A return to glory for the longsuffering Wests Tigers appears increasingly distant after a high-level purge which has accounted for four independent board members and CEO Shane Richardson, and created instability that threatens to consign the Tigers to NRL irrelevance for years to come – and maybe even the existence of the club.

Despite a quarter of a century passing since the Western Suburbs Magpies and Balmain Tigers merged, traditional divisions have persisted and the uneasy alliance within the club has been thrown into the spotlight by the recent upheaval, led by the Magpies-aligned majority owners of the club, the Holman Barnes Group (HBG).

Despite the longstanding partnership, the Western Suburbs and Balmain factions have rarely both been happy with the merger and, in particular, the public-facing look of the club. The Magpies faction has tended to believe the Tigers appeared to be more Balmain than Wests.

Among other issues, the proposed jerseys for next year have reportedly played a key role in the recent turmoil. To hell with on-field improvement. In the bin with off-field stability. The jersey had too much orange in it, apparently.

The promising steps the club had taken since the exits of former chair Lee Hagipantelis and former CEO Justin Pascoe after years of abject futility appear to have been dismissed. The sacrifice is significant.

The key figure in the Wests Tigers’ rise from perennial cellar-dwellers – they won three straight wooden spoons between 2022 and 2024 and have not played finals football since 2011 – has been Richardson. The veteran CEO who had built premiership-winning teams at Penrith and South Sydney came out of semi-retirement to take the reins of the Tigers rebuild.

Richardson is not universally liked, of course – his approach drove Lachlan Galvin, the club’s best young talent in recent memory, to the Bulldogs – but for the first time in a long time the Tigers became a club that was able to attract high-end talent. Jarome Luai left the Panthers to be the centrepiece of the rebuild, and players like Terrell May, Sunia Turuva and the Fainu brothers were willing to go to a club they probably would have previously avoided. For the first time since 2019, the Tigers managed to win nine games in 2025. After many years of drought and desolation, green shoots were sprouting.

But on Monday, the club confirmed Richardson had resigned. HBG’s CEO, Daniel Paton, said: “We thank Shane for his service. His resignation paves the way for a new path forward for the football club, and we will be making an announcement about the new leadership in the near future.”

Prior to Richardson’s exit, HBG said a perceived lack of communication was behind the decision to evict the independent board members and that they had been “left in the dark on some commercially sensitive announcements”.

The moves have damaged hopes of a period of stability, and a return to the old Wests v Balmain friction – after the club’s most successful campaign for years – threatens to make the club an undesirable location for talented players, coaches and administrators going forward. It’s a position the Tigers are unfortunately all too familiar with. These are dark days for a club that has been living a polar night existence for a long time, with its very essence now appearing to be in the hands of a small group of unaccountable men.

Amid the turmoil, there is a fear that the new hierarchy will seek to rebrand the club as the Magpies. A heritage deal prohibits any change before 2030 but given the concerns over the look of the jersey, a change would probably be a consideration. The goodwill of two clubs working together, the brand equity built up over 25 years and the fact an entire generation of fans has supported the club having never followed either Balmain or Wests would be blown up, putting at risk the support for the Tigers among their fanbase. It should never be forgotten how many people were lost to the game during the Super League War when clubs were eliminated or forced to merge.

Yet the Tigers brand remains one of the strongest in the NRL, particularly among kids. No team with such a limited history of on-field success has managed to maintain such a mythology. The Tigers ranked fourth among Sydney clubs for average home attendance last year despite missing the top eight for a 14th straight season. Tigers fans have proven themselves resilient but there is clear frustration now being voiced, led by the Inner West mayor, Darcy Byrne.

Byrne has issued a dire warning that the club’s very existence is under threat, and urged those opposing HBG’s action to attend a rally this weekend “to draw a line in the sand, to send a message to the NRL and the NSW government that it’s time to intervene in the governance of the Wests Tigers”. “If we don’t act now then the Wests Tigers are going out the back door,” he said.

Byrne and Tigers fans have every right to be fearful. But the Australian Rugby League Commission chair, Peter V’Landys, has long said he prioritises fans above all else and the NRL could yet step in and make its voice heard. V’Landys has reportedly already met with the four sacked directors in a sign that the league has at least taken an interest. It could be the only way the Tigers can avoid being killed off.