Bears turmoil continues as club boss quits before pre-season
The chaos at the Perth Bears has continued, with chief executive officer Anthony De Ceglie resigning before the season has even started for their competition debut.
De Ceglie was appointed by NRL boss Peter V’landys in May 2025 after the new franchise was announced.
Mal Meninga and Anthony De Ceglie. Getty
He was a controversial appointment from the beginning after a career in media where he was editor-in-chief at the West Australian newspaper and held a news director role at Seven West Media.
De Ceglie has since been subject to rampant speculation that he is under pressure to keep his job and a report from News Corp this week claimed he had three months to save his job after losing support from the club’s board. Perth’s board can’t sack De Ceglie though because the club is owned by the Australian Rugby League Commission.
Now he’s chosen to fall on his own sword, quitting as CEO. The departure comes after head coach Mal Meninga claimed his boss had great support following the News Corp report.
“I don’t know what it is. It’s been an ongoing battle, it’s him and I around who’s going to get sacked next,” Meninga told Fox Sports.
“I just forget about it now and I don’t even read the papers anymore, honestly. I just get on with the job.
“I know I’ve got great support and Anthony has got great support, internally, so we just get on with our business.
“We can only control what we control and that’s the internal things. We don’t want to fight any external battles.”
The latest departure continues a chaotic start for the Bears after former head of football David Sharpe quit in April.
There have also been reports that incoming Bears assistant coach Ben Gardiner and Meninga do not get along.
In a Bears statement, De Ceglie said he was “extremely proud” of what’s been achieved by the Bears so far but did not address why he was quitting.
Perth Bears chair Ben Morton thanked De Ceglie for his service.
“I thank Anthony for his leadership of the Perth Bears in our startup phase and we will now turn our attention to the leadership of our organisation as we enter the next phase of our story,” he said.
“Under Anthony’s leadership, in our start-up phase the Perth Bears have secured record commercial partnership agreements, launched our merchandise range, successfully welcomed more than 20,000 people as our foundation members, progressed key infrastructure programs and most importantly recruited what will be a competitive on field team.”
