A boardroom fight over the future of beleaguered chairman Lee Hagiptantelis is apparently imminent at the Wests Tigers.
According to the Daily Telegraph, the club has planned a board meeting on October 23, with early input from the Tigers’ independent assessment expected to be available.
The review was commissioned by the Holman Barnes Group.
However, Hagipantelis is said to be willing to confront those clamouring for his resignation.
Hagipantelis refused Tony Andreacchio’s original request on behalf of the Holman Barnes Group and will now await the conclusions of the independent review.
The review’s findings are likely to be reported to the Holman Barnes Group by mid-November and may focus on Hagipantelis and other board members.
Powerful club officials like as Hagipantelis, chief executive Justin Pascoe, and head coach Benji Marshall were also questioned.
Former NRL chief financial officer Tony Crawford and Gary Barnier are leading the inquiry, which was prompted by a decade of poor outcomes.
If Hagipantelis and Pascoe are fired, recruiting manager Scott Fulton might be next.
The duo brought in the former Manly official, but he has allegedly had many run-ins with new head coach Benji Marshall.
The most recent of which apparently concerned the possible acquisition of Sean Keppie, with Marshall opposing Fulton’s desire to bring the Manly prop to the club.
After Keppie signed with the Rabbitohs, the Tigers kept Alex Twal on a three-year contract.
Meninga, who will make his Samoan debut on Saturday, feels it is time for the system to alter.
“I don’t believe guys should be able to go back and forth (between countries),” Meninga told The Courier Mail.
“What I’d like to see is that every player chooses which country they want to play for right from the start of their NRL career.” This manner, there would be no doubt about who they are qualified for.
“When they make the NRL and they have to make a tough decision on Test football, they have to make one call.”
The tiered eligibility system was created to help rising rugby league nations like Samoa and Tonga strengthen their playing ranks.
Meninga, on the other hand, feels that the wealth of NRL talent will result in numerous players being nominated to play for their countries, and that teams will stay strong.
“I believe they should consider taking away the tier-one and tier-two system,” Meninga said in an interview.
“Because the Pacific Nations will be bolstered by some fantastic players from our NRL competition.”
“So let’s remove the tiers, and then every NRL player must make a single decision for the country they want to play for, and stick to it.”
“The Samoa and Tonga teams now have a good number of players.” We want to see competitive Test matches, and we finally have them.”
Meninga feels that players like Jarome Luai, Brian To’o, and Stephen Crichton should still be eligible to play for NSW.
He stated that he had “no issue” with players eligible for Origin also representing their country of origin.
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