Wests Tigers

 ( Rugby Clubs Established In 2000 ) 

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.

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.

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.

The Tigers improved greatly in 2004 with provided help by signings of players such as Brett Hodgson and Pat Richards who began to blend well with the younger players emerging as talents. The Tigers narrowly missed the playoffs after losing their final three games when a single victory would have guaranteed finals football for the first time.

After a slow start, bookmakers rated the Tigers a 150–1 chance to win the premiership. However the club emerged from the bottom half of the table to win a club-record eight in a row before finishing fourth. The team developed a reputation as a flamboyant attacking team who played at a rapid pace to compensate a lack of forward size.

The Tigers played their first ever final as a joint venture club at Telstra Stadium against North Queensland Cowboys. Backed by a passionate crowd the team won 50–6. They then beat the Brisbane Broncos 34–6 and premiership favourites St. George Illawarra Dragons 20–12 to book a spot against North Queensland.

Based on their winning form (they had won 11 of their last 13) and their big win over the Cowboys in the opening finals game, the Wests Tigers were rated favourites to win the 2005 grand final. After a slow start, Bryce Gibbs and Pat Richards scored tries to give the Tigers a 12–6 lead. The Richards try was ranked the second best try of all time in the NRL's Centenary of Rugby League 100 Hot Tries survey. The try was started by five-eighth Benji Marshall, who received the ball from Brett Hodgson (after receiving a down field kick) 98 metres from the opposition tryline. He beat Cowboys five-eighth Johnathan Thurston and Matt Sing. Marshall then ran 60 metres, only to be caught by Cowboys fullback Matt Bowen. He made a flick pass to Pat Richards behind his back, who then fended off Rod Jensen to score.

In the second half the Tigers gained control with tries to Anthony Laffranchi and Daniel Fitzhenry. After withstanding a Cowboys fightback, a Todd Payten try on full-time sealed a 30–16 win. Captain Scott Prince was awarded the Clive Churchill Medal for 2005.

The premiership victory meant that the club joined an exclusive group that won premierships in their first finals appearance, which had not been achieved in almost 100 years. The group also includes Souths in 1908 and Newtown Jets in 1910.

At the end of the 2005 season, Wests also signed Malaysian car manufacturer Proton as its major new sponsor on a contract estimated to be worth more than $1 million.

As defending premiers, the Wests Tigers began the season by travelling to England to play English Super League champions the Bradford Bulls. Missing many of their star players, the Tigers tried hard but were eventually beaten 10–30. After a come from behind win over competition heavyweights St George-Illawarra, the team struggled with injuries to key players. Most notably Benji Marshall and Brett Hodgson missed large portions of the season. The team suffered a number of narrow losses late in games and also two golden point (extra time) matches in controversial circumstances.

The Wests Tigers narrowly missed the finals and the chance to defend their title. One highlight of the season was the debut of several players including Chris Lawrence and the emergence of up and coming players such as Dean Collis. Brett Hodgson played for the New South Wales team in the interstate State of Origin series in all three games. Another highlight was an upset win over eventual premiers the Brisbane Broncos at Lang Park where a second-string Tigers team missing Hodgson, Marshall, Whatuira and Gibbs beat the more experienced Broncos 20–6.

Joining the club for the 2007 season was John Morris (ex Parramatta Eels) to replace Scott Prince who signed with the Gold Coast Titans. Other players to leave at the end of the 2006 season were John Skandalis, Anthony Laffranchi and Shane Elford – all members of the 2005 grand final team.

The Wests Tigers had a bad start to the season losing their opening four games by narrow margins. They then had a six-game winning streak to move into the top four. The Tigers' five-eighth Benji Marshall and full-back Brett Hodgson missed the majority of the season with injuries.

The Wests Tigers ended their attempt at a finals berth and finished the season on a loss to the Newcastle Knights, 26–24, at the then-Telstra Stadium.

The following two seasons ended in the same fashion with the Tigers missing out on the finals narrowly in 2008 and 2009 finishing 10th and 9th.

In February 2008, the Wests Tigers announced the extension of Benji Marshall's contract by one year, to the end of 2009. They also announced the signing of Gareth Ellis, the Leeds Rhinos second-rower and international representative, to a three-year deal commencing in 2009.

On an administrative level, in April 2008, CEO Steve Noyce announced he was standing down from his role and was eventually replaced by Scott Longmuir at the end of the 2008 season.

On 14 April 2009, Tim Camiler (CEO Balmain Leagues Club) and Andy Timbs (General Manager Wests Ashfield Leagues Club) were appointed temporary joint CEO's of the football club[2]

In June 2009, Stephen Humphreys was announced as the new CEO, beginning his role in July.[3] Humphreys was a lifelong Balmain Tigers fan, with the appointment brokered by ex-Balmain player, Benny Elias. His first major decision was to ensure continuity on the pitch, maintaining Tim Sheens as Head Coach of the football club.

In 2010 the club finished third in the minor premiership competition, narrowly missing out on a grand final spot after losing to eventual premiers St. George Illawarra Dragons in the preliminary final by one point.

At the end of 2010, it was announced that Meriton had signed a 2-year agreement to become major shirt and club sponsor for the 2011 and 2012 season. This placed the large M logo on the Wests Tigers redesigned shirts for 2 years

2011 was another successful season with the Tigers finishing 4th and making the semi-finals yet again, where they were defeated by a late try to the New Zealand Warriors in a loss.

Success was far from achieved with the Tigers missing out on the finals in the 2013 and 2014 seasons finishing 15th and 13th respectively.

In further upheaval at the club, CEO Stephen Humphreys stepped down from his role[5] in May 2013, with continued boardroom issues cited as a major factor.

In June 2013 Wests Campbelltown sold their shares in the joint venture to Wests Ashfield Leagues, and pulled out of the joint venture. This sale left Balmain Leagues Club and Wests Ashfield Leagues club with 100 shares each in the joint venture

On 26 July, the club announced Grant Meyer had been appointed as CEO

During this period Benji Marshall announced his decision to leave the club at the end of 2013, and signed a deal to play rugby union in New Zealand

The 2014 season was another poor season for the Wests Tigers and there was growing unrest from the club and fans about the results under Mick Potter.

Subsequently, following a mid year and end review by Meyer, Mick Potter did not have his coaching contract renewed, with the club issuing a press release confirming his release in September 2014. Potter finished his tenure at the club with a record of 17 wins and 31 losses.

The proposed 7-person board was never ratified, and a reduced board of five was approved by the NRL.

As at 5 September 2014, Wests Tigers Board of Directors consisted of the following:

Marina Go – Chairperson (Independent NRL Appointment),Tony Andreacchio - (Wests Ashfield Leagues Board Member), Simon Cook - (Wests Ashfield Leagues CEO), Lucio Bartololeo - (Independent NRL Appointment), Rosemary Sinclair - (Independent NRL Appointment)

Balmain Leagues Club had no appointed directors due to the club moving into funding default, and were termed "unfinancial shareholders". Balmain were in debt to the NRL to a sum of nearly AU$5 million, which was due to be repaid on 16 March 2016. At the time, it was announced that should Balmain Leagues Club fail to repay the loan, the shares would be considered "in default" and would be placed for sale. The agreement was made that Wests Ashfield Leagues Club would be offered first call to buy all the shares, pay off the NRL debts and become sole owner. If Wests Ashfield declined, the shares could be offered for general sale.

One of the first tasks for the board was to appoint a new club coach. The club moved to appoint Jason Taylor (who had played for Western Suburbs between 1990 and 1993) on 29 September 2014 for the oncoming 2015 season, following guidance of CEO Meyer, and supported by Chair Go. Phil Moss also joined the club as general manager of football operations at the same time.

Off the pitch politics continued through the year with ownership issues still dominating headlines for the football club, with the NRL maintaining its financial interest in the club given the poor state of affairs at Balmain Leagues Club. Adding to the troubles at the club, CEO Grant Meyer tendered his resignation on 15 June 2015

The club also made headlines with rumours and stories that the club coach and captain were in difference of opinion about how the team should be playing. In August 2015 the club made a statement on their website announcing that Farah had been given permission to speak with other football clubs for the 2016 season.

The new club CEO was announced on 4 September 2015 with Justin Pascoe, previously at Penrith Panthers, appointed to the role.

September 2015 also saw the announcement of a three-year sponsorship agreement with Brydens Lawyers. The three-year multimillion-dollar deal was the largest in the club's history and saw Brydens logo on the front and sleeve of the Wests Tigers jerseys.

The 2016 season started off with Aaron Woods replacing Robbie Farah as club captain, and the club made a promising start to the season with home wins against New Zealand Warriors and Manly Warringah Sea Eagles. A string of losses including a 60 points to 6 loss against the Canberra Raiders left the club struggling at the lower end of the table. Off field, the drama surrounding Robbie Farah continued with speculation that he would leave the club by the end of the season.

After a string of mixed results, including two wins against rivals South Sydney, but a poor loss to Newcastle left Wests Tigers 9th on the ladder, a point away from the top 8 at the end of the full season.

The end of the season also saw the Robbie Farah saga concluded, with Farah penning a two-year deal with South Sydney Rabbitohs. Robbie left the club having played 247 games and scoring 61 tries.

In April 2017, the "Big Four" story began from the media after there were reports Mitchell Moses, James Tedesco, Aaron Woods and Luke Brooks had all been looking to leave the club over issues with the salary cap and uncertainty with the playing roster heading into 2018. The four players were also reportedly not willing to continue playing with the club if Jason Taylor remained as head coach. Brooks would later sign a two-year contract extension whilst Moses, Woods and Tedesco would all depart the club with Moses being granted a mid-season release to Parramatta. Early in the 2017 season, after a pair of heavy defeats to the Penrith Panthers and Canberra Raiders, Taylor was dismissed from his position as head coach.

Assistant Coach Andrew Webster was appointed as caretaker manager whilst the CEO and board recruited a new full-time replacement.

In an $8.5 million deal, Wests Ashfield Leagues Club assumed majority ownership of the football franchise. As the press statement read "The ownership structure sees Wests move to 75% ownership with Balmain retaining 25% and the Board expanded to nine directors". Wests Ashfield Leagues Club (and by relationship Wests Magpies) has settled all debts owed to the NRL by the Wests Tigers Football club. Balmain Tigers Leagues Club in a separate financial agreement had an outstanding loan and debt to NRL. Wests Ashfield Leagues Club were guarantors of that loan. Note that the loan was not secured against the Wests Tigers Football Club.

The new board had five members appointed from Wests Ashfield, two from Balmain along with two independents.

During a press conference with Coach Cleary late on in April, a single near throwaway comment was made by Ivan about how he approached his first meeting with the players. He said to the press "I told the players you are either on the bus, or you are off it". This one line became a marketing slogan used through his tenure as coach and the "On The Bus" slogan became used by fans and media alike.

2017 turned out to be a poor one for Wests Tigers on the field with The NRL team finishing in 14th spot, The Under 20s Holden Cup team finishing 2nd to last and The NSW Cup team finishing with the wooden spoon.

In the 2018 NRL season, Wests started off the year with impressive wins over the Sydney Roosters and Melbourne before a mid season slump saw the club only winning 3 out of 10 games between Round 10 and Round 20. Wests would end up finishing in 9th position on the table missing the finals. Their final game of the year was a 51–10 loss against the South Sydney Rabbitohs.

Towards the end of the season, rumours and news swirled around the press and media about Ivan Cleary leaving the Wests Tigers to return to Penrith Panthers.

On 28 October 2018, Wests released coach Ivan Cleary from the final two years of his contract. Cleary also sent a departing text message to the tigers playing group saying "G'day boys I hope this finds you well and enjoying your time off, I was writing to you in the hope of beating the press.. to let you know that I will no longer be your coach at Wests Tigers. This is an extremely uncomfortable situation for me as I have genuine fondness for the club, and I have loved coaching you all.. I understand that this situation has caused some pain for people that I care about, along with putting the club in an awkward situation... I do not feel good about this. I would have preferred to do this in person but time and circumstances have made that impossible. I hope we meet again soon and I wish you all the very best in the future. You have my number and I am always open for a chat if you wish. Iv".

Under the guidance of Maguire, Wests Tigers football club has changed the team's slogan. "On the Bus" was replaced with "This is Our Jungle" for the 2019 season.

The football club appealed this decision, and on 1 March 2019 the NRL backtracked on the position from December 2018 and halved the fine to $350,000, allowed the club to split the $639,000 of the cap breach over seasons 2019 and 2020 and CEO Justin Pascoe would be stood down for 6 months only (backdated to the original date of 19 December 2018).

In the interim, Wests Ashfield CEO, Simon Cook, assumed the role of interim CEO at the football club, and temporarily stood down from his position on the football club board. Head of Football Kelly Egan left the club prior to Pascoe's return as did chairman Marino Go and Chief Operating Officer Ryan Webb.

Justin Pascoe was re-instated back to his role as CEO on 26 June 2019

Wests Tigers took another "home" game on the road in 2019, with a match hosted in Scully Park in Tamworth. Nearly 10,000 fans turned out to watch Wests run out 30–14 victors over lower placed Gold Coast Titans.

The first home game of the season at the newly named BankWest stadium was held on Friday 7 June against the Canberra Raiders. The 0–28 result in front of 12,000 supporters lent some fans to make the comment "This is not our jungle".

Wests Tigers playmaker, Benji Marshall, played his 300th game in the NRL on 14 July at BankWest stadium in front of more than 25,000 fans. Wests lost the game 30–18 against the Parramatta Eels.

In round 25 against Cronulla-Sutherland, Wests went into the game knowing that whoever won the match would be guaranteed a finals spot as both teams came into the last game of the year on equal points. Wests would end up losing the match 25–8 at a packed Leichhardt Oval which was also retiring Robbie Farah's final game. The loss also meant that this was the sixth time that Wests had finished ninth since the joint venture started in 2000.

Lee Hagipantelis is the Principal of Wests Tigers shirt sponsor, Brydens Lawyers.

When the shortened NRL season recommenced, all games were played initially behind closed doors. Wests played six matches with no fans able to visit the stadia to watch the games. Fans were re-admitted in limited numbers in round 8 with Wests Tigers losing to Penrith in front of 5000 fans at Bankwest Stadium.

2020 wasn't a great year for the club on the pitch, eventually fading away to 11th position, with only seven wins and thirteen losses. The club also set a new unwanted record being the first side since the competition began in 1908 to concede 24 points or more in a game for ten consecutive matches.

On 18 August Chris Lawrence announced he would be retiring from the Wests Tigers and from Rugby League as a player. Lawrence retired having played 253 games for the club, and having scored 84 tries

On 1 September the club announced that Benji Marshall would not be playing on into 2021. This announcement was seen by many fans as deplorable and a petition soon garnered almost 10,000 signatures by fans, with Benji later claiming that he heard about this news via the press, not from the club. Marshall left the club having played 257 games over two stints at the club scoring 84 tries.

The first five rounds however were not a great success, with the club picking up only two points with a win over Newcastle. In round 4 of the 2021 NRL season against Parramatta Eels at Stadium Australia, the match recorded the highest attendance at a Rugby League game so far in 2021 with an official attendance of 29,056.

In round 5 of the competition, there was a lot of emotion at Leichhardt Oval, with the club paying tribute following the death of Western Suburbs legend, Tommy Raudonikis. The #7 jersey was retired for the game in memoriam, with Luke Brooks running out in #22. The game itself was more known for the team being booed off by fans at half time, trailing the un-fancied North Queensland Cowboys 28–6. The game ended up 34–30 to North Queensland with Wests Tigers rallying in the second half.

April 2021 also saw a minor change to the board of directors of the football club, with Mick Liubinskas being replaced by Julie Romero. Like Mick, Julie was a nominee by Wests Ashfield Leagues Club, a director of that leagues club and a Wests Ashfield Debenture holder.

In round 9 of the 2021 NRL season, the club played at Campbelltown Sports Ground and they wore specially designed jerseys as part of a celebration into the life of Tommy Raudonikis OAM. The match ball was delivered onto the pitch by Tommy's partner, Trish. Wests Tigers lost the game against the Gold Coast 36–28.

In June 2021, it was announced that Premiership winning coach, Tim Sheens, would be returning to the club in the capacity of Head of Football Performance focussing on pathways, development and talent identification.

The Wests Tigers finished the 2021 NRL season in 13th place after an awful season which saw them only win three times in the last eleven games. In the final round of the season, Wests were defeated 38–0 by Wooden Spooners Canterbury-Bankstown. After this point, there were talks that head coach Michael Maguire was to be terminated from his position but on 21 September it was announced he would be kept on as head coach for the 2022 season.

On the 15th October 2021, the club announced that general manager of football, Adam Hartigan, had left the club.

Round 12 saw the Wests Tigers biggest win of the season, and signs of a recovery of the club, with a score of 66–18 against the North Queensland Cowboys, with a 100% conversion of all eleven tries.

The week following this match, the club announced that Joe Ofahengaue was leaving the club in a mid-season move to the Parramatta Eels.

In round 18, the club suffered the third biggest loss in Australian rugby league history losing 74–0 against North Queensland. It was also the biggest loss by any team of the NRL era. It came after just two months prior where the Wests Tigers defeated North Queensland 66-18.

On 16 August 2023, the Wests Tigers released a statement detailing how Tim Sheens had requested to stand down as head coach at the end of the season, with Benji Marshall to take over head coaching duties from 2024 rather than 2025 as originally planned. Wests Tigers chairman Lee Hagipantelis claimed in an interview with Fox Sports that the decision to fast-track Marshall to the head coaching role had been considered for some time due to him exceeding expectations in his role as Sheens' assistant coach.

During a game at Commbank Stadium, unhappy fans started to show their anger with the management of the club by unfurling a banner at the home game against the Dolphins aimed at the CEO Justin Pascoe. Further banners were unfurled by fans at the away game against the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles at Brookvale Oval.[6]

In round 26 of the 2023 NRL season, Wests Tigers finished with the Wooden Spoon for a second consecutive season after they lost 32–8 against the Sydney Roosters. Wests Tigers needed to win their remaining two matches to avoid finishing in last place. The Wests Tigers Jersey Flegg Cup team also finished with the Wooden Spoon in their respective competition which capped off a bad year for the club.

Whilst the review had only started a few days earlier, it was publicised that Lee Hagipantellis had been re-appointed as an independent board member and chair of the board for a further three years

On 28 September 2023 James Myatt resigned from the board of directors of the football club.

Only weeks after confirming Lee Hagipantellis was to remain as chair of the board, news broke that the director Tony Andreacchio had called Lee to request he stand down and resign as chair of the board.