New Wests Tigers boss Shane Richardson driving the circus out of Concord

For years, Wests Tigers fans have watched the club stuck in an endless cycle of gaffes. PAMELA WHALEY reveals how commonsense has come to Tiger Town.

Wests Tigers.

Wests Tigers were the butt of the joke for a long time before it stopped being funny.

For years, and especially in the past few, there’s been a laundry list of random and baffling stories coming out of the Concord club.

At times it felt like a weekly circus event.

The gaffes and bad performances all made for perfect newspaper fodder, premium meme content for social media pages and water cooler chitchat to torture a local Tigers fan.

But for the good people involved in the club, and the legions of passionate supporters, it grew painful.

Every new year brought with it a new sense of hope to grasp on to, in the form of a new coach, a succession plan, change of staff, a centre of excellence or some classic PR spin about bringing the good old days of 2005 back.

None of it held much weight, and soon, the disappointments mounted, hopes were smashed and although everything was changing the cycle was on a sickening repeat.

That it got so bad fans stepped in is quite astonishing.

Wests Tigers interim chief executive, Shane Richardson. Picture: David Swift

More than 2000 supporters signed a petition for an external review into the club, which resulted in a massive clean out from CEO to chairman, and members of the board.

While at the time it was another chapter in the seemingly endless drama, it proved there’s a solid supporter base of people who don’t care about personalities or about short-term pain. They care about the club and long-lasting, meaningful change.

And now they’re getting it with Shane Richardson at the top.

The axing of recruitment boss Scott Fulton on Tuesday, as well as Alan Thompson, head of wellbeing and education and a gear steward, marked the start but not the end of rapid and dramatic renovations at the Wests Tigers.

Experienced NRL administrator and interim chief executive Richardson made the call on Tuesday morning and this masthead broke the news not long afterwards.

There was little fuss, no leaks beforehand, and both parties spoke on the record to this masthead after the fact, with Richardson flagging more changes within the next 30 to 40 days leading into the NRL trials.

It’s never nice for hard working people to lose their jobs, but all of this somehow made sense.

No clowns, no parade, no jokes.

The axing of Fulton appears to be the kind of common sense decision based in strong leadership that the Tigers have been crying out for.

Scott Fulton (right) talking to former Tigers chairman Lee Hagipantelis.

Fulton, who was hired at the club behind head coach Benji Marshall’s back last year, became somewhat of an elephant in the room in the football department.

Despite Richardson’s insistence that his exit was not about a clash of personalities, rather there being no need for a recruitment boss under his governance, the net result is what’s best for the club as a whole.

Weirdly, this one decision has been a ray of hope to a fan base that are so reluctant to believe in change, but will, because that’s what good supporters do.

In the coming days Melbourne centre Justin Olam is expected to be announced as the club’s newest signing - another reason for cautious fans to hold onto hope.

Whatever 2024 brings for the Tigers on the field, it feels like something has shifted. There’s a new level of respect for the way the club goes about their business.

The bar may be in hell but it’s finally being cleared.

Originally published as New Wests Tigers boss Shane Richardson driving the circus out of Concord