‘Do not think for one moment that it’s a happy partnership’: Former Wests Tigers chairman responds to brutal sackings
A former Wests Tigers chairman has lifted the lid on the chaos engulfing the club off the field and what it might mean for the joint venture going forward.
Former Wests Tigers chairman Lee Hagipantelis has hit out at the Holman Barnes Group and suggested they have no place in rugby league decisions after a turbulent day off the field for the club.
Chairman Barry O’Farrell and three other independent directors were sensationally axed from the Tigers board on Monday afternoon, with questions now over whether chief executive Shane Richardson will be there for the 2026 season.
Hagipantelis and the rest of the board were dismissed in late 2023 following an off-season review by the Holman Barnes Group who own 90 per cent of the Wests Tigers.
It has since been reported that one of the main reasons which led to the directors being sacked was that the new Tigers jersey was too Balmain heavy which angered the controlling Wests Magpies faction.
Hagipantelis told SEN that he was “surprised it took this long” for Monday’s dramas to unfold, with the club again now plunged into off-field disarray just when the team was starting to look stable again.
“I happened to speak to a director at the Holman Barnes Group, probably within the last two months, who expressed a lot of discontent with regards to what they perceived to be the disenfranchisement by the Wests Tigers that they were not being kept informed and that decisions were being made in their absence,” he said.
“I think the words he used were to the effect of ‘we were being kept in the dark’, so they were very concerned.
“There’s an underlying tension there and there has been for quite some time now that the Wests Group – that’s Holman Barnes and the Wests Magpies – own 90 per cent of the Wests Tigers.
“But many of them feel that they’re not adequately or properly represented and that the Magpie is not properly identified or respected within the joint venture.
“It didn’t take much to tip them over the edge, and I suspect it was the jumper.”
Jersey: Launched 🚀#WTxCCC#OneJungle 🅠pic.twitter.com/vqstWSsnew
— Wests Tigers (@WestsTigers) November 15, 2025
Jersey colours have caused dramas in the past, with Hagipantelis mentioning a previous incident involving former chief executive Justin Pascoe whose plans for a NSW Cup alteration were swiftly scuppered.
“I can recall an instance when I was there where Pascoe tried to introduce a little bit of orange into the state cup team where the Magpies wear black and white,” he said.
“When the Wests boys saw the orange on the jumper, they had a conniption so all the jumpers had to be withdrawn and remade.
“They’re very sensitive about that sort of thing, so it came as no surprise.”
There are fears that all the dramas could eventually lead to a push for the Magpies to return to the NRL at the Tigers’ expense, and it’s why Hagipantelis has again called for the Holman Barnes Group to remove itself from football operations.
“I said at the time, and I stand by it, that they should have no engagement in the running of a football club,” he said.
“They should confine themselves to the fishing club or the sewing club or the tennis club or whatever the case may be.
“They run leagues clubs very well, they do food and beverage and gaming very well, but the rugby league club itself is (something) they struggle with.
“They’ve been around for a long time and there are some there who have been there for many, many years. The tensions of 1999 and the forced merger remains to this very day.
“Do not think for one moment that it’s a happy partnership – it’s not. Wests Group own 90 per cent and they are the owner of that club, and they feel that they are not being adequately represented.”
Originally published as ‘Do not think for one moment that it’s a happy partnership’: Former Wests Tigers chairman responds to brutal sackings
