Wests Tigers take first steps to climbing back from brink of extinction

EXCLUSIVE: Unpaid bills and star players' bonuses lost in the mail - welcome to life at Wests Tigers over the past 18 months.

UNPAID rent, food suppliers, security firms and star players complaining about their marquee bonuses being lost in the mail.

There was even a morning when the coaching staff was told there would be no new footballs for training until the previous ones were paid for.

Welcome to life at Wests Tigers over the past 18 months.

Ominous clouds have been rapidly gathering since the joint venture posted a staggering and unexpected loss in excess of $2 million at the end of 2012.

Fresh from back-to-back finals appearances, the Tigers started that season as premiership favourites and budgeted accordingly. Instead they finished out of the top eight and deep in the red, as sponsorship, attendance and merchandise numbers fell alarmingly short of expectation.

The seven-figure shortfall was comfortably the biggest in the joint venture's 14-year existence, most of which had been eeked out with an impressive degree of financial prudence within the rusted confines of Concord Oval.

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But suddenly decisions went haywire. Coach Tim Sheens was sacked with two years remaining on his contract, and continued to receive a full salary for nine months after his dismissal. Top players like Andrew Fifita, Bryce Gibbs and Chris Heighington were given early releases, with the Tigers paying part of their wages at Cronulla just to comply with the salary cap.

They were excesses and miscalculations that simply that simply could not be afforded. Worse still, they quickly pushed the Tigers to the brink of extinction because the Balmain half was unable to meet its financial obligations.

Under the original JV constitution, signed in 1999, shareholders Wests Group and Balmain were required to provide equal funding each season to balance the NRL club's books.

With their Rozelle Leagues Club reduced to rubble and red tape, Balmain could offer little or no aid, which virtually reduced the financial obligation on Wests to zero.

Balmain's suffrage put Wests in a position of power, because four of the five Magpies-aligned directors were appointed from the successful Leagues Club in Ashfield and had access to riches that could keep the Tigers afloat.

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Magpies diehards wanted the club to flex its financial plight and effectively buy control, condemning their Balmain bedfellows to irrelevance.

But the reality of being primarily responsible for the huge losses that are commonly associated with NRL club did not sit comfortably with the Ashfield directors, whose No. 1 responsibility is to safeguard the interests of their Leagues Club members.

To ensure vital costs such as wages were met, Ashfield made several loans to the joint venture. But a more permanent fix was required to ensure the mounting debts did not turn lethal.

As the mammoth loss of 2012 began to materialise, Tigers powerbrokers began to talk about radical reform measures that would see the joint venture give way to a single entity run by directors with no alignment to either foundation club. In this utopia, there would be no Balmain or Wests. Only Wests Tigers.

Last night's announcement that three independent directors, nominated by the NRL, would hold the balance of power on a new seven-man board is a huge step toward that goal.

Since NRL boss Dave Smith accepted a call to help Wests and Balmain reach middle ground last July, negotiations have pushed through old hatreds and entrenched agendas to carve-out the most historic accord in the joint venture's history.