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Wests Tigers skipper Aaron Woods gave the public impression he was speaking on behalf of James Tedesco, Mitchell Moses, and Luke Brooks when he said none of them were re-signing with the club until the coaching drama was settled.
A week later coach Jason Taylor was sacked with immediate effect.
There goes the stumbling block, so has the quality quartet signed with Wests Tigers?
No.
So what was Woods talking about, what was he suggesting?
Was he using the Taylor uncertainty to bolster the quartet’s asking price at the club, was he a party to help the Wests Tigers Board make a decision and stop pottering, or was he bolstering the quartet’s negotiations outside the club?
They are the only three possible alternatives.
There’s been dead silence from the Board since the Taylor sacking, where chairperson Marina Go and CEO Justin Pascoe were present.
Go is a highly successful businesswoman as general manager of the big Hearst Bauer Media group, which effectively made her boss of Rugby League Week that folded last week after 47 fruitful years.
I hasten to add the sacking of Jason Taylor and the demise of RLW are in no way related.
Pascoe spent the last year with the Panthers working alongside Phil Gould, and Warren Wilson, but he turned up at the Taylor announcement unshaven with a crumpled shirt and no tie – hardly an impressive look for a club in the horrors.
But Wests Tigers goes a whole lot deeper than that.
I will forever rate the amalgamation of two famous foundation clubs in Wests Magpies and the Balmain Tigers was one of the very worst decisions rugby league has ever made.
Both clubs had built a rich tradition from 1908 to 1999 when they were forcibly joined at the hip, leaving household names of players, and devoted supporters, in no-man’s land.
And many still feel robbed and lost.
Wests Magpies won four premierships and were runners up eight times, producing legends like Noel Kelly, Harry Wells, Peter Dimond, Keith Holman, Arthur Summons, Tommy Raudonikis, and Les Boyd to name a few.
The Balmain Tigers won 11 premierships and were runners up nine times, with Keith Barnes, Harry Bath, Artie Beetson, Steve Roach, Wayne Pearce, Benny Elias, Gary Jack, and Paul Sironen among their household names.
It’s bad enough for both former clubs, but even worse for Balmain owning just 25 per cent of the amalgamation, with Wests the rest.
But neither club is getting any satisfaction out of Wests Tigers, especially if Woods, Tedesco, Moses, and Brooks end up elsewhere when they eventually put pen to paper.
What will the NRL do if the Tigers just make up the numbers in the future if the big four elect to leave?
Will the NRL dump the Tigers altogether, as previous administrators did to Newtown, and effectively did to North Sydney and Illawarra?
We’ll wait and see.