vs. Separation. The most critical difference between the two setups is who controls the purse strings:The Bulldogs Model: The Canterbury-Bankstown Football Club holds a guaranteed structural majority on the Canterbury League Club board (appointing four out of seven directors). Because the football side legally controls the commercial leagues club, they can easily vote to approve massive, multi-million-dollar annual grants straight to their NRL football program.

The Wests Tigers Model: The Wests Tigers football management has zero control over HBG's corporate board. HBG operates completely independently as a licensed hospitality group. Their primary corporate priority is running profitable hospitality venues, treating the Wests Tigers as an investment portfolio piece rather than their singular purpose.

How can you help stop HBG treating the Wests Tigers as an investment portfolio rather than a singular purpose?

Thanks
 
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