It’s been dubbed ‘the most chaotic board in NSW’. But Wests Tigers’ owners are pushing for a pay rise

HBG has 27,000 members and the proposed remuneration for its board is only surpassed by those at Penrith NRL team owners Panthers Group, which has a total revenue of around $180 million in 2025 and a member base of 148,000. The Panthers’ president gets $80,000 a year, his two assistants get $40,000 each, and the remaining directors get $20,000 a year.

As with other clubs, HBG board members can enjoy other benefits of the position, such as food and beverage. At the club’s annual general meeting on March 21, members will also be asked to approve the president and vice president receiving a $500-a-month accommodation pass.

“As Holman Barnes Group’s business has grown, the workload and governance responsibilities given to directors have increased significantly,” said HBG deputy chairman Frank Primerano, who also sits on the Wests Tigers board.

“The proposed adjustments align board remuneration with the scale of the organization and the time commitment required, particularly as directors become increasingly involved in committees and strategic projects during this significant period of growth and investment.”

A source familiar with HBG’s operations, speaking on condition of anonymity, said: “How can the most chaotic board in NSW simultaneously become one of the highest-paid?

“If the board’s pay was performance-based, then it’s clear that these people would be getting a pay cut, not a payday.”

HBG, which oversees venues such as Wests Ashfield, made a net profit of $11.9 million in 2025 after generating $52 million from poker machines and recording total income of $100 million, according to its annual report.

However the organization has been plagued by dysfunction over the last 18 monthswith Several board members were controversially dismissed And Former NSW premier O’Farrell and three other independent directors were sensationally sacked from the Tigers last December Less than a year after it was founded following a management review.

After concerns were raised by the NRL, HBG reinstated them days later and O’Farrell became chairman of the Tigers. However, the club was forced to make a costly payment to Tigers general manager Shane Richardson. Resigns amid boardroom chaos 18 months after four-year contract endsand former HBG director Rick Wayde, one of the chief instigators of the Tigers review, settled out of court after being banned for eight years.

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HBG, which owns the NRL team through its control of the Wests Magpies, has since strengthened its representation on the Tigers board, giving it an effective majority.

While the Tigers are managed separately from their owners, the team’s NRL funding is provided through HBG.

HBG received $20 million from the NRL in 2025 and will owe players and head coach Benji Marshall $36 million over the next five years, according to its last financial report.

HBG is unusual because the balance of power rests with 20 so-called bondholders. electing a majority of their rulers under a decades-old, undemocratic system.

Only two of the nine board seats are directly elected by the at-large membership and there will be no vote on them at this month’s AGM after one of three candidates withdrew.

The remaining two are well known to HBG board members: HBG chairman Dennis Burgess and Shannon Cavanagh, who runs Wests Magpies alongside Primerano, and Aldo Di Mento, who runs inner west football team APIA Leichardt FC, in which HGB bought a stake last year and whose board also includes Primerano and HBG chief executive Daniel Paton.