'Makes me sick in the stomach': Tigers boss slams criticism of Lachie Galvin's injury management 10:29

The West Tigers have been in the news this week, obviously with the whole Lockie Galvin situation, but the State, Federal and NOS Council have all pledged $40 million, all combined I should say, to upgrade the 8th Wonder of the World. So what does that mean for the West Tigers? Will they continue playing games at Leichhardt Oval? I should say the West Tigers have been campaigning hard for years to try and get some money for Leichhardt Oval, so I thought we'd catch up with their boss, Shane Richardson, and he's on the line. Afternoon to you, Shane.

G'day, mate. How are you? Mate, very well. Obviously, this is really encouraging news for the inner west, in and around Balmain, the spiritual home of the Tigers. $40 million. That's a hell of a lot of money to upgrade the eighth wonder of the world. Yeah, it's a long way from the $100 they required, but still, it's a good start for it all. And I just want to make a point clear. We may not have featured many photos on the news, but it wouldn't have happened without the West Tigers standing up for this ground. And I think it's really important that that's noted.

So what does it mean for the club itself, Shane? Because Peter Volandi's made it clear at the press conference yesterday it's a West Tigers decision whether they continue playing games at Leichhardt Oval given the field will be, well, the ground will be upgraded. Are you committed to playing at Leichhardt? Sure.

Well, we've never been not committed to not playing at Oak Lake. What we've said is the number of games we play will be dependent on the facilities themselves. You know, we need to grow our ground. We're in the bottom of Sydney clubs as far as corporate and commercial goes. And what we need to do is grow our ground and grow our capacity. So, you know, this is a good step forward. And we'll play a part in our stadium strategy, which we'll come out with before the 30th of June. And we'll talk about it at the board meeting on Tuesday. But it's another little...

another little niche in a boat for putting this strategy together. So what will the $40 million be spent on, Shane? Obviously, the existing grandstand needs an update. Am I right in saying that there'll be a new facility at the northern end of the ground? The concept is that, first of all, they're going to upgrade these dressing rooms so that we can play more female football here because there's not enough dressings to be able to play

double-headed from women here at the ground, which is atrocious. The toilets are going to be upgraded because they're just disgraceful. And then on top of that, we'd like a grandstand at the northern end of the ground, which would have corporate facilities and extra seating. But we're going to sit down with the council and work out... The $40 million has been pledged. We're going to work out the timelines of when it's going to come in and what they're going to do to upgrade it so that we can play here on a more consistent basis.

Shane, I know like I'd over, there's a bit of, you know, a bit romantic with it, with the tiger, so to speak, but,

Look, I don't know this for sure, but I would imagine that your bigger junior nursery is out at Campbelltown. Is there any talks to upgrade the ground out there at Campbelltown or play more games out there? Yeah, to be fair, Campbelltown have already got grants for that to upgrade the ground. That'll happen over the next two and three years. And that's really what I'm saying. It depends on the grandstands being built, whether at Leichhardt or Campbelltown, is about what the capacity is and when we can play there. So it's not just a matter of saying, well, we're going to stay there and play there.

It depends on when the reconstruction starts and what parts of the grounds they've got to cut down to do the reconstruction. So everybody gets very excited about these things, but we put a lot of thought and a lot of timing into exactly working out those sort of essential stats and information, and we'll come up with a decision based around that that best suits us over the next three years. Mate, what...

What sort of capacity do you think you can get at Leichhardt Oval, crowd-wise? Well, I don't really see the capacity dramatically increasing. I mean, you're talking 3,000 extra. But, I mean, they put 2,800 extra seats in that just lets people stand. So, you know, I don't know. I haven't sat down and went through all the details. But that's what I'm saying. It's a very nebulous situation at the moment.

when you don't know these details. I will sit down and work out the details and work out a plan around the construction and when it happens. It won't happen for another 12 to 18 months. So that's just a fact. Well, it's good that you signed on for CEO being four years. You're in it for the foreseeable future anyway, Shane. What about the conversation about Lockie Galvin's future? Is he going to be at the club for the next couple of years, do you think?

Usual rubbish. At the end of the day, it took about a two-minute meeting with Lachie Ginn's parents to discuss it. Lachie doesn't want to go anywhere. And certainly his parents are steeped in West Tigers juniors. Most of these kids he could play today have played for Lachie. And James and Tracy, his parents, are committed to his progress through West Tigers. So he'll be with us at least for the next two years. Hoping for a long period after that.

How did that all come about, Shane? Was it a bit of manager talk trying to get a bit more money here or was there some unease there with Lockie himself?

I think, mate, young kids of his age and just coming into first grade, there's a lot of head noise out there and there's a million experts that tell the kids things. At the end of the day, the only people who really care about him, in my opinion, are his club and his close family and friends. So at the end of the day, mate, this is not unusual. I've been through this before. But I've got to say this, mate. One thing I really want to clarify here is the points that his mum made before I even started to speak to him at their house

was that they were absolutely no doubt about the handling of Lockie and his hand. They were involved with the specialist, they spent three hours with him, they discussed it with him, they were completely au fait and comfortable with every part of the treatment of Lockie. So it makes me sick in the stomach when I hear these rumours going around about these wonderful people we've got in our high performance department as if they don't care about our kids.

Well, I'll tell you now they do. And more importantly, his parents think they do. All right, well said. I want to qualify that straight away. Well said. Benji Marshall. Everyone seems to be infatuated with Benji as the coach. Obviously, he was a great player and everything else. I've been on record on the various programs I host saying, you know, you've got to give the bloke some time. He's in his first full year as an NRL coach, and he's getting some good players next year to work with. Benji Marshall, you're obviously backing him. He's the right man for the job moving forward?

Yeah, we've got a really good relationship. We fought this from day one. I never knew Benny Benji before I got here, so there was no background to that. But now we sat down over a 90-day period in the club and mapped out a plan for the football and for the administration side. And Benji's been involved with both. He knows what's going on. We haven't deviated one iota from those plans, whether it be moving to the south-west, ground, stadia,

Our squad, which was nowhere. We believe we needed to change our squad around, which we've done. That's never easy and never popular. But if we hadn't done it, we wouldn't be in a position to be able to bring extra players in that we need. So, you know, Benji's on board with everything. We'd like to have won more games. But, you know, let's be honest today. I mean, we've got the youngest team in the history of the NRL playing today, 23-year-olds, the average. You know, we've got nine players under the age of 23.

I mean, we've got four players on the bench. You've got to combine three games, first grade amongst them. Benji's doing a magnificent job with these young kids. We've debuted nine players in first grade. The next place is the South with four. I mean, this has been a tough year for Benji. He's handled it with aplomb. It's difficult, but I've been here before. I know what we have to do. We've got to stick solid. We've got to trust our kids and trust that we can be patient with them, and they'll come through. If we don't do that, the alternative is to allow New Zealand to pick us.

Mate, you sound like you're enjoying this challenge at the Tigers. I love it. I've got nothing to lose, mate. I'm 60, I'll finish when I'm 72, hopefully with another premiership. I'm loving it, mate. I really am. Good on you, Richard. The more they try me, the better I like it.

Hey, Richo, before you go, we've been talking throughout the afternoon about our great mate David Morrow, who's facing his battle with brain cancer at the moment. You've known Thirsty for a long, long time. We've just got to encourage people to buy those beanies, don't we, mate?

We do, mate. And, mate, Thirsty, you know, had a few little challenges later in his career. But, mate, as a person and a human being, Thirsty was a great mentor for me. I used to live around the corner from him, walk my dogs past every morning. He'd put crap on me the whole time about walking these little miniature schnauzers. But, no, I love Thirsty, mate. And we all get to buy a beanie. And no one looks worse in a beanie than I do. But I'll have one on today as well. Good on you, Richo. Good luck to your Tigers this afternoon, mate. We'll catch up soon.

Bye, boys. Thanks so much. Bye. There he is, Shane Richardson, the boss of the West Tigers. Gee, sounds like he's got some fire in the belly, big man, doesn't he? You know, as he says, he can't let newspapers pick the team. They've got a plan. They're going to stick to it. Hopefully there's a light at the end of the tunnel. We've all had dramas various times with newspapers, haven't we, over the years? But, I mean, look, he's got to run the place. They've lost nine in a row. It's tough. Like, it's really tough for everyone at that club. I mean, they're all doing their best. As much as, you know, the

the supporters and maybe people on the outside who don't know what's going on don't think so. They're all doing their very best. And as you just said, did he say he's got nine blokes under 22 playing today? Of course they're doing their best. That side, when you look at that West Tigers side,

If you would have picked your team at the start of the season, I reckon eight of those blokes wouldn't have got a look in. They've got a lot of new blokes. You know what the problem is? Shane Richardson, I've heard nothing but good things about him. I was speaking to Pitback Cronulla about him and they said he will help turn the West Tigers around. But I think where West Tigers fans will...

you know, they struggle with all this talk is that they haven't played semifinals since 2011 or 12. Like we're hearing the same story year in and out. We've got a young team, we've got this and that. Well, it's because they can't recruit anyone and the blokes they do recruit, they have to pay heavy overs for. Didn't they have... Which affects you going forward because if you pay heavy overs for someone, you can't buy someone else. Didn't they have a team last year in the junior competition that won the competition? Yeah, they've got great juniors coming through. Are they coming through? Well, I think,

I'd say they will be. From the team plan today, I think there's five guys you played in when they had Matthews on or something like that. So they are coming through. But as you know, big man, the difference between Jersey, Flagg and first grade, it's light years, really. This is a game they can win today. You know, this is the type of game they will win. I mean, I haven't picked them. I'm not saying they will. Like out of. This is the type of day where back's against the wall, where the young kids just come out and produce something. So hopefully if you're a Tigers fan, they can. I actually think,

I know this is what second last v last. I think this, I'm really interested in this game because I love watching these sides battling at the bottom, battling for victories and whatever. The Titans, I think, are on the back of three or four straight losses. I don't know what it is, but they beat Brisbane a few weeks ago. Who are you tipping, big man? I tip the Titans, but I must admit, I did it before I realised Fafida was out. Gail, who are you tipping? Yeah, no, I'm with him. Fafida's a big out, but I'm still tipping the Titans. Virgo? Yeah, I went Titans. Titans, okay. Thank you, team.