Bailey is a decent man and long-term Wests supporter but he is using technical language to protect Farah and fellow players who recently approached a club money man who is not a board member. Former NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell. Credit:Lidia Nikonova (Players always know who holds the purse strings). A summary of the conversation was: coach Michael Potter has not taught Wests Tigers brilliant youngsters much but if the club board insist on retaining him, the players will give Potter 100 per cent.

The players were reminded they weren’t speaking to a board member but, acting in the best interests of the club, the message was communicated to directors. So Bailey is accurate when he says players have not approached the board about the perilous coaching position, although they have spoken to an influential middleman. It’s precisely the same semantic sidestep used when a player says he has not been approached by X club, yet aware his manager has fielded a $500,000 per year offer for three years, plus third party deals and a position for his wife. Sunday’s board meeting followed a story in a Sydney newspaper that Potter would be sacked. The reality is that last Monday Potter approached the club seeking a three-year contract.

He told the club he wanted to end the speculation over his future, although his own job security would have been a factor. The board was to meet on Saturday to discuss the proposed contract but Potter withdrew the request mid-week. Sunday’s emergency meeting was not attended by all 10 board members, although the missing directors, including Balmain’s Danny Stapleton who is overseas, were advised by text message on proceedings. Not all board members are Potter supporters. Kevin Walters, who was short-listed for the job and will now be with Wayne Bennett in Newcastle, is still preferred by some. Former Balmain player and ex-Canberra assistant Matt Parish has a couple of admirers.

However, it would seem Potter’s assistant, Todd Payten, has lost the support of the entire board. Payten was the coach of Wests Tigers Under 20 team which produced the brilliant youngsters, Luke Brooks and Mitchell Moses and is an ex-teammate of Farah. He covets the top job. It seems Potter has used diplomacy to harness Payten’s ambition without success. It is not a board decision to sack Payten but it is incumbent upon chief executive Grant Mayer and Potter to have a plan B now if they want a stable environment over the next six rounds. Sunday’s board meeting did not discuss reports Farah wants out of his contract, with directors probably of the view it followed his emotional confrontation with Gorden Tallis over comments by the Triple M commentator that the captain was not supporting the coach.

Farah’s four-year lucrative contract was negotiated by former Wests Tigers deputy chairman Nick Di Girolamo, the man whose bottle of Penfolds cost O’Farrell the NSW premiership. The Farah contract also cost the club the services of Benji Marshall who sought the same money, although signing the pair of playmakers would have meant losing Brooks and Moses. The NRL are partly to blame for the uncertainty at Wests Tigers. The 10-man board should have been cut to seven but the NRL are vacillating over the appointment of three independent directors. Nevertheless, an independent chair wouldn’t solve this problem because there is no conflict between Wests and Balmain over the coaching issue. It has now become a matter of man management, with clear language required.

Loading I never thought I’d side with the Silvertails over the (half) Fibros, but the Manly players are being more honest in their public comments than Wests Tigers. So is Tallis, who always speaks the unvarnished truth. Wests Tigers need more ball play and less word play.