"While there are clear day-to-day line-manager roles in our new structure, everything stops at me": Tigers chief executive Grant Mayer.
If governance is the special skill set of Wests Tigers' recently appointed trio of independent directors, they have already failed with the process to appoint their coach.
The board will choose the coach, yet the chief executive, Grant Mayer, will decide who fills the newly created role of general manager football, a powerful position with a $13 million budget.
The coach will answer to the general manager, who will be responsible for all matters rugby league, from the junior representatives, under 20s, State Cup teams, recruitment, retention to the salary cap.
The coach's sole responsibility is the NRL team.
In other words, the CEO chooses the Mr Football, who oversees the coach, who is selected by the board, which appoints the CEO.
It is very circular and open to the blurring of lines of authority and resultant miscommunication which plagued the club when Mick Potter was coach and Wests and Balmain each had five directors on the board.
Asked whether it is unusual to establish a hierarchical structure where the coach is answerable to the general manager who, in turn, reports to the CEO, yet the board reserves the right to appoint the man on the bottom, Mayer said, "Yes, it is unusual. But if you look at our constitution, it's the way it was set up. The coach is a very high-profile position. It is a very visible role."
But Wests Tigers board, which lacks hands-on rugby league experience, has got it right creating a tiered structure and separating the football and non-football operations, while Mayer runs the front office.
The two NRL clubs who have made the most impact this year are Penrith, which has Ivan Cleary report to Phil Gould, and the Cowboys, where Paul Green answers to Peter Parr.
Both clubs have chief executives who devote themselves to non-football matters.
Mayer says, "It is the AFL model. I spent three years with the Giants where the coach reports to the 'GM Football'. As CEO of Wests Tigers, I am responsible for commercial activities, communication, stakeholder relationships plus overseeing the entire operation."
The Storm point out it was the model adopted by the subsequently disgraced Brian Waldron, who had formerly been CEO of AFL club, St Kilda.
As Storm CEO, Waldon appointed Frank Ponissi as general manager of football with the expectation Craig Bellamy would report to him but, as Ponissi says, Bellamy had already taken the club to two grand finals.
It quickly became apparent that a partnership of equals was the preferred working relationship and it continues in Melbourne where CEO Mark Evans runs the front office.
But at most NRL clubs, either the coach or the CEO is dominant, and the football manager takes a subservient, operational role.
Any club with Des Hasler as coach would impinge on the roles of CEO and general manager, while long-term CEOs, such as the Dragons Peter Doust and the Rabbitohs Shane Richardson, are perceived to be the power figures.
Parramatta has adopted the Panthers/Cowboys model, for the pragmatic reason that if the coach walks, as Ricky Stuart did last year, the structure is still there for an immediate replacement.
However, if coach Brad Arthur becomes a control freak, it could set him in collision with football chief Daniel Anderson.
Wests Tigers have therefore made another smart decision by deciding the general manager of football will be installed before the board selects the coach.
Mayer says the former appointment will be announced at the grand-final lunch and the coach chosen in late October.
The Wests Tigers board would presumably identify a coach who would be willing to report to the football boss, suggesting the club's next clipboard carrier will be a rookie.
Some see Mayer's front-office responsibilities as a back-to-the-future role for him, considering he was once CEO of Manly where Hasler took control of all contracts, salary cap and recruiting, while Mayer ran the non-football operations.
Mayer said, "It's a bigger business here. Manly was a $9 million operation. Wests Tigers turn over $18 million. While there are clear day-to-day line-manager roles in our new structure, everything stops at me."
Wests, which supplies two directors to the board, will also appoint a general manager football operations responsible for the Magpies' junior and senior teams, and the appointee will work with the Wests Tigers general manager.
Assuming Wests Tigers chair Marina Go and her board make the right choice on NRL coach, it is all systems go, a green light for the club as it begins its inevitable journeys to Campbelltown.
