Why Tigers fans should be bullish about the future despite mass player exodus

SEN’s Scott Sattler believes the mass exodus of players at the Wests Tigers will ultimately be a positive outcome for the struggling club.

Star prop Stefano Utoikamanu is the latest player to confirm his departure at the end of the season. Despite the Tigers offering the 24-year-old $4 million across five seasons, Utoikamanu has opted to ply his trade elsewhere alongside teammates Isaiah Papali’i and John Bateman who will join Penrith and Warrington in the Super League respectively.

Sattler thinks the amount of players leaving the club will fast track the roster rebuild that is needed for the joint venture to lift themselves from the bottom of the ladder.

“You have Lachlan Galvin who has asked for three releases,” Sattler said on SEN 1170.

“Stefano Utoikamanu has said that he is going to leave, Papali’i is going a year early on his contract to the Panthers and Bateman is on loan back to Warrington for an alleged blow up with Benji.

“If you’re a Tigers fan who is asking what is going on with the club, all of these things are actually really good.

“This is a club that has internally accepted mediocrity for quite a while.

“You now have a CEO in Shane Richardson who knows that everything else hasn’t really worked before so it’s time to start rattling some cages. He makes no excuses for it either.

“You’ve also got young players who want to win everything now and managers play a role in this. Why do you want to win a comp at 19 when you can win one at 23?

“Managers have to step in and tell the players that they shouldn’t want to get to where they want too quickly.

“The Tigers need to restock again.”

Even with the high number of player losses, the Tigers are set to be boosted in 2025 with the arrival of Penrith stars Jarome Luai and Sunia Turuva.

SEN’s Mat Rogers believes that Richardson is the right person to steer this next chapter of the Tigers.

“(Richardson) has come into an environment that he has had absolutely no control over,” Rogers said on SEN 1170.

“He is going to turn the screws to see who can handle it. Players will ask for releases and they are the ones they don’t want.

“(Richardson) will then fill the spots with players that want to be there for the right reasons.

“I can understand why Tigers fans are pulling their heads out but Shane Richardson is the best football administrator in the country.

“He’s in the right place at the Wests Tigers.”

The Tigers return to their spiritual home of Leichhardt Oval in Round 22 as they host the North Queensland Cowboys on Thursday.