Wests Tigers
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Template:Infobox nrl club The Wests Tigers are a team in the National Rugby League (NRL), the premier rugby league football competition in Australia.
Based out of both Campbelltown and Leichhardt, in the inner-west of Sydney, the Tigers were admitted in 2000 to the National Rugby League (NRL) competition after the merging of two sydney based clubs the Balmain Tigers and the Western Suburbs Magpies.
The Tigers won their maiden premiership in 2005 in what many called a 'fairy tale' story as several sport pundits had claimed they would finish bottom or close to at the beginning of the season. This is the Tigers only premiership to date though the club also won the World Club Sevens in 2004.This means that the combination of the two clubs into a joint venture and their 2005 premiership make the West Tigers the team with the second most successful history in Australian club Rugby League with a tally of 16 premiership and the momentum to eventually overcome South Sydney's record twenty premierships.
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Club history
The Wests Tigers were formed as a joint venture club between two of the NSWRL's foundation members; the Western Suburbs Magpies and the Balmain Tigers in mid-1999 in preparation for the 14 team NRL premiership of 2000.
Both clubs appeared to be headed for mergers with other more financially secure partners — Balmain with Parramatta, and the Magpies with Canterbury — but at the last moment they both decided they had more in common with each other, resulting in the birth of the Wests Tigers. So in 2000 the Wests Tigers were admitted to the National Rugby League. The team is rare in the NRL because it is one of only two joint venture franchises that still exist in the current competition. The joint venture consists of two Sydney-based teams, the Western Suburbs Magpies and the Balmain Tigers, both of whom were foundation members of the New South Wales Rugby League (NSWRL) competition, predecessor of the Australian Rugby League (ARL) and the current NRL competition.
As a consequence of the joint venture, the Wests Tigers base their headquarters in Concord, New South Wales and their supporting Leagues Clubs are located in Balmain, Ashfield, (inner-city suburbs of Sydney) and Campbelltown. The joint venture has also chosen to have two home grounds to accommodate the two main supporter bases. These grounds are Campbelltown Sports Stadium, about 50 km south-west of Sydney and Leichhardt Oval, about 6 km west of Sydney, the former home grounds of the Western Suburbs Magpies and the Balmain Tigers respectively. In the 2005 season the Wests Tigers played six home games at Telstra Stadium (formerly Stadium Australia) as well as a home game at Jade Stadium in Christchurch, New Zealand.
The club's name and logo are an obvious combination of the two partners. Similarly, the uniform colours are a combination of the black and white of the Western Suburbs Magpies uniform and the black and gold from the Balmain Tigers uniform. In an effort to ensure the Magpies logo was not lost, it was placed permanently on the jersey sleeve.
The club's official fanatical supporters group is the Wests Tigers Fanatics
2005 season
Image:MarshallRichards05.jpg 2005 was the Wests Tigers best season yet, as they not only made it to the finals for the first time, but also reached the top four in the round robin part of the competition, setting crowd attendance records at three different grounds: Campbelltown Stadium (20,527), Telstra Stadium (29,542) and Leichhardt Oval (22,877).
After a slow start, bookmakers rated the Tigers a 150-1 chance to win the premiership. However the club emerged from the bottom half of the table to win a club record 8 in a row before finishing 4th.
2005 Finals Series
The Tigers played their first ever final as a joint venture club at Telstra Stadium against North Queensland. Backed by a passionate crowd the team won easily 50-6. They then beat the Brisbane Broncos and premiership favourites St George Illawarra Dragons to book a spot against the North Queensland Cowboys.
Based on their winning form (they had won 11 of their last 13) and their big win over the Cowboys in the opening finals game, the Wests Tigers were rated favourites to win the 2006 grand final. After a slow start, Bryce Gibbs and Pat Richards scored tries to give the Tigers a 12-6 lead. The Richards try has been called one of the all time great Grand Final tries. The try was started by five-eight Benji Marshall, who received the ball from Brett Hodgson 98 metres from the opposition tryline. He beat Cowboys five-eight Johnathan Thurston and Matt Sing. He then ran 60 metres, only to be caught by Cowboys fullback Matt Bowen. He made a flick pass to Pat Richards, who then fended off Rod Jensen to score.
In the 2nd half the Tigers gained control with tries to Anthony Laffranchi and Daniel Fitzhenry. After withstanding a Cowboys fightback, a Todd Payten try on full time sealed a 30-16 win. Captain Scott Prince was then awarded the Clive Churchill medal for 2005. Prince joins football great Peter Sterling who was the original recipient of the medal. Ben Galea, John Skandalis, Benji Marshall among others starred for the Tigers.
Their premiership victory means that they join an exclusive group of clubs that won premierships in their first finals appearance, which has not been achieved in almost 100 years. This group also includes Souths in 1908 and Newtown in 1910.
West Tigers lost the 2006 World Club Challenge against Bradford 30-10.
The Wests Tigers are currently coached by Tim Sheens.
Players Of Note
- Darren Senter (2000-2004)
- Mark O'Neill (2000-2005)
- Scott Sattler (2004)
- Pat Richards (2004-2005)
- John Skandalis {2000-Present)
- Robert Farah (2003-present)
- Brett Hodgson (2003-present)
- Benji Marshall (2003-present)
- Scott Prince (2004-present)
- Paul Whatuira (2005-present)
Internationals
- Dene Halatau
- Benji Marshall
- Scott Prince
- Paul Whatuira
- Bronson Harrison
Dally M Winners
- Scott Prince (2005)*
- Tim Sheens (2005)*
- Brett Hodgson (2005)*
*neither Sheens, Hodgson or Prince have actually won the Dally M Medal, with Prince awarded Dally M Captain of the Year, Hodgson Fullback of the Year and leading pointscorer, and Sheens Coach of the Year
Clive Churchill Medal Winners
- Scott Prince (2005)
Coaches
- Wayne Pearce - 2000
- Terry Lamb - 2001-2002
- Tim Sheens - 2003-current