Wests Tigers

Inaugural season: 2000

Home field: Leichhardt Oval, Campelltown Stadium, and Bankwest Stadium, Sydney, Australia

Owner: Wests Magpies Ltd. and Balmain District Rugby League Football Club

Team colors: Orange and black

Overview

The Wests Tigers is a professional rugby team that plays in Australia’s National Rugby League (NRL). While the Tigers are technically one of the newest teams in the league, taking the field for the first time in 2000, their history dates back to the first decade of the twentieth century. The Tigers were born from a merger between the Western Suburbs Magpies and the Balmain Tigers—two of the maiden franchises in the NRL’s predecessor league. While Balmain was one of the most successful franchises in the early days of the league, the Western Suburbs were close to perennial also-rans, finishing in last place a record seventeen times. Since joining the NRL as the Wests Tigers, the team has made just three finals series appearances, but turned one of those opportunities into a championship in 2005.

History

Rugby developed from English football, or soccer as it is known in North America. The sport was first played in the early nineteenth century at its namesake, the Rugby School in Warwickshire, England. Like football/soccer, the object of rugby is to get the ball into an opponent’s goal; however, players can pick up and run with the ball in rugby and opposing players can tackle the ball carrier. Rugby soon became popular in England and spread across the British Empire. By the mid-nineteenth century, the sport was being played by amateur teams in the colony of Australia.

In 1908, a group of amateur players organized the first professional rugby league in Australia. The New South Wales Rugby League (NSWRL) was primarily based in Sydney and made up of teams from the nation’s largest city and its suburbs. The Balmain Tigers and Western Suburbs Magpies were two of the NSWRL’s initial nine teams. Both teams were based in the western region of Sydney. The Tigers were the first of the two clubs to win a premiership, capturing their first championship in 1915. Balmain would go on to win five additional titles before the Magpies won their first championship in 1930.

From 1908 to 1999, Balmain won a total of eleven premierships, a mark that still stands as fourth-most in league history. The Tigers also finished as runner-up nine more times. Included on this list was the Tigers’ 1989 loss to the Canberra Raiders in what is considered to be the best grand final game of all time.

Western Suburbs won four titles from 1930 to 1952, but were more likely to take home the NSWRL’s wooden spoon, the award given to the team that finishes in last place. The Magpies earned a record seventeen wooden spoons from 1908 to 1999. In the late 1970s, Western Suburbs developed a heated competition against the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles, a team based in the upscale North Shore area of Sydney. Magpies coach Roy Masters framed the rivalry as the arrogant “haves” of Manly—a team he dubbed the “Silvertails”—against the working-class “have nots” of the Western Suburbs. Masters gave the Magpies the nickname “Fibros” and instigated a rivalry that bordered on class warfare. The matchups between the “Fibros” and “Silvertails” were some of the most violent of the era and are still remembered by fans of the modern Wests Tigers.

Neither Balmain nor the Western Suburbs were much of a factor during the 1990s, a period that would be defined by a battle between two rival rugby leagues. By mid-decade, a corporate-backed organization known as the Super League attempted to establish itself as the country’s dominant league. The NSWRL rebranded itself as the Australian Rugby League (ARL) in an attempt to attract a more national audience. In 1997, the Super League and ARL faced off with many longtime NSWRL teams jumping over to play in the Super League. The Tigers and the Magpies remained in the ARL. By 1998, it was apparent that the country could not financially support two leagues, and the ARL and Super League decided to merge into the National Rugby League.

In the aftermath of the merger, the Western Suburbs found it difficult to compete financially with some of the league’s more financially stable teams. In order to survive, the Magpies agreed to join forces with the Balmain Tigers in 1999. The team adopted the name Wests Tigers and incorporated a leaping tiger on its logo set over a black triangular shield design reminiscent of the Magpies’ shield from its logo. The teams decided to play some of its home games at Leichhardt Oval, the traditional home of Balmain, and Campelltown Stadium, the former home of the Magpies. Since 2019, the team has also played some home games at Bankwest Stadium, the home of the Parramatta Eels.

The Wests Tigers began play in the 2000 season and finished out of the running for the finals series, a playoff-style tournament among the regular season’s top teams. The Tigers missed out on the finals series in each of their first five seasons in the league, although they came close to postseason play in 2004. In 2005, Wests posted a 14–10 record and was seeded fourth in the eight-team finals series. After knocking off the second-seeded St. George Illawarra Dragons in the preliminary finals, the Tigers advanced to the grand final against the North Queensland Cowboys. Wests won the championship game, 30–16, to claim its first premiership as a joint venture. The championship was the first for either of its foundational clubs since Balmain won the grand final in 1969.

The Tigers would not make another finals series until 2010, although the team narrowly missed out on a spot in 2007 and 2009. In 2010, Wests lost a hard-fought preliminary final to St. George, 13–12, falling just short of a return trip to the grand final. After another playoff appearance in 2011, the Tigers spent most of the 2010s wallowing near the bottom of the NRL standings, although they did contend for a finals series spot in 2018 and 2019.

Notable players

Although the Wests Tigers can trace their history back through their predecessor teams, the NRL only credits the team with statistical achievements from the 2000 season onward. As of 2020, the franchise’s all-time leading scorer was Benji Marshall, who played for the Tigers from 2003–2013 and again from 2018–2020. A native of New Zealand, Marshall is considered to be one of the best rugby players ever from that island nation. Marshall accumulated 1,181 points with the Tigers, scoring 84 tries and 415 goals in his two stints with the team. A try is scored when a player touches the ball down to the ground in an opponent’s goal area, while a goal is scored when a player kicks the ball through the goalposts and over the crossbar. Marshall’s 84 tries are also tied for the most in team history with Chris Lawrence, who began his career with Wests in 2006 and was still playing as of 2020.

Brett Hodgson played for Wests from 2004–2008, and in that time scored 786 points, second most in franchise history. In 2005, Hodgson scored 15 tries and 124 goals, for a total of 308 points, the second-highest single-season total in league history. Robbie Farah played in a franchise-record 277 games for the Tigers from 2003–2016 and again from 2018–2019. During his time with the team, Farah scored 68 tries, fourth on the Tigers’ all-time list.

Drawing from the franchise’s past, Balmain’s Keith Barnes scored 1,519 points from 1955–1968. Barnes was a prolific goal kicker and holds the team record with 22 points scored in one game in 1960. His 742 career goals are the most in Balmain Tigers’ history and twelfth most in league history. Arthur Patton played with Balmain from 1937–1948 and was part of four premiership-winning teams. His 95 career tries are a Balmain record.

Balmain was unique among Australian rugby teams in that it may have had the best-known fan in league history. Laurie Nichols attended every Tigers’ home game from the late 1960s until the team merged with the Magpies in 1999. He was known for shadowboxing on the sidelines of games and creating witty cheers in support of the team. Nichols died in 2000, just days before the Wests Tigers began their inaugural season. The franchise later honored him by naming a street after him near Leichhardt Oval.

On the Western Suburbs side, Bill Keato holds that franchise record for most points scored with 776. He played for the Magpies from 1938–1950 and was part of two championship teams. Peter Dimond holds the team record for most tries scored with 84 from 1958–1967.

Bibliography

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