Redcap's BRL

‘Bengal Tigers’ unchallenged – the 1923 Brisbane Rugby League season

The complete 1923 Brisbane Rugby League season is now live on Redcap’s BRL. See how the ‘Bengal Tigers’ of Coorparoo (now the Brisbane Tigers) won their first league title.

If today’s cynical, hot-taking media culture was around in 1923, somebody would surely have claimed that Coorparoo were merely the marginally best team in a weak competition.

The defending premiers, Wests lost their inspirational skipper, Norm Potter who took up an offer in Rockhampton, were belted by Carlton in the Scott Cup semi-final, lost their first three league games, saw stars like Aynsley, Dunne, Jacques and Sweeney miss chunks of the season, and plummeted all the way to the cellar. At one point they even fielded a mystery player: ‘AN Other’ or ‘A Fillup’.

Carlton were thereabouts again. Their 1921 premiership was no fluke – they were a very good team who had a great few months in ’21 but couldn’t quite get that lightning back in the bottle.

Valleys were building nicely and made it back to the final. Future Kangaroo half ‘Fatty’ Edwards debuted, Wally Cheyne established himself as a worthy successor to Sam Hull at fullback and promising forwards like Rasey and Sykes joined the veteran Teds, Stanley and McGrath. Good times were ahead.

Brothers were the team of the first round and won their first silverware – a 10-8 win over Coorparoo in the Pike Cup final on 9 July. They faded badly in the second round, losing five in a row after the cup final and going down limply to Coorparoo in the premiership semi-final.

The ‘Roos, the ‘Coorpa-Roosters’, the Bengal Tigers, whatever you want to call them, hit the top of the table after beating Wests in round nine, but Carlton and Valleys clawed their way back and forced a three-way tie atop the table. The league scrapped the challenger rule as a result.

Coorparoo had won the final and lost the challenge final two years in a row. This time there was no challenger, and the Bengal Tigers deservedly claimed the title after convincing wins over Brothers and Valleys. Veteran five-eighth, captain and Kangaroo Charlie Thorogood, who’d come close a couple of times, was an especially deserving winner. Pleasingly, long-serving winger W Ehlers also scored in the final.

More Brisbane Rugby League seasons are coming soon on Redcap’s BRL.