Easts Tigers

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

**Easts Tigers**

Full name	Eastern Suburbs 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	{{{ceo}}}
Captain	Matt Lockyer
Coach	Michael Booth
2006	Preliminary Finalists (3rd)
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

For the Queensland Premier Rugby club, see Easts Tigers Rugby Union.

The Easts 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 1997. From 1996 they have competed in the Queensland Wizard Cup. Their jersey is traditionally that of the late Balmain Tigers with an all gold jersey with two Black V's. In recent years they have included white in their jersey.

1 History
2 NRL Affiliation
3 Famous Players
4 Queensland Wizard Cup Results
5 FOGS Cup Results
6 Sources
7 External links

[edit] History

Easts had competed as Coorparoo in the Brisbane Rugby League premiership from 1923. 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 putting the club 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 semi's 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 did not have success again until they won the preseason competition in 1969.

Des Morris (right) after winning the 1978 Grand Final.

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. The effect was the club's appearance in the 1968 Grand Final against the Fortitude Valley Diehards. 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.

Premiership success came again in 1972 which saw the Tigers win their first Grand Final in 22 years when they defeated the Fortitude Valley Diehards with a dying seconds field goal in front of 37,672 people at Lang Park. The Tigers defeated the Diehards once more in the 1978 Grand Final again in spectacular fashion sealing the match with a last minute try to win 14-10.

In the Queensland Wizard Cup era, the Tigers have made the Grand Final twice although have 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.

[edit] NRL Affiliation

Easts Tigers were the last team in the Queensland Cup to follow trend and become 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 will allow 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.

CEO of South Sydney Shane Richardson stated in relation to this alliance: "There is a wealth of talent in Queensland and we are looking forward to working with Easts in Brisbane in identifying the players we want to come through the ranks and play with our South Sydney junior players at the Rabbitohs in future years... these alliances we have formed will allow us to compete with other NRL Clubs that have established ties in the Queensland market."

[edit] Famous Players

Paul Khan
John Lang
Wayne Lindenberg
Des Morris
Rod Morris
Darren Smith
Tonie Carroll

[edit] Queensland Wizard Cup Results

Since the inception of the Queensland Wizard Cup in 1996 Easts Tigers have been fairly successful. Although only reaching the Grand Final twice. They are consistently in the top half of the table usually making the finals. In ten years they have made the finals seven times.

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

1996 - Semi-Finalists
1997 - Runners-up (2nd)
1998 - 9th
1999 - Preliminary Semi-Finalists
2000 - Preliminary Finalists (3rd)
2001 - Semi-Finalists
2002 - Semi-Finalists
2003 - 9th
2004 - Runners-up (2nd)
2005 - 8th
2006 - Preliminary Finalists (3rd)

[edit] FOGS Cup 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 it's inception in 2001 and have been the most successful club to date winning the premiership 4 from 6 years.