Inside Wests Tigers
Better, off a very low base.
Wests Tigers are 11th on rating in late August, which counts as progress here: 16th for win rate all-time, across the decade and over the last three seasons, no finals since 2011, and one premiership, 2005, in the joint venture's history. The excuses have been retired one by one. Holman Barnes Group turned a $12 million profit on $100.2 million of revenue in 2025, per the accounts, the Concord centre has been open since 2022, the board is settled under Barry O'Farrell, Shaun Mielekamp was made permanent chief executive in July, and Benji Marshall was extended to 2030 last December while conceding the results didn't justify it, which was at least honest. The winter's business was losing the captain: Jarome Luai leaves a year early for Parramatta, PNG already holding his 2028 signature, after the Telegraph reported a secret $3 million approach spooked the club.
- Holman Barnes Group, consolidated, audited to October 2025: revenue $100.2 million, profit after tax $12 million. The football club files no separate accounts.
- Ownership: Holman Barnes Group (the Wests Ashfield membership) 90 per cent, Balmain Tigers 10 per cent.
Checked 21 August 2026 · Evidence medium
At a glance
- Home crowd, 2026: 17,596 across 12 home matches, down 535 on 2025
- Members, 2025: about 9,000, published by Wests Tigers
- Following: 858,514 across 5 platforms
- Brand value, 2024: $42M, 11th of 17 clubs
- Who owns the club: Holman Barnes Group (Wests Ashfield members) 90% · Balmain Tigers 10%
- Accounts we can see: Audited group accounts to 31 October 2025; no separate club accounts
- Training base: Zurich Centre, Concord Oval · opened November 2022
- Head coach: Benji Marshall through 2030
Ownership & Financials
- Wests Tigers Rugby League Football Pty Ltd (ABN 49 090 076 403) is an active Australian company; the group accounts describe it as a non-profit established for sports administration and training of a professional rugby league team, prohibited from declaring a dividend and exempt from income tax.
- Western Suburbs Leagues Club Limited, trading as Holman Barnes Group, consolidates Wests Tigers Rugby League Football Pty Ltd as a 90% subsidiary (2024: 90%), with a 10% non-controlling interest, alongside wholly owned Western Suburbs District Rugby League Football Club Limited and Wests Magpies Pty Limited.
- The club was formed at the end of 1999 as a joint venture of Balmain Tigers and Western Suburbs Magpies; Western Suburbs took 75% in September 2016 and 90% in September 2020 on the amalgamation of Wests Ashfield Leagues Club and Balmain Leagues Club, with Balmain retaining 10%.
- Holman Barnes Group's audited consolidated accounts for the year to 31 October 2025 (BDO, authorised 30 January 2026) report $100.22 million revenue, $11.99 million profit after tax, $40.46 million employee benefits and $1.52 million football development expense, with 28,400 members; the parent company alone reported $12.77 million employee benefits.
- At 31 October 2025 the group had $14.47 million of player and head-coach payments committed for the following year and $21.92 million for one to five years out (2024: $14.14 million and $21.89 million), disclosed as commitments of Wests Tigers Rugby League Football Pty Ltd not yet recognised as liabilities.
Following & Sponsorship
- Major Partner: Pepper Money
- Premier Partner: Zurich
Leadership
- Shaun Mielekamp, Chief Executive Officer
- Charmain Steventon, Head of Women's Football
- Barry O'Farrell AO, chair
- Frank Primerano, deputy chair
Football Department
- Benji Marshall, NRL head coach
- Craig Sandercock, NRLW head coach
- Tyrone McCarthy, NSW Cup head coach (Western Suburbs Magpies)
- Shane Sultana, Jersey Flegg head coach
- Nathan Lakeman, SG Ball head coach (Western Suburbs Magpies)
- Pat Richards, Harold Matthews head coach (Western Suburbs Magpies)
- Andrew Kazzi, Harold Matthews head coach (Balmain Tigers)
- Robbie Taylor, NSW Women's Premiership coach
- Taiana Waddell-Scanlan, Tarsha Gale head coach
- David Fifita, Tarsha Gale assistant coach
- Sarah Sogatuki, Tarsha Gale assistant coach
- Latu Fifita, Lisa Fiaola head coach
- Raymond Brown, Lisa Fiaola assistant coach
- Kristen Cawthorne, Lisa Fiaola assistant coach
Training Base
- Zurich Centre (Wests Tigers Centre of Excellence), Concord Oval: The club's training and administrative home and registered address, opened 21 November 2022 inside the Concord Oval and Community Sport Precinct redevelopment, with dedicated female facilities required under the state's Her Sport Her Way program.
Pathways
- A two-badge men's ladder: the group enters junior representative teams under both the Western Suburbs Magpies and Balmain Tigers names in Harold Matthews and SG Ball, which feed one Wests Tigers Jersey Flegg side and a NSW Cup side that plays as the Western Suburbs Magpies, then NRL. The women's ladder is complete from Lisa Fiaola and Tarsha Gale through a NSW Women's Premiership squad to NRLW, all under a women's football structure reviewed in 2025. Josese Lanyon's June 2026 debut is the club's own example of the ladder working end to end.
- Local junior Josese Lanyon made his NRL debut in Round 15 2026 after coming through the club's Jersey Flegg side under head coach Shane Sultana and the Western Suburbs Magpies NSW Cup side under head coach Tyrone McCarthy.
- The Western Suburbs Magpies Harold Matthews and SG Ball squads completed their 2026 seasons under head coaches Pat Richards and Nathan Lakeman, with Brad Speechley as pathways coordinator.
- The club also fields Balmain Tigers teams in Harold Matthews and SG Ball; Andrew Kazzi coached the 2026 Balmain Harold Matthews side.
- The club announced a NSW Women's Premiership squad for 2026 led by Robbie Taylor, after an open trial in Camden in February, as the step between the junior grades and NRLW.
Results
- All-time win rate: 39.7% (All first-grade games), 16th of 17
- Last 10 seasons: 32.2% (2017–2026), 16th of 17
- Last 3 seasons: 31.9% (2024–2026), 16th of 17
- Team Rating: 77.3 (2026 season), 14th of 17
- Premierships: 1 (Since 2000), 12th= of 17
- Finals seasons: 3 (Since 2000), 16th of 17
Sources
Wests Tigers: squad and cap · Every club, inside · Tell us we’re wrong