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Wests Tigers boss not convinced new board can decide on coach
Date
August 2, 2014 - 1:48AM
Brad Walter
Chief Rugby League Writer
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Wests Tigers chairman Mike Bailey has questioned whether a new NRL-controlled board due to take control of the club will be qualified to decide who should coach the team next season.
Bailey, who admitted the directors had delayed making a call on the future of Mick Potter because they thought it should be left to the new board, said he had no firm idea when the transition would take place. The NRL has finished interviewing candidates for the three independent positions on the revamped board and Fairfax Media was told earlier this week the composition of the board, which will include two Wests directors and two Balmain directors, would be finalised by the end of this month.
With the Balmain directors not having any voting rights until a $4 million loan is repaid to the NRL, the board will be controlled by the three NRL appointed directors. But even if they were to take up their positions within that time frame, the independent directors would have little idea of determining whether Potter deserved a new deal or should be replaced by one of his assistants, David Kidwell or Todd Payten.
"That is something we are obviously aware of," Bailey said. "It is hard for a new board, particularly given the fact that the independent directors are not supposed to have any connection to the club, to come out of nowhere and say we will take candidate A over candidate B. But it is all guesswork at the moment. Every time they [the NRL] have given us a time limit, that time limit has well and truly expired and as a result we just don't know where we are on that front. If they are not appointed reasonably quickly – in other words around the end of the season – it will be impossible for them to make the decision."
Speculation about whether Potter would be offered an extension on his two-year deal, which expires at the end of the season, has dragged on for months but Bailey said the present 10-member board – comprising five directors from Balmain and five from the Wests group – had felt the new board should appoint the coach. It had been expected he would be sacked at an emergency board meeting after last Sunday's match against St George Illawarra but the directors deferred a decision on the coaching position until the end of the season, which could be in five weeks if the Tigers miss out on a place in the final eight.
"I think one of the reasons why we were not racing to try to make a decision for next year, which had been conveyed to our coaches, was that we were potentially waiting for them [the new directors] to come on board," Bailey said. "But we don't know when that will be and the NRL has said they are still working on it."
Wests Tigers chairman Mike Bailey.
Fairfax Media has been told the NRL has narrowed candidates for the three board positions to a shortlist of nine, with at least one female director. The Tigers host Melbourne at Campbelltown Stadium on Monday and captain Robbie Farah allayed any doubts about him playing when he turned up for training on Friday after being given leave to deal with the stress from the fallout over Gorden Tallis' accusation he had been told by the NSW Origin hooker last year that Potter "can't coach".
Farah is still understood to be furious with Tigers chief executive Grant Mayer after comments he made supporting Potter at a news conference last Saturday were edited from a video initially posted on the club's website, but he was reported to be in good spirits when he attended a video session with teammates and did ball work at Concord Oval. Halfback Luke Brooks and prop Keith Galloway trained with the team but did not do any contact work as they race against the clock to recover from shoulder injuries sustained in the 28-12 loss to the Dragons.
Date
August 2, 2014 - 1:48AM
Brad Walter
Chief Rugby League Writer
\
\
Wests Tigers chairman Mike Bailey has questioned whether a new NRL-controlled board due to take control of the club will be qualified to decide who should coach the team next season.
Bailey, who admitted the directors had delayed making a call on the future of Mick Potter because they thought it should be left to the new board, said he had no firm idea when the transition would take place. The NRL has finished interviewing candidates for the three independent positions on the revamped board and Fairfax Media was told earlier this week the composition of the board, which will include two Wests directors and two Balmain directors, would be finalised by the end of this month.
With the Balmain directors not having any voting rights until a $4 million loan is repaid to the NRL, the board will be controlled by the three NRL appointed directors. But even if they were to take up their positions within that time frame, the independent directors would have little idea of determining whether Potter deserved a new deal or should be replaced by one of his assistants, David Kidwell or Todd Payten.
"That is something we are obviously aware of," Bailey said. "It is hard for a new board, particularly given the fact that the independent directors are not supposed to have any connection to the club, to come out of nowhere and say we will take candidate A over candidate B. But it is all guesswork at the moment. Every time they [the NRL] have given us a time limit, that time limit has well and truly expired and as a result we just don't know where we are on that front. If they are not appointed reasonably quickly – in other words around the end of the season – it will be impossible for them to make the decision."
Speculation about whether Potter would be offered an extension on his two-year deal, which expires at the end of the season, has dragged on for months but Bailey said the present 10-member board – comprising five directors from Balmain and five from the Wests group – had felt the new board should appoint the coach. It had been expected he would be sacked at an emergency board meeting after last Sunday's match against St George Illawarra but the directors deferred a decision on the coaching position until the end of the season, which could be in five weeks if the Tigers miss out on a place in the final eight.
"I think one of the reasons why we were not racing to try to make a decision for next year, which had been conveyed to our coaches, was that we were potentially waiting for them [the new directors] to come on board," Bailey said. "But we don't know when that will be and the NRL has said they are still working on it."
Wests Tigers chairman Mike Bailey.
Fairfax Media has been told the NRL has narrowed candidates for the three board positions to a shortlist of nine, with at least one female director. The Tigers host Melbourne at Campbelltown Stadium on Monday and captain Robbie Farah allayed any doubts about him playing when he turned up for training on Friday after being given leave to deal with the stress from the fallout over Gorden Tallis' accusation he had been told by the NSW Origin hooker last year that Potter "can't coach".
Farah is still understood to be furious with Tigers chief executive Grant Mayer after comments he made supporting Potter at a news conference last Saturday were edited from a video initially posted on the club's website, but he was reported to be in good spirits when he attended a video session with teammates and did ball work at Concord Oval. Halfback Luke Brooks and prop Keith Galloway trained with the team but did not do any contact work as they race against the clock to recover from shoulder injuries sustained in the 28-12 loss to the Dragons.
