Wests Tigers

The Wests Tigers are an Australian professional rugby league football team, based in the Inner West and South West Sydney. They have competed in the National Rugby League since being formed at the end of the 1999 NRL season as a joint-venture club between the Balmain Tigers and the Western Suburbs Magpies.
The Wests Tigers started playing in the 2000 NRL season and they won their maiden premiership in 2005. It is one of only two clubs (the other being the Newcastle Knights) that has never lost a Grand Final in which it has participated. The club also won the World Sevens in 2004.

The Wests Tigers play home games at three grounds: Leichhardt Oval (the home ground of Balmain), Campbelltown Stadium (the home ground of Western Suburbs) and Western Sydney Stadium in Parramatta as of 2019, where they have committed to playing four games a year. They are currently coached by Tim Sheens. The club CEO is Justin Pascoe.

History

Background

In Australia, the game of rugby league began in 1908; the New South Wales Rugby League premiership (NSWRL) had nine teams from the Sydney area. Two of those teams were clubs based in Balmain and the Western Suburbs who happened to meet each other in round 1 of 1908. Balmain won, 24 to 0. The Balmain club, who later adopted a Tiger as their emblem, in their tenure in the NSWRL won eleven premierships in twenty grand finals and was one of the forces in the NSWRL competition. However their last premiership success was in 1969 and in the 1990s with many new clubs being established, there was pressure on clubs to perform to survive in the first grade competition in Australia. The name Wests Tigers is derived from the nickname of the Western Suburbs Magpies and the mascot, a tiger, which was also the mascot of Balmain.

The Western Suburbs club won four premierships in twelve grand finals over the tenure of the NSWRL competition. The Western Suburbs Magpies, like the Balmain Tigers, had a dismal 1990s winning rate, and again there was pressure on the foundation clubs to perform. The NSWRL competition was replaced by the Australian Rugby League competition (ARL) in 1995 due to the expansion of rugby league within Australia.

With a media-driven rival competition being set up, the pressure was for clubs to survive and preserve their short-term future. Both the Magpies and the Tigers signed with the ARL, whereas eight clubs of the 1995 ARL competition signed with the rival Super League competition for 1997. In 1998, the ARL and Super League were unified into a National Rugby League (NRL) competition. As part of the deal with the ARL and Super League, the NRL competition reduced to fourteen teams in 2000 from the twenty two that had competition in both competitions in 1997. With the addition of a team in 1998, this meant that nine teams would be forced out before the 2000 season.

Foundation

With the NRL offering guaranteed entrance into the 2000 competition and A$6 million funding for clubs that merged, many clubs that were struggling to compete negotiated to merge. Balmain had garnered interest to merge with the Parramatta Eels and Gold Coast Chargers while Western Suburbs had talked with the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs and Penrith Panthers. Both Balmain and Western Suburbs felt that those offers were seen more as takeovers of their clubs rather than mergers. By June 1999, both clubs' boards had unanimously voted to form a joint-venture partnership with each other to make a competitive entity.

One hundred shares were issued to Balmain Tigers Rugby League Football Club and 100 shares were issued to Western Suburbs Rugby League Football Group Pty Limited as a 50/50-owned joint venture. Due to Western Suburbs's record-breaking dismal season in 1999, they supplied just six of the twenty-five players to the new joint venture. A board of directors was appointed with five sourced from Balmain, five sourced from Western Suburbs, with a rotating chairman serving a one-year appointment. The inaugural chairman of the joint venture was John Chalk, who was previously involved with Balmain Tigers, and Steve Noyce was appointed CEO

Playing seasons

Coach Wayne Pearce 2000

Balmain coach Wayne Pearce was the initial coach of the Wests Tigers and new recruit Jarrod McCracken was named captain. Before the first round, the Tigers were denied a place in the double header at Stadium Australia. The debut match for the team was therefore held at Campbelltown, against eventual premiers the Brisbane Broncos, where after leading 18–6 the team snatched a 24-all draw after falling behind late in the game. John Skandalis scored the Tigers' first ever try.

The Tigers surprised many by maintaining a high place on the ladder for most of the year (often in second place). Losses to the Penrith Panthers (after leading 31–8) and in the snow against the Canberra Raiders combined with injuries to key players saw the Tigers slide out of the top eight.
The loss of captain Jarrod McCracken from a spear tackle against Melbourne was a crucial blow.

A highlight of their first season is that Wests' Joel Caine claimed the 2000 NRL season's top point-scorer spot.

Coach Terry Lamb 2001–2002

2001 was a tough season for the joint venture club, including off-field incidents. After Wayne Pearce announced he would no longer coach the team, Terry Lamb was appointed to the position. This was a controversial selection because of animosity from Balmain supporters due to an incident involving Ellery Hanley in the 1988 Grand Final (see Terry Lamb entry for more information).

Early in the season, key players Craig Field and Kevin McGuinness tested positive to prohibited drugs and both received a one-year suspension. Field was the team's halfback and playmaker while McGuinness was a leading try scorer for the club.

Later in the season another big name player was suspended: John Hopoate earned worldwide notoriety when he was charged with inserting his finger into the anus (pushing the players' shorts) of opposition players. Hopoate quit the club and received a long suspension. Lamb was criticised for seeming to condone the activity.

During the season the club announced Terry Lamb would not have his contract renewed. The team struggled near the foot of the ladder and only a large victory over Souths moved them clear of the wooden spoon position.

The coaching job for 2003 was offered to (and rejected by) both Craig Bellamy and Ian Millward before Tim Sheens was selected. The selection was by no means seen as a positive move by the media as Sheens' most recent coaching stint had seen him sacked by the North Queensland Cowboys.

Coach Tim Sheens 2003–2012

The 2003 season was notable for the emergence of new young players through the team as the club moved away from the era of big names and big money signings and focused on developing junior talent. Most notably Benji Marshall, then a schoolboy prodigy with no senior league experience, made his debut against the Newcastle Knights.

The Tigers improved greatly in 2004 with provided help by signings of players such as