Eastern Suburbs Tigers

Eastern Suburbs Tigers
Club information
Full name Eastern Suburbs District Rugby League Football Club
Nickname(s) The Tigers, Easts
Colours      Orange
     Black
Founded Coorparoo (1917), Eastern Suburbs Districts (1933)
Website thetigers.com.au
Current details
Ground(s)
  • Suzuki Stadium, Langland's Park, Coorparoo, Queensland
CEO Brian Torpy
Coach Scott Sipple (2016 - current)
Manager Doug Graydon and Andrew Ross
Captain Jake Foster
Competition Queensland Cup
2016 Queensland Cup season 6th
Current season
Records
Premierships 8 (1923, 1947, 1950, 1972, 1977, 1978, 1983, 1991)
Runners-up 17 (1922, 1925, 1926, 1946, 1948, 1949, 1951, 1953, 1968, 1971, 1992, 1993, 1995, 1997, 2004, 2013, 2014)
Most capped 226 - Des Morris

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 'V's. In recent years they have included white in their jersey.

History

Eastern Suburbs logo

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 1970s. 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, Brian Torpy. In 2008, the year of the centenary of rugby league in Australia, the Club will celebrate its seventy-fifth anniversary. 2013, the Easts Tigers will begin celebrations for the clubs' 80 year Anniversary'(1933-2013).

On 20 January 2011, through BASES an entertainment group, Easts Tigers began transmission of a fan-service to help boost the profile of the club and its players called TigerTV, in 2012 TigerTV began live broadcasting of entire matches via the internet; TigerTV is airing original video content with web-shows "Upfront with Kel" and "Offside with Ethan James".

NRL Affiliation

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.

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.

At the end of the 2010 NRL season the Victorian club Melbourne Storm announced an alliance with the Tigers as a feeder club for their NRL side. The partnership with Brisbane Easts Tigers allowed the Melbourne Storm to tap into the Tigers' current recruitment and development systems in Queensland, as well as providing a club for young Queenslanders recruited by the Melbourne Storm to play at and develop without having to relocate to Melbourne.[2][3]

Notable players

In 2008, the Eastern Suburbs Tigers named their 75 Year "Dream Team", which included players from 1933 to 2007.[4] The team consists of 13 players who have played more than 50 games for the club, chosen by a panel of experts.[5]

No. Position Player
1 Australia FB Noel Morgan
2 Australia WG Jeff Denman
3 Australia CE Bob Hagan
4 Australia CE John Eales
5 Australia WG John Schatz
6 Australia FE Col McCartney
7 Australia HB Wayne Lindenberg
No. Position Player
8 Australia PR Jack Ryrie
9 Australia HK John Lang
10 Australia PR Rod Morris
11 Australia SR Des Morris
12 Australia SR Darren Smith
13 Australia LK Joe Baker

Internationals while at Coorparoo/Easts[6]

Notable Juniors

Queensland Cup Results

Since the inception of the Queensland Cup in 1996 Easts Tigers have been fairly successful. Reaching the Grand Final on four occasions, they consistently place in the top half of the table usually making the finals. In nineteen years they have made the finals eleven times.

Easts celebrate in the 2006 season after reaching the Semi-Finals for the seventh time in ten years, a feat no other club in the competition has achieved.

FOGS Cup / Brisbane A Grade Results

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.

See also

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Pollard, Jack (1965). Gregory's Guide to Rugby League. Australia: Grenville Publishing. p144.
  2. ↑ Young Tigers' big break | CQ News
  3. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 16 March 2011. Retrieved 2012-01-31.
  4. ↑ Easts Tigers 75 Year Dream Team Archived 25 September 2009 at the Wayback Machine.
  5. ↑ Selection Archived 10 October 2009 at the Wayback Machine.
  6. ↑ Pollard, Jack (1965). Gregory's Guide to Rugby League. Australia: Grenville Publishing. p144.

On-line references

  1. Eastern Suburbs Tigers History retrieved 7 December 2005
  2. Eastern Suburbs Tigers Statistics retrieved 7 December 2005
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