Wests Tigers to impose deadline on 'big four', as CEO declares 'we won't be held to ransom by anyone'
Adrian Proszenko
Published: March 25, 2017 - 10:00PM
Wests Tigers chief executive Justin Pascoe says the club will be imposing a deadline on its "big four" stars to re-sign with the club, declaring "we won't be held to ransom by anyone".
The Tigers have sacked coach Jason Taylor just three weeks into the season, the latest drama following the Tim Simona scandal and the controversial departure of fan favourite Robbie Farah last year.
Taylor's sacking will have implications on the futures of the club's four best players, the off-contract quartet of Mitchell Moses, James Tedesco, Luke Brooks and Aaron Woods. Those players are likely to wait for the appointment of a new head coach before deciding whether to remain at Concord or continue their careers elsewhere.
In a wide-ranging interview, Pascoe revealed the formulation of a "plan B" should the quartet depart, the reasons for punting Taylor so early in the season and why the club wouldn't have changed its decision to release Farah from his contract a year early.
D-DAY LOOMS FOR BIG FOUR
The Tigers tabled contract extensions for Brooks, Tedesco, Moses and Woods before the start of the season. But uncertainty over Taylor's tenure has been one of the reasons they remain unsigned.
Taylor has now been sacked and his replacement could be in place within a fortnight, giving all parties clarity on the issue. Yet if the Tigers' young stars continue to deliberate, the club will play hard ball and withdraw the offers while there are alternative options still on the open market.
"It's always club first," Pascoe said. "We're mindful of the time frame, as any club would be. We have to make sure we come to an agreement with their management at some stage sooner rather than later that we're either all here or not. We haven't discussed a time frame or timeline with their management at this stage. But it's recognised that we will have to put some time frames around it.
"It's our responsibility to have a plan B, it's as simple as that. And we've got plan Bs in place."
Pascoe stressed the preference was to ensure the big four remained Tigers for life.
"Internally, we don't reference them as the 'big four' – they are four players of a top 25," he said.
"I couldn't be more complimentary of each of those four players. They are terrific young men, they are highly talented and we value them and would obviously love them to stay at this club. We're doing everything in our power to make sure that happens."
Pascoe said the new coach would have input on the future of the quartet, should they not re-sign before his arrival.
"The coach needs to have an involvement in the retention and recruitment of players," he said. "It won't change in this instance either."
AGENT PROVOCATEUR
There have been concerns that player manager Isaac Moses wields too much influence at Wests Tigers. Moses manages the four young stars, interim coach Andrew Webster and a prospective head coach in Cowboys assistant Todd Payten. Moses is also close friends with Joe Wehbe, a mentor to the quartet who was sounded out about a permanent position on the Tigers staff.
Pascoe said no individual would be allowed to have undue influence over the club.
"I and the board won't allow this club to be held to ransom by anyone," Pascoe said.
"We are a strong club and our job is to build a winning culture for our supporters and players and to create that environment.
"We won't be held to ransom by anyone. From our perspective, we are having positive discussions with their management.
"The appointment of the coach is a decision we made as a club. If the players and management want to wait until a coach is appointed, that's their decision."
FARAH GONE … AND NOW SO IS TAYLOR
The Tigers back Taylor's decision to squeeze Farah out of the club … and then sacked Taylor just three games into the new season.
The Tigers – who are still paying $750,000 of Farah's wage to play at South Sydney – are now on the lookout for a new coach, with Ivan Cleary the favourite to take over. Pascoe defended the timing of Taylor's sacking.
"Firstly, it's not that we made a decision on three games – it's two-and-a-half years into a three-year contract," Pascoe said.
"This club has always been about making hard decisions to really ensure we have an environment where our supporters look forward to us playing finals football.
"The timing is never going to be perfect in these decision-making processes, but we wanted to give Jason full support over the off-season heading into this season. This season, as he was always aware, was performance based. We as an organisation believed there hadn't been improvement from last year.
"We will not let another season slide away or drift away again. The fact is, we have lost four of our last six games by over 30 points, so improvement was needed. We believed we weren't seeing that so we made a decision. It was a hard decision that will put this club into a better chance of playing finals football."
Asked if, in hindsight, Farah should have been retained, Pascoe said: "No. The Robbie Farah one and Jason Taylor one are totally separate issues.
"The decision to move Robbie on was a decision made last year, it's a list management decision. The decision to move Jason Taylor on was a performance decision based on where the team is."
BEST SPORTING ORGANISATION IN AUSTRALIA
The Tigers have made the finals just three times in 16 years, have churned through their third coach in five years and are still reeling from the Farah and Simona scandals. However, Pascoe is bullish about the club's aim of becoming the No.1 sporting franchise in Australian sport.
"Our intention is to play finals football this year, that's why we continue to make the hard decisions," he said. "Our intention is to play finals football every single year. This is a really unified board and we have a clear vision around making sure this becomes the best sporting organisation in Australia.
"We're not going to deviate from that vision. We've improved commercially over the past two years, we have record membership levels and our apparel value is the highest it's ever been.
"We continue to enrich the lives of many with the community work we do. We're not shying away from the fact we want to be the best sporting organisation in Australia."
NO BASKET CASE
The Tigers board, chair Marina Go and Pascoe himself have come under fire for Taylor's sacking and their handling of player contract negotiations.
"People who aren't within the organisation will have opinions on the decisions we're making," Pascoe said.
"We as an organisation are very confident we're making the right decisions. As a board, I can tell you in working closely with them, that it is operating in unity and only have one thing in mind and that's the best interests of the Wests Tigers.
"You need a level of resilience in this job and we are very comfortable that what we're doing internally is the right thing. We're not going to deviate from that vision."
This story was found at: http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/...held-to-ransom-by-anyone-20170325-gv6cp6.html
