| Full name | Eastern Suburbs District Rugby League Football Club |
|---|---|
| Emblem | Tiger |
| Colours | Gold, Black, White |
| Founded | 1923 (Coorparoo), 1933 (as Easts) |
| Sport | Rugby league |
| League | Queensland Cup |
| Ground | Langlands Park, Coorparoo |
| Capacity | 5,000 |
| CEO | Des Morris |
| Captain | Trent Young |
| Coach | Jason Gainey |
| 2009 | 9th |
| Premierships | 1923, 1947, 1950, 1972, 1977, 1978, 1983, 1991 |
| Runners-Up | 1922, 1925, 1926, 1946, 1948, 1949, 1951, 1953, 1968, 1971, 1992, 1993, 1995, 1997, 2004 |
| Minor Premierships | {{{minors}}} |
| Wooden Spoons | {{{spoons}}} |
| Biggest win | 86-0 v Brothers-Valleys at Langlands Park, 2004 |
| Worst defeat | 56-0 v Toowoomba Clydesdales at Langlands Park, 2001 |
The Eastern Suburbs Tigers are a rugby league club based at Langlands Park, which is in the suburb of Coorparoo in Brisbane, Australia. They competed in the Brisbane Rugby League from 1934 to 1996. From 1996 they have competed in the Queensland Cup. Their jersey is traditionally an all gold jersey with two Black Vs. In recent years they have included white in their jersey.
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Easts had competed as Coorparoo in the Brisbane Rugby League premiership from 1917. A highlight of the 1920s was the signing of South Sydney star, Harold Horder as their captain-coach in 1924 and 1925. With the move to district football in 1933 a new club, the Eastern Suburbs District Rugby League club, was formed.
The club struggled on the field during the 1930s and 1940s and was in severe financial trouble. In 1946, the club was successfully revived after suffering many defeats during the war years with the re-election of A.G. (Taffy) Welch as club president and the implementation of a completely new management committee. In 1946 no less than twelve teams were registered with the Brisbane Rugby League. Of these teams, ten were semi finalists and seven made the grand finals. The main object was to present to the public a really strong first grade team. The next year, 1947, saw what would probably be the greatest side fielded by the club. Every trophy competed for in the BRL competition and Premiership were won and had no fewer than eleven players selected for Brisbane's Bulimba Cup team.
The Tigers won their next premiership in 1950, and in 1951 Easts contested the Grand Final being beaten by Southern Suburbs, This meant that, since the revival of the club in 1946, they had played six finals in succession. They reached the semis in 1952 and the grand final in 1953 where they were beaten again by Souths. In 1954, they failed to make the top four so, for the first time in eight years they failed to compete in the semi-finals. The club was to win the Peter Scott Memorial Trophy in the 1960 season but did not have success again until they won the pre-season competition in 1969.
The 15-year premiership drought forced club officials to search for a top coach and in 1965 former international, Clive Churchill was engaged to try to mould the team into a premiership 13.[1] The effect was the club's appearance in the 1968 Grand Final against Past Brothers. Although they lost the Grand Final it sparked a resurgence in Easts' performance for years to come and the Tigers won the Woolworths pre-season competition in 1969.
The captain-coach Des Morris, a great success to the club provided Easts with numerous Final's appearances and Grand Final victories throughout the 70's. This was through the help of arguably the best Queensland Five-eighth before King Wally, Stephen Farquhar.
In the Queensland Wizard Cup era, the Tigers have made the Grand Final twice although having lost both matches, the first to the Redcliffe Dolphins in 1997 and most recently losing to the Burleigh Bears in a memorable extra-time final in 2004.
The Club is currently led by President, Keith Philips and Chief Executive Officer, Des Morris who continues an association with the Club that dates back to 1968. In 2008, the year of the centenary of rugby league in Australia, the Club will celebrate its seventy-fifth anniversary.
Easts Tigers were the last team in the Queensland Cup to follow the trend of becoming affiliated with a team from the National Rugby League. At the end of the 2006 NRL season the New South Wales club South Sydney Rabbitohs announced an alliance with the Tigers as a feeder club for the NRL side. The partnership with Brisbane Easts Tigers allowed the Rabbitohs to tap into the Tigers' current recruitment and development systems in Queensland, as well as providing a club for young Queenslanders recruited by the Rabbitohs to play at and develop without having to relocate to Sydney.
At the end of the 2007 season it was announced that the Rabbitohs and Easts would no longer be affiliated due to various conflicting issues, the Tigers instead looked closer to home and struck an affiliate deal with the Brisbane Broncos. The Broncos have no reserve team for 2008 with former feeder teams the Toowoomba Clydesdales and Aspley Broncos not entering teams into the 2008 Queensland Cup. For Brisbane, it's another avenue to bring players back from injury and cover the representative drain and in return it gives the Tigers a pathway for some of their players to crack the NRL.
In 2008, the Eastern Suburbs Tigers named their 75 Year "Dream Team", which included players from 1933 to 2007.[2] The team consists of 13 players who have played more than 50 games for the club, chosen by a panel of experts.[3]
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Since the inception of the Queensland Cup in 1996 Easts Tigers have been fairly successful. Although only reaching the Grand Final twice, they consistently place in the top half of the table usually making the finals. In eleven years they have made the finals eight times.
The FOGS Cup is an 11-team competition that is the level below the Queensland Wizard Cup. Easts Tigers have had a team in the Cup since its inception in 2001 and have been the most successful club to date, winning the premiership 4 from 6 years.
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