2005 Wests Tigers season

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2005 Wests Tigers season
<  2004 2006  >

The 2005 Wests Tigers season was the 6th in the joint-venture club's history. They competed in the NRL's 2005 Telstra Premiership, captained by Mark O'Neill and Scott Prince and coached by Tim Sheens. The Tigers finished the regular season in 4th position before reaching the 2005 NRL grand final, their first. After a Clive Churchill Medal-winning performance by Prince, Wests won and claimed their maiden premiership.

Contents

Minor Premiership

The Tigers started the season at long odds for the 2005 premiership. The team had never qualified for a final series and had a relatively inexperienced squad. The season kicked off with a home game against Parramatta. The game turned when fullback Brett Hodgson had to leave the field with an eye injury. Two late tries allowed the Eels to wrap up the game. For Round 2 the team had a bye. In round 3 against defending premiers, the Bulldogs, the Tigers trailed 0–12 and 6–18 before scoring thirty unanswered points to lead 36–18 with 10 minutes remaining. The Bulldogs, inspired by Braith Anasta, fought back to tie the game 36–36. With extra time seeming inevitable, a Dogs' error gave the Tigers possession and, with seconds remaining, a Scott Prince field goal gave the side its first win. In Round 4 the Tigers beat the other 2004 grand finalists with a hard fought 26–16 win. A win followed against New Zealand in the rain in Christchurch (a Tigers home game).

In rounds 6–9 the team lost four games in a row despite often being competitive. The losing streak ended against the winless Newcastle Knights. During rounds 11–15 the Tigers remained in the bottom half of the table mixing promising wins with heavy defeats. They then shocked the league by going on a club record eight game winning streak. With victory against the Cowboys they guaranteed their first ever finals appearance. The winning streak included a club record 54–2 win over defending premiers, the Bulldogs. Despite losses in the final two games the Tigers finished in the top four and earned a home semi-final.

Season results

Players used

Ladder

2005 NRL season
PosTeamPldWDLBPFPAPDPts
1 Parramatta colours.svg Parramatta Eels 2416082704456+24836
2 St. George colours.svg St George Illawarra Dragons 2416082655510+14536
3 Brisbane colours.svg Brisbane Broncos 2415092597484+11334
4 Wests Tigers colours.svg Wests Tigers (P)24140102676575+10132
5 North Queensland colours.svg North Queensland Cowboys 24140102639563+7632
6 Melbourne colours.svg Melbourne Storm 24130112640462+17830
7 Cronulla colours.svg Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 24120122550564-1428
8 Manly Sea Eagles colours.svg Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles 24120122554632-7828
9 Eastern Suburbs colours.svg Sydney Roosters 24110132488487+126
10 Panthers colours.svg Penrith Panthers 24110132554554026
11 New Zealand colours.svg New Zealand Warriors 24100142515528-1324
12 Canterbury colours.svg Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs 2491142472670-19823
13 South Sydney colours.svg South Sydney Rabbitohs 2491142482700-21823
14 Canberra colours.svg Canberra Raiders 2490152465606-14122
15 Newcastle colours.svg Newcastle Knights 2480162467667-20020

Finals Series

The Tigers played their first ever semi-final against fifth placed North Queensland Cowboys, a team who had played in the 2004 final series. After a tight opening, the Tigers ran riot to score a 50–6 win. Both teams qualified for week two with the Tigers meeting six time premiers the Brisbane Broncos in a knock-out game. The Broncos dominated early possession with Benji Marshall preventing a Darren Smith try before scoring a long range intercept try against the run of the play. Towards the end of the game the Tigers kicked clear to win comfortably. The win saw the Tigers meet the Dragons in a Grand Final qualifier. In the lead up to the game there was controversy over the venue with calls for the game to be moved from Sydney Football Stadium to the much larger Telstra Stadium. As the Dragons had qualified for this game after week one their fans had an extra week to buy tickets to the game. As a result, the majority of the capacity crowd were Dragons fans. An early Marshall try gave the Tigers a lead they never gave up. The 20-12 win meant the Tigers qualified for the Grand Final.


The Tigers scored the most points ever in a finals series, with 134, beating the Brisbane Broncos 1998 NRL finals season record of 124 points. As of 2021, this record stands.

Wests Tigers 2005 Finals Series Results [2]
RoundOpponentResultDateVenueCrowdReferee
Qualifying Final  North Queensland Cowboys Win9 September 2005 Telstra Stadium (H)26,463 Paul Simpkins
 50 - Wests Tigers (Tries: Hodgson 3, Richards, Fulton, Whatuira, Fitzhenry, Elford; Goals: Hodgson 9)

 6 - Cowboys (Tries: Sing; Goals: Hannay)

Semi-Final  Brisbane Broncos Win18 September 2005 Sydney Football Stadium 36,563 Tim Mander
 34 - Wests Tigers (Tries: Fitzhenry 2, O'Neill, Prince, Marshall, Hodgson; Goals: Hodgson 5)

 6 - Broncos (Tries: Lockyer; Goals: Seymour)

Preliminary Final  St. George Illawarra Dragons Win24 September 2005 Sydney Football Stadium 41,260 Tim Mander
 20 - Wests Tigers (Tries: Halatau 2, Heighington, Marshall; Goals: Hodgson 2)

 12 - Dragons (Tries: Barrett, Naiqama; Goals: Ennis 2)

Grand Final  North Queensland Cowboys Win2 October 2005 Telstra Stadium 82,453 Tim Mander
 30 - Wests Tigers (Tries: Payten, Fitzhenry, Laffranchi, Richards, Gibbs; Goals: Hodgson 5)

 16 - Cowboys (Tries: Sing, Norton, M Bowen; Goals: Hannay 2)

2005 Grand Final

Both the Cowboys and the Wests Tigers were playing in their first ever grand final. The Cowboys scored early and led 6–0. A Cowboys error allowed Bryce Gibbs to score a try to level the game. In a game defining moment, Benji Marshall returned a kick beating several defenders before a flick pass to Pat Richards. Richards, who needed an injection to overcome a leg injury, pushed away from Rod Jensen to score, the Tigers leading 12–6 at the break. After half time Anthony Laffranchi crashed over the try-line for an 18–6 lead before the Cowboys hit back. A Daniel Fitzhenry try gave the Tigers a 24–12 lead. With two minutes to go the Cowboys crossed the try-line wide but the conversion attempt missed, leaving the score at 24–16. A try on full-time to Todd Payten saw a final scoreline of 30–16.

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References

  1. ↑ "Rugby League Tables". Archived from the original on 21 August 2007. Retrieved 2007-08-16.
  2. ↑ "Rugby League Tables". Archived from the original on 21 August 2007. Retrieved 2007-08-18.
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