With Tim Sheens' coaching career at Wests Tigers on life support, former board member Ben Elias revealed the club could have had Ricky Stuart take over for 2012.

Sheens survived the first board meeting over his future, but it appears increasingly unlikely that he will be in charge by Monday night.

He will face another board meeting where his performance and future will be discussed on Monday, and Elias suggested on Sunday it was time for Sheens to move on and called on the veteran mentor to step down 'for his own credibility'.

Elias revealed that when Sheens was deciding whether to re-sign with the Tigers last year or take up a lucrative offer from Penrith, the club had a contingency plan in place to recruit then-NSW coach Stuart, who will coach Parramatta in 2013, to replace him.

'At the time when we re-signed him it was very controversial,' the Balmain legend told ABC Radio's Grandstand.

'We had another coach in the shadows ready to go.

'Ricky Stuart was going to coach the Tigers if (Sheens) hadn't signed.

'He decided to coach and we came to an agreement of three years.

'That situation, obviously, we continued for the next 12 months and here we are today.'

How it has unravelled so quickly is unclear, although an underwhelming performance in 2012 that resulted in the Tigers missing the finals for the seventh time under Sheens' reign seems the tipping point.

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Tigers skipped on Stuart to keep Sheens