Mate, I totally agree but what would it take for the NRL to stick their nose into how a club runs its own operations?
It would be when HBG has the inability to pay the football club the required money. However, they aren't doing that, they seem to be fulfilling their obligations, so the NRL can't and won't do anything.
And if that happens, the NRL might look at it and say 'well too bad we'll take your licence somewhere else'. Thats why I don't like the idea of stopping memberships and so on, its hurts the football club too much, not HBG.
(Maybe if it was because of some governance neglect or similar, I don't know but you know what I mean, then maybe, but that's not happening)
I hope that the new CEO can foster better relationships between HBG and the football club, I think this is our best hope. So we need to be on his back about this but I'm sure he is very well aware.
Under the ARLC's legal considerations and implications, believe it or not, i think that the ARLC is very much capable of intervening and force a governance change.
The real question is, why haven't they yet?
Under the constitution of the ARLC and the club licence agreement, the commission holds extensive discretionary powers to activate when
extraordinary triggers occur.
And there are a few triggers that could activate this clause for an intervention, the most effective trigger/s that i can see is the following.
The best interests of the game clause.
Trigger 1. Severe commercial and broadcast deprivation
Under their constitution and discretionary powers this clause can be triggered when poor governance leads to endless bottom 4 finishes which then causes depressed tv ratings and reduced match day attendances, the commission can argue that broadcast partners pay billions to air competitive matches and that this governance model is directly weakening the NRL"s broadcast product
Trigger 2. Prolonged failure on the NRL ladder.
The WT NRL ladder positions for the past decade is one of the most continuous declines in NRL history, the commission can trigger this clause for a decade long bottom tier club, arguing that board friction as the main cause for the decline and improper football investment.
The NRL would not immediately strip a licence but it could use the best interest's clause through a multi step process and force HBG to abandon their primitive debenture seats.
We probably could also add more triggers.
3.failure in junior talent retention.
4. Brand and operational chaos.
One serious trigger should be sufficient, and
If the ARLC asked me, do you have a trigger for us to activate the clause? I would be saying how many do you want?