Easts Rugby Club: Home of the Tigers!

I really enjoyed visiting Easts Rugby Club this week, as a part of my "Club Profile" series. Pat Richards made me feel very welcome and helped organise my visit. (Thanks Pat!) 

As I had expected, it was nice to run into a few familiar faces, including Michael Gunn and Andrew Ready from the Reds.

Watching one of the young teams train.

Pat showed me inside the club-room and I loved hearing him tell stories about the club and share about the Wallabies that have come from Easts. He told me about Paul Mooney, the first Wallaby to come from Easts, who became the brother in law of Keith Wilson, also a Wallaby from the club!

Keith had a son named David, who also went on to become a Wallaby. (The main field is named after him.) Hearing about these great players helped paint a picture of the strong family culture at Easts that still exists today. 

At this point in time, Izack Rodda is an Easts player in the Wallabies squad. Also, Liam Wright has also been called in this week to train with them, to fill gaps left by the Warratahs who are still in the Super Rugby finals.

After games, players will often stick around and have a beer in the club house afterwards.

On display, (but unfortunately not pictured) is Andrew Ready's Barbarians jumper that he donated to the club last year.

It was great to meet the Premier team coach Anthony Connellan, who obviously cares a great deal about his club and his team. He told us about Liam Wright being called in to train with the Wallabies this week, but said he'd been released by Michael Cheika [Wallabies coach], to play in this weekends club game, in response to Anthony's email request.

I enjoyed watching the teams train hard for this weekends game. Before training however, Matt Gordon, Premier team captain, was nice enough to drop in to have a chat.

Fresh Legs and the Road to the Finals - A Conversation with Matt Gordon

Hey Matt, nice to catch up. Thanks for coming in early.

Too easy. It’s alright!

It’s nice to see how everything’s going at Easts.

Yeah everything going really well at Easts this year. We’ve had a couple of years just outside the finals and this year we’ve already got 1st, 2nd and 3rd grade into the finals, which is really positive. It’s something we’ve been trying to do for years now. 

That’s a big plus and there’s a good vibe around the club, which is nice. It makes a difference when you make the finals and when you’re winning games. A massive difference.

I’m glad to hear that you feel the seasons gone well.

Yeah it has. We’ve had a lot of new guys come in. Like Shane over there [points], he’s from Townsville. There was a story on Jack, kicking over there, he started last year in 5th grade. He’s moved up too. So we’ve got a pretty new team. Everything’s come together well. If we win this week, we go into 2nd place. So yeah, really positive. 

What’s the highlight of the season been so far?

I’d have to say, winning on “Ladies day” against Uni [UQ] is always a highlight of the year. But then, last week, beating Wests 67 to 19 was really good. Everyone was having a lot of fun, tries were coming. The other positive that came out of that game was there were a few boys that got to have a run that haven’t played premier grade before.

Were some of the Reds back on your team for that game?

We only had [Andrew] Ready back. Liam Wright’s been called into the Wallabies squad. We don’t have him, which is really disappointing. When he’s come back this year, he’s been awesome. Michael Gunn was away for the weekend, but we’ve got him back this weekend which will be good. It’s good to have Gunny, he’s been injured this year, so it’s good to have him back.

I heard about your injury back in 2015. Was it quite a long process, getting back to where you are now?

Yeah. I think it was in the grand final, I hurt my syndesmosis, which is a pretty common rugby injury. I had that in the grand final. I ended up playing with it in the NRC and that made it really bad, so I had to go and get surgery. Then at the start of last year, I did the exact same injury on the other leg. I think it was poor preparation and stuff. But most of my ankles are working well now. What they do, is because the bones seperate, they put a permanent rope in to tie it down.

What’s your favourite thing about this club?

I think my favourite thing about Easts, would be the fact that you can finish a game, go upstairs and everyone from 6th grade to premier grade gets along like a house on fire. So it’s probably the fact that no-one cares what team you playing for, everyones mates. I think that’s why we’ve got such good culture here. Once you finish a game, everyones playing for the same club. Unfortunately, people that don’t understand that get found out pretty easily.

Everyone gets on well and has a lot of respect for each other. It’s definitely my favourite thing about the club

What inspired you to play rugby, at the very beginning?

I think it would have definitely been my dad - and my whole family, even my grandad has always been into rugby - Mum likes rugby too. Dad coached USQ in Toowoomba. He’s from Armidale [in New South Wales], and he played right through. When I was a baby, he was coaching. I think I used to sit in a backpack, on the sidelines, on his back.

If you go up to the club-house in Toowoomba, alongside all the trophies, there’s a picture of me, as a baby. I think I was always going to play rugby.

Mum and Dad are up here for every game (they live in Toowoomba). It’s a bit of a family thing, which is nice.

How have you found living in Brisbane, and being based at this club?

I really liked it. It’d be hard to move. I suppose, you get the big city life, but you get the country vibe as well. People are friendly here too. And the clubs great. They look after everyone in the best way they can and they’ve always been unbelievable to me. I couldn’t see myself being anywhere else in Brisbane. It’s really enjoyable being here and most people will tell you that. You never hear people that have much to do with Easts saying anything bad about it and you don’t get a lot of people leaving the club either. So it’s nice.

It seems there’s always something exciting going on for rugby fans. Will you be playing in this years NRC?

I’m hoping so. I didn’t even play rugby last year, because of all the injuries. It’ll be hard, but I’m hoping so. I think I’ve had one of my better years. It’s a great competition, especially if you’re a club player. Most young players, even the older boys aspire to do it.

Thanks very much for your time. All the best this weekend and in the finals!

That’s alright. Nice to meet you! Awesome.

If you're interested in finding out more about Easts Rugby Club, check out their website www.eaststigers.com. New members are always welcome. Come and see what club rugby is all about!