Why Kemp doesn’t blame Utoikamanu for leaving struggling Tigers

Stefano Utoikamanu is just days away from confirming his next club for the 2025 season after the Wests Tigers confirmed the young star would depart the club on Monday morning.

The 24-year-old was widely viewed as a future backbone for the Tigers’ forward pack but was able to get out of his deal a year early after an Origin clause in his contract was triggered.

Despite the Tigers reportedly offering the Parramatta junior an extension worth around $900,000 per season, Utoikamanu has opted to find a new club and sign for significantly less to join a finals contender.

Utoikamanu joins a growing list of players who have left the Tigers in the last decade in the pursuit of winning, with SEN’s Denan Kemp defending his decision to move on from the struggling club.

“I don’t blame Stefano at all,” Kemp said on SEN 1170 The Captain’s Run.

“I understand the argument where people say, ‘Stefano hasn’t been the best player on the field each week at the Tigers so why is he such hot property?’. I get that.

“You compare to say, Payne Haas, when the Broncos were struggling he was always the best player on the field.

“At the Tigers, who has really played their best rugby league over a long period of time in the last decade at the Tigers.

“You even look at a guy like Jahream Bula, killed it last year but he’s relatively quiet this year, a guy like Glavin has come out and played really well this year, even he had some issues and wanted to leave earlier this year.”

Kemp remained optimistic about the new leadership in the club, with renowned CEO Shane Richardson already making plenty of positive moves.

“People that are trying to project that the problem is Stefano, it’s actually, in my opinion, the Tigers, they’re the ones with the problem that needs to be sorted rather than Stefano,” Kemp added.

“Which they are doing, I do believe Shan Richardson, his pedigree, his resume is incredible, I do like a bullish leader that is willing at the very least come out and have interviews and let the fans know how he feels about certain things.

“I do think sometimes with clubs that are struggling when you have a CEO in the background that you don’t really hear from them, you don’t really know what’s going on, it can be hard as a fan to engage.

“What I like about Richo is that, whether you agree or disagree with what he’s saying, at least he’s saying something, at least he’s giving the fans something to go, ‘Ok, we can latch onto that, we’ve got a direction and a purpose’.”