Fan poll results send a serious warning to struggling Wests Tigers

NO ONE is saying Wests Tigers should be kicked out of the NRL but they do need to get their act together off the field as much as on it, writes PHIL ROTHFIELD.

Aaron Woods’s decision to leave sums up the club’s woes. (Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)

THE past 48 hours have surely sent a warning to the management of the struggling Wests Tigers.

No one is saying they should be kicked out of the NRL but they do need to get their act together off the field as much as on it.

The shocking crowd of 6000 at Campbelltown last Friday for the match against the Gold Coast Titans is what ignited the debate of getting rid of one of Sydney’s nine clubs for a second Brisbane team.

All those empty seats at a suburban ground in Western Sydney were an embarrassing backdrop for the game on prime-time television.

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Then the fans overwhelmingly voted for the Wests Tigers to face the chop if nine teams are reduced to eight to make way for a new team north of the border, which would end the ­Broncos’ monopoly of having a capital city to themselves.

So why did the fans vote for the Wests Tigers to go?

Their position on the bottom of competition ladder doesn’t help.

The fact the Balmain side of the joint venture is broke wouldn’t have won them any votes, either.

Plus the NRL had to step in three years ago with a $5.4 million loan — since repaid by Wests Ashfield — to keep the club in the competition.

Throw in all the dramas — Jason Taylor, Robbie Farah, Tim Simona and the departures of Aaron Woods and James Tedesco just to name a few.

Aaron Woods’s decision to leave sums up the club’s woes. (Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)

As we said at the beginning … this is a serious warning to the Wests ­Tigers.

Especially as the NRL will never again be in a position to bail out clubs that go bust.

I have been saying for a long time that this is the most poorly ­administered club in the competition.

The only thing going for the Tigers is the highest membership growth in the competition this year.

Not that it guarantees bums on seats, as we saw at Campbelltown last Friday night.

The NRL is already well covered in Sydney’s western suburbs with the Parramatta Eels and Penrith ­Panthers, who are both backed by thriving ­leagues clubs.

There is ­probably not room for all three.

The Tigers are at a crossroads. Photo Mark Evans

So the Wests Tigers, as the fans have said, are the most vulnerable of all the Sydney clubs.

Their administration needs to do something about it. Urgently.

They need more people on board with not just football knowledge but hard-line business experience.

Like the Roosters, Rabbitohs, Manly, Penrith, Canterbury and ­Parramatta, who are all backed by ­either successful business types or poker machines.

Unless the Wests Tigers can build a competitive football team and get fans back to their venues, they are in ­danger of becoming an ­endangered species.

And that’s not us saying it. It’s the biggest stakeholders in the game … the fans.