Tigers players warmed up and yelled orders at each other as Albanese tried to take questions from the press pack at the southern end of the ground in front of the Keith Barnes Stand.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is in Sydney today with State Ministers Steve Kamper and Jo Haylen and the Mayor of the Inner West Council Darcy Byrne.
At one stage,Albanese laughed about the noise from the players behind him.
Tigers coach Benji Marshall started his 10.30am press conference in the main grandstand at the same time as Albanese was kicking off his own media opportunity.
In farcical scenes,Albanese began kicking a soccer ball with Sydney FC A-League Women players on the 25m line while the Tigers tried to block out the TV cameras who were filming their attacking sets.
Tigers chief executive Shane Richardson welcomed the money to save Leichhardt Oval,but said there was no way the players were going to delay an important final training session ahead of Saturday’s game against the Gold Coast Titans.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese during a press conference as the Wests Tigers train in the background at Leichhardt Oval.Kate Geraghty
The first the Tigers knew about Albanese’s visit was late on Thursday,with Richardson phoning government and NRL officials to find out what was planned.
“We’re a professional football team,we’ve lost our last nine games,nobody told us about this conference until late last night,but we need to train,” Richardson told this masthead.
“Training was organised a week ago,and we want to make sure we win on Saturday. Interrupting our last training session is not the way to do it.
“We knew nothing about it. We would have organised things around it if we knew. We even had to bring one of our NRLW players from the office this morning to participate in the[photo opportunity].”
Anthony Albanese talks with Peter V’landys,Wayne Pearce and Steve Roach at Leichhardt Oval.Kate Geraghty
ARL Commission chairman Peter V’landys,NRL CEO Andrew Abdo,and Balmain legends Wayne Pearce and Steve Roach joined Albanese for the funding announcement.
The federal government will commit $20 million,with the state government and local council to contribute $10 million each.
Richardson was entitled to be one of the first people to be notified of the announcement given he and Inner West Council Mayor Darcy Byrne had pushed hard for the Leichhardt upgrades. On Richardson said he was prepared to stop playing NRL games at the venue beyond this season if government support was not forthcoming.
Marshall singled out Richardson for praise when asked about the prime minister’s arrival.
In Tigers team news,Api Koroisau will start at halfback against the Titans,even though the move could affect his chances of winning back his NSW No.9 jersey – something not lost on Marshall.
“He was the guy who put his hand up to do it,” Marshall said. “For a guy pushing to play Origin at No.9,to put his hand up for his team to play No.7,it’s a pretty unselfish act. That’s the respect he has for his teammates and how much he wants to help us get out of it;otherwise I might have been playing.
“I brought it[Origin] up with him,but he said,‘That’s not my focus at the moment,it’s what’s best for the team’.”
Marshall will hand NRL debuts to Heath Mason and Jordan Miller. The Tigers website lists Miller at 131 kilograms,which would make him the heaviest player in the NRL.
“Jordan Miller has been knocking on the door a bit now. He’s a big lad who plays the ball quickly and runs really hard – he’s a great personality,” Marshall said.