Wests Tigers: Look Back At The Team's Most Impressive NRL Season

Based in the Inner West and South West of Sydney, the Wests Tigers are a professional rugby league football side from Australia. Since their formation as a joint venture club between the Balmain Tigers and the Western Suburbs Magpies at the conclusion of the 1999 NRL season, they have participated in the National Rugby League. The Wests Tigers debuted in the NRL in 2000, and in 2005 they captured their first championship. It is one of two teams, the other is the Newcastle Knights, that has never suffered a Grand Final defeat.

History Of The Team

Wests Tigers NRL

The rugby league was first played in Australia in 1908, with nine Sydney-area teams competing in the New South Wales Rugby League Premiership (NSWRL). In round one of 1908, two of those teams, clubs from Balmain and the Western Suburbs, just so happened to face off against one another. by a score of 24 to 0. During their time in the NSWRL, the Balmain club, which later chose a tiger as their emblem, won eleven premierships in twenty grand finals and was a major force in the NSWRL competition. However, they hadn't won a premiership since 1969, and in the 1990s, as many new clubs were starting up, there was competition for first-grade spots in Australia. The Western Suburbs Magpies' nickname and their mascot, a tiger, also Balmain's mascot, are the sources of the name Wests Tigers.

Over the course of the NSWRL competition, the Western Suburbs club won four premierships in twelve grand finals. Similar to the Balmain Tigers, the Western Suburbs Magpies had a poor winning percentage in the 1990s, and once again, the foundation clubs were under pressure to perform. Due to the growth of rugby league in Australia, the NSWRL competition was replaced by the Australian Rugby League competition (ARL) in 1995.

There was pressure on clubs to survive and safeguard their near-term future because a rival competition driven by the media was being established. While eight clubs from the 1995 ARL competition signed with the competing Super League competition for 1997, only the Magpies and Tigers joined the ARL. The American Rugby League (ARL) and Super League were combined into the National Rugby League (NRL) in 1998. From the twenty-two teams that competed in both competitions in 1997, the NRL competition was reduced to fourteen teams in 2000 as part of the agreement with the ARL and Super League. Nine teams would be eliminated before the 2000 season due to the addition of a team in 1998.

Premiership Success Of Wests Tigers in NRL 2005

Wests Tigers Champion 2005

Wests Tigers set attendance records at three different venues in 2005, including Campbelltown Stadium (20,527), Telstra Stadium (29,542), and Leichhardt Oval, making it to the finals for the first time and finishing in the top four in the round-robin portion of the league (22,877).

Bookmakers gave the Tigers a 150-1 chance to win the premiership after a sluggish start. However, the team rose from the bottom of the standings to win an unprecedented eight straight games before coming in fourth. The team had a reputation as a flashy offensive team that played quickly to make up for the lack of forward strength.

At Telstra Stadium, the Tigers faced the North Queensland Cowboys in their first final as a joint venture club. A fervent crowd helped the squad win 50-6. After that, they defeated the St. George Illawarra Dragons (20-12) and the Brisbane Broncos (34-6), securing a matchup with North Queensland.

The Wests Tigers NRL were considered favorites to win the 2005 grand final based on their winning record (they had won 11 of their previous 13 games) and their significant victory over the Cowboys in the opening game of the finals. Bryce Gibbs and Pat Richards scored tries to give the Tigers a 12-6 lead after a sluggish start. The Centenary of Rugby League 100 Hot Tries survey conducted by the NRL ranked the Richards try as the second-best try of all time. Benji Marshall, a five-eighth, started the try 98 meters from the opposing try line after receiving the ball from Brett Hodgson (after a down-field punt). He defeated Matt Sing and Jonathan Thurston of the Cowboys at five-eighth. Marshall then raced 60 meters before Cowboys fullback Matt Bowen caught him. Behind his back, he flicked the ball to Pat Richards, who fought off Rod Jensen to score.

With scores from Anthony Laffranchi and Daniel Fitzhenry in the second half, the Tigers took the lead. After surviving a Cowboys comeback, a Todd Payten tries at the end of regulation sealed a 30-16 victory. In 2005, Captain Scott Prince received the Clive Churchill Medal.

With the premiership win, the team joined a select club that had won premierships in their first appearance in the finals, a feat that had not been accomplished in nearly a century. Souths in 1908 and Newtown in 1910 are also included in the ensemble.

Proton, a Malaysian automaker, joined Wests as a major new sponsor after the conclusion of the 2005 season under a deal worth an estimated $1 million.

Name And Logo Of Wests Tigers

Wests Tigers Logo

The two partners' names and logos are combined to form the club name. The Balmain Tigers' black and gold outfit and the Western Suburbs Magpies' black and white jersey were combined to create the uniform. In the logo, a contemporary "in your face" Tiger is combined with a vintage Wests 'V' in the background. On both sleeves of the jersey, a Magpie, a design element from the Western Suburbs logo, can be seen. In 2009, a primarily white strip with a gold "V" was unveiled to mark the joint venture's tenth anniversary.

The Wests Tigers' logo hasn't changed much since the team was founded, with a few minor modifications. Before the 2022 NRL season, Wests Tigers introduced a new, more straightforward logo on October 6, 2021. It still has the tiger head from previous logos but has fewer details. The rebranding will take place with the Tigers' relocation to a new training and administrative center and aims to better adapt the identity to contemporary digital forms.

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