Wests Tigers chair Marina Go on club’s fight to keep Aaron Wood and James Tedesco

WESTS Tigers chair Marina Go has opened up about the troubled club’s desperate fight to keep off-contract skipper Aaron Wood and star fullback James Tedesco.

WESTS Tigers chair Marina Go has opened up about the troubled club’s desperate fight to keep off-contract skipper Aaron Wood and star fullback James Tedesco, conceding: “You can’t make people stay if they don’t want to”.

In an exclusive interview, Go also refuted suggestions from Jason Taylor that he only found out about his sacking through reports from The Daily Telegraph’s Phil Rothfield.

Go was also adamant “as it currently stands” the Tigers had no intention of granting Mitchell Moses an immediate release to join Parramatta.

While Moses has already committed his future to the Eels for next year, Go said the club had put its best offer forward to keep Woods and Tedesco.

Ultimately, she said, it would come down to whether the two players wanted to stay.

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Regardless, Go said the club would continue to back new coach Ivan Cleary.

“It is absolutely critical that Ivan is able to assemble the right team of players who want to win for our club,” Go told The Daily Telegraph.

“We are very confident that we have a coach who can get us to the finals. I am not suggesting that it will happen this year, but in the near future.

“My understanding is that Ivan would like Aaron and James in his team. But clearly we want people in the club who want to wear our jersey and want to win for our fans and members.

“Which is why Ivan said at his press conference (when he was appointed), ‘people need to get on the bus’.

“Our preference is to keep them, absolutely. We have never backed away from that. They are important, we have invested in them, they are key players. But you can’t make people stay if they don’t want to.”

Go with new Wests Tigers NRL coach Ivan Cleary. (AAP Image/Paul Miller)

Asked what hope she could give fans that Woods and Tedesco would be playing at the Tigers next year, Go said: “I can tell you, there is a lot of misinformation about this.

“There are a lot of concerned fans who are sending messages, pleading with us to offer them more money. Obviously they think that clearly we mustn’t be able to afford to offer them more money.

“Ultimately, if all things are equal, we know not always all things are equal, but I feel like Justin and Ivan have done their very best in terms of offers to those men to try and keep them.

“Ivan is a new coach and perhaps they need to see what we believe to be the case and that he is going to be a very good coach for them.”

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Go was also adamant no decision had been made on granting Moses an immediate release.

“Look, as it currently stands, I know that the coach’s preference as of today is not to release him before the end of the year,” Go said.

“I know that Ivan believes Mitchell will be a great contributor to our club for the rest of the season. That is the latest that I have heard from our CEO and our coach and that is all I can say to you.”

As for criticism from Taylor that he was made a “scapegoat”, and only found out about his sacking through Rothfield’s reports, Go said: “I would dispute that.

“He saw a rumour. I know what Tweet he is referring to (when Rothfield revealed a board

meeting that night would determine Taylor’s fate).

“I can tell you right now at that point there was not a firm decision. At that point we were not in a position to tell him because at that point we had not finalised our decision.

“He says he heard about it that way and I am sad that he thinks that is actually the case. I know he said that and I feel sad that he thinks that but that is absolutely not what happened.

“I will explain that to him because I feel sad that he feels that.”