Well wouldn't that be an ideal scenario here 😅😅 work your magic sm
Wests Tigers welcome Shaun Mielekamp
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Why interim Tigers boss Shaun Mielekamp is sitting down with frustrated fans for coffee
It takes a brave man to front up to success-starved Wests Tigers fans, but interim CEO Shaun Mielekamp isn’t the kind of guy to take the easy way out. Meet the club boss doing things differently.Pamela Whaley
February 22, 2026 - 12:00PM
Shaun Mielekamp, the man behind Usain Bolt’s internationally famous stint at Central Coast Mariners and Penrith’s Pink Panthers jersey, is now turning his attention to the Wests Tigers with the difficult task of uniting and reassuring a fan base scarred by past traumas.
Interim CEO since a sensational boardroom breakdown in December which cost his close mentor and former club boss Shane Richardson his position, Mielekamp does not yet have job assurance, but he makes up for it in confidence.
In the few short months he’s been in charge, the decorated sports administrator has had around 60 one-on-one coffees and phone calls with members to hopefully help frustrated fans feel heard.
https://www.supercoach.com.au/nrl/?source_code=SCWEB_EDL2
All they have to do is ask.
“We’ve had three fan forums and a 1000 coffees and a 1000 phone calls. A lot of one on ones,” Mielekamp tells this masthead.
Wests Tigers chief executive Shaun Mielekamp. Picture: Tigers
“Members call up, they book in a time and I go and catch up with a coffee, give them a tour.
“I wanted to give the members the opportunity to hear from each other as there are so many questions.
“So there’s been a lot, it’s been really positive, and it’s been a really good way for me to hear from the fans exactly their experiences, what they’re passionate about and for me to assure them they’ve got a voice and it’s being heard.”
You don’t often hear of this level of accountability and openness from an NRL boss, especially with a fan base who have been hurt so many times before.
But it’s a job Mielekamp says he’s fallen in love with.
“Those fans are the reason I come to work every day. I have fallen in love with those club and the fan base and the members that are here over the last two years that I’ve been here,” he says.
“And they deserve some success. I’ve really got some good friends emerged through from that, but I can see they’ve put in so much of their lives into this club, so for me that’s what gets me up every morning and keeps me extremely motivated to work as hard as I can for them.”
HOW TO FIND STABILITY
As an administrator, Mielekamp had spent a few years at South Sydney, and then Penrith, followed by Western Sydney Wanderers, before he was approached by the Mariners where he spent nine years before joining the Wests Tigers in 2024.
For the most part, the hardest work has been done to get the club to a competitive standard off the field.
Mielekamp was once the merchandise/licensing manager at the Panthers.
His job now is to find stability and success, which are the two most common concerns to pop up during three fan forums now.
Others are stadium plans, recruitment, and how to unite two sides of an amalgamated club, which has been a source of tension for years.
Members have been invited to air their concerns, push for answers, and vent, as well as get a tour of the club’s facilities.
There’s one to come in Campbelltown.
Some forums have been more intense than others, but the passion is undeniable.
It’s an unusual position to be in for Mielekamp too, to reassure fans of the stability of the club from an interim position.
“It’s firstly about being honest, I can only play what’s in front of me,” he says.
“The most important thing is a bit of success. On field success, continued success off the field will deliver that stability and that’s what we’ve got to stay focused on.
“So it is hard to make promises that you can’t really fully guarantee. But all I can say is the strategy to stability is through success.”
He plans for the future as if the job is his.
“I do feed back to my past history, I did have a three-month contract that lasted nine years, so it keeps you on your toes, it keeps you driven every day,” he says.
“So I don’t mind it. I relish in this mode. If I just do a cracking on things will take care of themselves.”
It’s been 21 years since the 2005 premiership, and 14 seasons without a finals appearance.
The frustration is palpable.
“The important thing is we don’t need to get back on track. Internally the four walls here, nothing has changed, so that’s really the key message to get to the members as well because they don’t know and want to really understand what is happening,” he explains.
“But it’s the same exact team, it’s the same coaching staff, it’s the same playing group.
“And it has been two years to build the club to this point.”
He’s come in just as the team was starting to show signs of promise for future success.
“Winning is a real key part. Through all the changes and the turmoil, the ones who get forgotten sometimes are the players on the field are the players on the field and the members in the stands,” he continues.
“So making sure the focus is on those guys is what a football club should be doing.”
PLANNING FOR THE FUTURE
On the agenda is stadium planning with Leichhardt Oval to undergo renovations this season, followed by Campbelltown Stadium in 2027.
From a football department, the ongoing development of pathways is crucial.
While Bolt stole a lot of the headlines over Mielekamp’s almost nine years with the Mariners, across his tenure they went from “a club on its knees” to winning absolutely everything. And producing homegrown talent way key to that success.
“While the Usain show was happening, behind the scenes the really hard work was being done by the football staff and team in developing through our academy and our coaches and I see the synergies here,” he says.
Jamaican sprint legend Usain Bolt arrives at Sydney Airport ahead of his Mariner trial. Picture: AAP Image/Erik Anderson
“I’m really passionate about believing the Wests Tigers can have the best rugby league pathway in the world, but we’ve got a long way to go, there’s a lot of really hard work to get into that and we have to make sure we understand what is the best way to unlock the talent that comes through and keeping that talent at the Wests Tigers.
“So much of that will come through from coaching, some will come through from the amount of revenue and resources you can drive into that space, but that’s a big part of this club.”
The main speed bump he’s seeing at the moment is a lack of patience.
“Everyone might be in a bit of a rush at times. Young talent can be flown through really fast instead of being given time to nurture, and just consistency of messages,” he says.
“If there’s continual change it’s hard to establish a continual process.
“So it is something that will take a long slow burn.
“It took nine years at Central Coast Mariners, I’m not saying it’s going to take that long, but it’s something we need to be really clear about and stick to the plan.”
SHOOT YOUR SHOT
He’s unafraid to take big swings.
And while the Tigers don’t need the kind of spectacle that was the “Usain Bolt show” from 2018, his willingness to make a big move ultimately paid off in corporate dollars and international brand recognition, which was a turning point for the Mariners.
The idea to offer the greatest sprinter of all time an A-League contract was first joked about, and then quickly became a reality when a close friend offered him the contact information and he dared ask the question.
“The player agent came to me and said, ‘Mate, I think you’re the only CEO who would actually listen to this, everyone else is going to hang up the phone to me’. It was a time,” he says.
What followed was eight weeks of absolute hysteria, paparazzi in bushes, journalists in trees watching training, and around the clock coverage of the worldwide spectacle.
Usain Bolt is greeted by Mariners CEO Shaun Mielekamp. Picture: Brett Costello
It was brief and controversial, but it worked.
“It was interesting, it was amazing, I couldn’t believe it as it was unfolding. When we had word that Usain was really open to, and genuinely wanted to explore, his football career, to speak to Usain about a genuine journey as an athlete wasn’t being presented to him anywhere else around the world,” he explains.
“They were all talking to him about his brand, and commercials, and money and revenue.
“And ultimately our pitch was, ‘You’ll get treated like a footballer. You’ll come in, you’ll be able to train in the pre-season, and we’ll treat you like a footballer and continue to stick through from that’.
“When we played at Campbelltown Stadium and he scored the two goals, we couldn’t believe it, but also it was amazing to see his development in such a short space of time as a footballer, and he does have a left foot.”
The biggest takeaway for Wests Tigers fans? Don’t ask, don’t receive.
Ask the man for a coffee, he might say yes.
Who here actually received a call?Why interim Tigers boss Shaun Mielekamp is sitting down with frustrated fans for coffee
It takes a brave man to front up to success-starved Wests Tigers fans, but interim CEO Shaun Mielekamp isn’t the kind of guy to take the easy way out. Meet the club boss doing things differently.
Pamela Whaley
February 22, 2026 - 12:00PM
Shaun Mielekamp, the man behind Usain Bolt’s internationally famous stint at Central Coast Mariners and Penrith’s Pink Panthers jersey, is now turning his attention to the Wests Tigers with the difficult task of uniting and reassuring a fan base scarred by past traumas.
Interim CEO since a sensational boardroom breakdown in December which cost his close mentor and former club boss Shane Richardson his position, Mielekamp does not yet have job assurance, but he makes up for it in confidence.
In the few short months he’s been in charge, the decorated sports administrator has had around 60 one-on-one coffees and phone calls with members to hopefully help frustrated fans feel heard.
https://www.supercoach.com.au/nrl/?source_code=SCWEB_EDL2
All they have to do is ask.
“We’ve had three fan forums and a 1000 coffees and a 1000 phone calls. A lot of one on ones,” Mielekamp tells this masthead.
Wests Tigers chief executive Shaun Mielekamp. Picture: Tigers
“Members call up, they book in a time and I go and catch up with a coffee, give them a tour.
“I wanted to give the members the opportunity to hear from each other as there are so many questions.
“So there’s been a lot, it’s been really positive, and it’s been a really good way for me to hear from the fans exactly their experiences, what they’re passionate about and for me to assure them they’ve got a voice and it’s being heard.”
You don’t often hear of this level of accountability and openness from an NRL boss, especially with a fan base who have been hurt so many times before.
But it’s a job Mielekamp says he’s fallen in love with.
“Those fans are the reason I come to work every day. I have fallen in love with those club and the fan base and the members that are here over the last two years that I’ve been here,” he says.
“And they deserve some success. I’ve really got some good friends emerged through from that, but I can see they’ve put in so much of their lives into this club, so for me that’s what gets me up every morning and keeps me extremely motivated to work as hard as I can for them.”
HOW TO FIND STABILITY
As an administrator, Mielekamp had spent a few years at South Sydney, and then Penrith, followed by Western Sydney Wanderers, before he was approached by the Mariners where he spent nine years before joining the Wests Tigers in 2024.
For the most part, the hardest work has been done to get the club to a competitive standard off the field.
Mielekamp was once the merchandise/licensing manager at the Panthers.
His job now is to find stability and success, which are the two most common concerns to pop up during three fan forums now.
Others are stadium plans, recruitment, and how to unite two sides of an amalgamated club, which has been a source of tension for years.
Members have been invited to air their concerns, push for answers, and vent, as well as get a tour of the club’s facilities.
There’s one to come in Campbelltown.
Some forums have been more intense than others, but the passion is undeniable.
It’s an unusual position to be in for Mielekamp too, to reassure fans of the stability of the club from an interim position.
“It’s firstly about being honest, I can only play what’s in front of me,” he says.
“The most important thing is a bit of success. On field success, continued success off the field will deliver that stability and that’s what we’ve got to stay focused on.
“So it is hard to make promises that you can’t really fully guarantee. But all I can say is the strategy to stability is through success.”
He plans for the future as if the job is his.
“I do feed back to my past history, I did have a three-month contract that lasted nine years, so it keeps you on your toes, it keeps you driven every day,” he says.
“So I don’t mind it. I relish in this mode. If I just do a cracking on things will take care of themselves.”
It’s been 21 years since the 2005 premiership, and 14 seasons without a finals appearance.
The frustration is palpable.
“The important thing is we don’t need to get back on track. Internally the four walls here, nothing has changed, so that’s really the key message to get to the members as well because they don’t know and want to really understand what is happening,” he explains.
“But it’s the same exact team, it’s the same coaching staff, it’s the same playing group.
“And it has been two years to build the club to this point.”
He’s come in just as the team was starting to show signs of promise for future success.
“Winning is a real key part. Through all the changes and the turmoil, the ones who get forgotten sometimes are the players on the field are the players on the field and the members in the stands,” he continues.
“So making sure the focus is on those guys is what a football club should be doing.”
PLANNING FOR THE FUTURE
On the agenda is stadium planning with Leichhardt Oval to undergo renovations this season, followed by Campbelltown Stadium in 2027.
From a football department, the ongoing development of pathways is crucial.
While Bolt stole a lot of the headlines over Mielekamp’s almost nine years with the Mariners, across his tenure they went from “a club on its knees” to winning absolutely everything. And producing homegrown talent way key to that success.
“While the Usain show was happening, behind the scenes the really hard work was being done by the football staff and team in developing through our academy and our coaches and I see the synergies here,” he says.
Jamaican sprint legend Usain Bolt arrives at Sydney Airport ahead of his Mariner trial. Picture: AAP Image/Erik Anderson
“I’m really passionate about believing the Wests Tigers can have the best rugby league pathway in the world, but we’ve got a long way to go, there’s a lot of really hard work to get into that and we have to make sure we understand what is the best way to unlock the talent that comes through and keeping that talent at the Wests Tigers.
“So much of that will come through from coaching, some will come through from the amount of revenue and resources you can drive into that space, but that’s a big part of this club.”
The main speed bump he’s seeing at the moment is a lack of patience.
“Everyone might be in a bit of a rush at times. Young talent can be flown through really fast instead of being given time to nurture, and just consistency of messages,” he says.
“If there’s continual change it’s hard to establish a continual process.
“So it is something that will take a long slow burn.
“It took nine years at Central Coast Mariners, I’m not saying it’s going to take that long, but it’s something we need to be really clear about and stick to the plan.”
SHOOT YOUR SHOT
He’s unafraid to take big swings.
And while the Tigers don’t need the kind of spectacle that was the “Usain Bolt show” from 2018, his willingness to make a big move ultimately paid off in corporate dollars and international brand recognition, which was a turning point for the Mariners.
The idea to offer the greatest sprinter of all time an A-League contract was first joked about, and then quickly became a reality when a close friend offered him the contact information and he dared ask the question.
“The player agent came to me and said, ‘Mate, I think you’re the only CEO who would actually listen to this, everyone else is going to hang up the phone to me’. It was a time,” he says.
What followed was eight weeks of absolute hysteria, paparazzi in bushes, journalists in trees watching training, and around the clock coverage of the worldwide spectacle.
Usain Bolt is greeted by Mariners CEO Shaun Mielekamp. Picture: Brett Costello
It was brief and controversial, but it worked.
“It was interesting, it was amazing, I couldn’t believe it as it was unfolding. When we had word that Usain was really open to, and genuinely wanted to explore, his football career, to speak to Usain about a genuine journey as an athlete wasn’t being presented to him anywhere else around the world,” he explains.
“They were all talking to him about his brand, and commercials, and money and revenue.
“And ultimately our pitch was, ‘You’ll get treated like a footballer. You’ll come in, you’ll be able to train in the pre-season, and we’ll treat you like a footballer and continue to stick through from that’.
“When we played at Campbelltown Stadium and he scored the two goals, we couldn’t believe it, but also it was amazing to see his development in such a short space of time as a footballer, and he does have a left foot.”
The biggest takeaway for Wests Tigers fans? Don’t ask, don’t receive.
Ask the man for a coffee, he might say yes.
