Tully Tigers put on show in first game at revamped Showgrounds
The Tigers made sure their first match played at the new-look Tully Showgrounds was one to remember by thumping Cairns and District Rugby League rivals Cairns Brothers 40-18.
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The Tigers made sure their first match played at the new-look Tully Showgrounds was one to remember by thumping Cairns and District Rugby League rivals Cairns Brothers 40-18.
The Tigers piled on eight tries to the Brethren’s three in front of more than 1000 spectators in their third-round clash of the Lightning Challenge on Saturday night.
It was the A-grade side’s first win against a CDRL opponent in more than 700 days, with their last coming on September 15, 2018, when the Tigers defeated Brothers 20-18 in the preliminary final to book a spot in the decider (which they lost to Mossman-Port Douglas Sharks 36-12).
Between 2018’s grand final defeat and Saturday night’s victory over Brothers, Tully sung the team song only once, after a 44-10 win over Townsville club Norths Devils in a pre-season trial earlier this year.
The club endured one of the toughest seasons in its history in 2019, drawing one game and losing 17 as they claimed the wooden spoon with a winless campaign.
With a firm belief that the Tigers’ darkest days are over, club president Anthony Emmi said it was just great to have rugby league back in Tully, with the win over Brothers a bonus for the Tigers’ faithful.
The facility has been three years in the making and the COVID situation made it even more difficult, so it’s really good that its finally happened,” he said.
“I think everyone was amazed how good it is and it was all positive feedback from the players, supporters, and from Brothers and the Pride.
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“We could only fill the new grandstand to half capacity, but the crowd were really good and obeyed to all the social distancing, so everything went well.”
Emmi said many in the region never would have dreamt that the small town of Tully would one day be the home to an NRL-approved facility.
“It’s unbelievable,” he said.
“I’ve been involved in footy for 20 years and there were people there that I’ve never seen at a footy game in 20 years.
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“Now that they’ve got somewhere good to sit, they’ll all be coming to watch.
“There’s not a bad seat in the house.”
He believed the upgraded Tully Showgrounds had the best rugby league facilities of any venue north of Townsville.
“Hopefully we can get some Queensland Cup games there in the future,” he said.
“Our field’s getting done at the end of the year so we’ll be able to host them then.”
Former Tully Tigers club greats, including John Jones, Neil Jesse and Anthony Crema, were in attendance on the night — and Emmi said current NRL players and Tully products Jake Clifford and Thomas Flegler would have made the trip up if they could.
“They can’t leave their bubble unfortunately, otherwise they probably would have,” he said.
The Lightning Challenge is scheduled to return to Tully for the sixth and final round on September 12.
Originally published as Tully Tigers put on show in first game at revamped Showgrounds