Explosive new legal action against the owner of Wests Tigers is attempting to dismantle its power base and hand rank-and-file members effective control of the joint-venture team.

The case has been launched by ousted director Tony Andreacchio and his wife Denise against Western Suburbs Leagues Club, otherwise known as Holman Barnes Group, and threatens to bring two years of conflict behind the scenes into court.

The $100 million licensed club operation is the 90 per cent shareholder of the Tigers and has the majority on the team’s board, giving it ultimate say in the destiny of the perennial NRL also-rans.

The NSW Supreme Court proceedings are seeking to overthrow HBG’s decades-old governance model, which hands the reins of the poker machine empire – and by extension, the Tigers – to an exclusive group of 20 so-called debenture holders.

The structure, established in the 1950s, reserves five of the organisation’s seven board seats for debentures, while the other two are elected by members.

The action brought by the Andreacchios describes the system as “oppressive” and “unfairly discriminatory” against members.

They are bidding to have the debenture-holding directors’ positions declared vacant by the court and for a new election to be called, at which club members would vote for all seven spots on the board.

HBG chairman Dennis Burgess is named as a defendant along with the club itself, as are the 19 other debentures individually. They include two Tigers board members – former Wests Magpies fullback Leo Epifania and Michael Liubinskas.

The matter is set to be heard in court on October 26.

HBG declined to comment.

Tony Andreacchio, a former Tigers director, was one of three HBG directors banned for a combined 15 years in 2024.

This masthead reported at the time that he was cast out for six years for behaviour which allegedly included yelling at a fellow HBG director and calling him a “f---ing suck” and saying to a board member after the Tigers 2024 season launch words to the effect of: “You f---ing softie”.

According to documents filed with the court, Andreacchio is asking the court to declare a finding of unreasonable conduct against him as “void and of no effect” and that his expulsion was “designed to entrench the debenture holders’ control of the board”.

He is pursuing damages, reinstatement as a financial member of the club and for his sacking as a director and the stripping of his membership to be rendered invalid.

His wife is a party to the claim because she remains a club member.

Fellow HBG directors Rick Wayde and David Gilbert, the former Test cricketer, were suspended at the same time as Andreacchio, and there was more upheaval when chair Julie Romero was deposed last year. Wayde took legal action to challenge his eight-year ban before settling with the club last December.

Its debenture system is the subject of an ongoing Liquor and Gaming NSW investigation following a series of complaints.

Questions have also been asked whether HBG’s shift into soccer in the past 15 months runs counter to its obligation to support rugby league.

The club bought a stake in APIA Leichhardt FC and took charge of the Central Coast Mariners women’s team in the A-Leagues while long-time soccer official Frank Primerano has become the most influential figure at HBG, becoming deputy chairman last year and joining the Tigers board in December. Former APIA Leichhardt president Tony Raciti was also made a debenture holder.

The club’s constitution compels it to “assist generally in the promotion, conduct and propagation of rugby league football” in western Sydney and elsewhere.

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Chris Barrett is a senior sports reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald. He is a former South-East Asia correspondent for the Herald and The Age.Connect via X or email.