Wests Panthers
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| Club information | |
|---|---|
| Full name | Western Suburbs District Rugby League Football Club |
| Nickname(s) | The Panthers, Wests |
| Colours |
 Red and Black |
| Founded | 1915 (as Wests) |
| Current details | |
| Ground(s) |
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| CEO | Tony Currie |
| Coach | Craig Ingebritsen (2014) |
| Captain | Shannon Fish |
| Competition |
Queensland Cup Mixwell Cup Brisbane Rugby League Winfield State League FOGS Colts Challenge FOGS Cup |
| 2014 | 11th |
Home colours
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 Current season
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| Records | |
| Premierships | 14 (1916, 1920, 1922, 1932, 1936, 1948, 1952, 1954, 1975, 1976, 1992, 1993, 2008 (Colts), 2009) |
| Runners-up | 9 (1927, 1933, 1934, 1937, 1950, 1956, 1991, 1994, 1998) |
| Minor premiership | 1 (2008 (Colts)) |
The Western Suburbs Panthers, often simply referred to as Wests, are a rugby league club from Brisbane, Australia. The Club is the oldest in the QRL and despite absences from the top grade in recent years and several name changes the club continued to operate. After leaving the Queensland Cup, they participated in the Brisbane A-Grade competition from 2005 until their senior sides disbanding in 2012. In 2013, the club entered a voluntary hiatus, but was announced to be part of the revived Brisbane Rugby League.
The club's roots trace back to the first game of rugby league played in the state - a game between North Brisbane and Toombul in 1909. By 1914, a club from Toowong had also entered the Brisbane junior competition, and by 1915 it had merged with North Brisbane senior club, forming the Western Suburbs District Rugby League Football Club.
After winning their first premiership in 1916, they became the first major club in Queensland to go through the season undefeated in 1920, something they would do again in 1922, winning the first premiership conducted by the newly formed Brisbane Rugby League. In 1927 one of the club's best known players, Tom Purtell, began 56-year association with the club. Purtell was a hooker for Wests until 1941, and was involved with the club at management level until 1969, including a 20-year unchallenged stint as President.
Although they won a total of 12 premierships, their most successful period was the 1990s. Even though the Brisbane Broncos had a major effect on the standard of play and the popularity of the local club competition, Wests were runners-up in 1991, and Premiership winners in 1992 and 1993, before again being runners up in 1994. They were a founding member of the Queensland Cup in 1996, and were runners-up to Norths in 1998. However, after the turn of the century Wests were struggling financially, and following a disastrous year in 2003 when the club lost all 22 games of the season, including a club record 78-0 loss to Norths at Bishop Park, the club decided to depart the Qld Cup competition, deciding to instead guarantee their survival by participating in lower grades only, and planning to re-enter the Qld Cup competition at a later date.
In 2005 Wests made the Colts (U/19) grand final, although after leading at half-time they were eventually defeated by Norths. At seasons' end the Broncos, who had had a feeder club arrangement in place with Wests for the previous few years, pulled out and linked with the Aspley Devils. At the same time Wests merged their teams with Hills District who had been playing out of the Arana Hills club, to form the Western Districts Panthers for 2006 onwards. In 2008 the Colts team then won the Fogs Challenge under the astute coaching of Craig Ingebrigtsen defeating Aspley 30-16 in the Grand Final, the clubs first premiership as a new entity.
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