Biggest challenge facing new Wests Tigers powerbrokers Shane Richardson and Barry O’Farrell

Wests Tigers finally burned down their house of horrors. Now new powerbrokers Shane Richardson and Barry O’Farrell must eradicate the infection which has seeped into the foundations, writes BRENT READ.

Lee Hagipantelis and Justin Pascoe. Picture: Ian Hitchcock/Getty Images

The winds of change swept through Concord on Tuesday. Actually, when you think about it, it was more like a tornado. The Wests Tigers have ripped it up and started again. The board is gone, the chair is gone and the chief executive is gone.

After a decade of disappointment, the club had its hand forced by an independent review into their operations. The review - carried out by former NRL chief financial officer Tony Crawford and consultant Gary Barnier after the demands of disgruntled fans - recommended mass changes and that’s exactly what the Tigers have made.

It is hard to argue given the way things have unfolded for the club in recent years. The Tigers have been dysfunctional. The most common adjective used - basket case.

They have churned through coaches and frittered away money by over-paying players. They have spent year after year battling to lift themselves off the foot of the ladder.

They have been stuck in a rut for that long that avoiding the wooden spoon feels like a victory. Things are about to change as changes are made at the very apex of the club.

Justin Pascoe and Lee Hagipantelis last season. Picture: Ian Hitchcock/Getty Images

Barry O’Farrell had a short stint at chair some time ago before walking away due to other commitments. He is back in place of Lee Hagipantelis, the club’s major sponsor whose love for the club was never in question but position as chair had hairs all over it given his financial involvement.

Hagipantelis will be disappointed and rightly so. Few were as committed to making the Tigers great again. He was a figure of derision at times but he put his money where his mouth was. The hope is he won’t be lost to the club.

Outgoing chief executive Justin Pascoe - who resigned on Tuesday - has been a reviled figure at times over his time at the club. He has presided over a period of immense pain and the time has come for someone else to be given the keys to Concord.

That man will be Shane Richardson, a man well versed in winning. Richardson won at Penrith and he won at South Sydney. There are few in the game as connected as the wily Richardson, who has in recent years been focused on building Rich Digital with his son Brent and consulting to the Rabbitohs.

He has dipped his toe back in the rugby league waters with the Tigers and this may be the greatest challenge of his career. Richardson believes he has one more rebuild him but the Tigers will test him in every sense.

Losing has seeped into the woodwork. Mediocrity has become their modus operandi. Pascoe did a fantastic job to secure the funding for the Centre of Excellence but despite all the success he enjoyed off the field, he couldn’t get it right when it came to results.

Ultimately, that’s what counts. The hope of fans is that coach Benji Marshall can bring back the glory days and he now has a chief executive whose only motivation will be ensuring that happens.

Originally published as Biggest challenge facing new Wests Tigers powerbrokers Shane Richardson and Barry O’Farrell