Shane Richardson is keen on turning his stay as Wests Tigers chief executive into a permanent one as he takes a relaxed attitude to a get-out clause that could allow Stefano Utoikamanu to quit the club.
Richardson was appointed to the role on a six-month interim basis earlier this year after initially being approached as a club consultant.
His return to clubland came after a report into the Tigers' consistent failures led to changes at board and executive level at the joint venture.
But speaking at an event to launch the rebrand of the Enrichd consultancy firm he co-founded with son Brent, Richardson said he wants to stick around and be part of the Tigers’ revival under new coach Benji Marshall.
“Benji is a highly talented coach and he can be a great coach,” Richardson told AAP.
“He’s highly intelligent and well organised and my job is to put as much structure as possible to make him successful.
“We’re in discussions (about extending my tenure) but I took this on because they wanted advice on how the club should be set up.
“As long as they (the Tigers board) did what they said they would do, which they have done, then it was up to them to make a decision if they wanted me to go on.
“I’ve done 30 years of it, it’s what I do and I’m the luckiest man in the world getting to run rugby league clubs.”
One of Richardson’s earliest challenges at the Tigers may be keeping hold of prop Utoikamanu, who last year made his debut for the NSW State of Origin squad.
A clause inserted into the 23-year-old’s contract by the previous administration allows him to quit the club at the end of the 2024 season if they fail to make the finals.
The clause is void if Utoikamanu makes a second appearance for NSW by the end of this year.
But rather than get in and renegotiate the forward’s deal to remove the possibility of one of the game’s emerging props heading onto the open market, Richardson is willing to let things play out.
“We want to create a club where he wants to stay,” Richardson said.
“I don’t think that way where I go, ‘Oh god, that’s going to come up’.
“Stefano likes being here and what’s going on.
“Me lying with my head on the pillow at night worrying about it is not going to help anybody and I want to set up a club where everybody wants to stay - Benji, the players and the staff.
“We want Stefano to stay and I want 300 games out of him and we’ve got some great kids coming through, we’re in nowhere near as bad a situation as people say we are.”
