1990 SEASON
Western Suburbs Squad 1990
Back Row: Paul Davies, Stan Presdee, Shaun O’Bryan, Shane Flanagan, Doug Rawlings, Trevor Cogger, Michael Gould
Third Row: Tony Fay, Pat O’Doherty, Brett Docherty, Steve Jackson, Mark Williams, Jason Stafford, Jason Lidden, Brendon Tuuta, Alan Fallah
Second Row: Des Allen (Conditioner), Gary Bukowski, Cameron Blair, Shaun Devine, Darren Britt, Dave Gallagher, Graham Mackay, Chris Blair, Dennis Regan (Trainer)
Front Row: Randall Burge (Assistant Coach), Tony Cosatto, Wayne Simonds, Ivan Henjak, John Bailey (Coach), Bob Lindner, Danny Peacock, Peter Mulholland (Reserve Grade Coach)
Ball Boys: Jonathan Di Michiel, Shane Pritchard
The three English player from 1989 had left but the replacements, Ivan Henjak, Steve Jackson (ex-Canberra) and Tony Cosatto (ex-Parramatta) all played well. The star recruit was Bob Lindfield from the Gold Coast. He was selected in the 3rd State of Origin team, for Australia against Fance at Parkes and against New Zealand. He made the Kangaroo team as lock against Great Britain and France and was named the “Player of the Series”.
Bob Lindner Ivan Henjak ‘Clubman of the Year’ Steve Jackson Qld State of Origin
However, it was the Junior Development Program from the previous two years that produced a large number of First Grade debuts. Shaun Devine, aged 19, debuted at fullback in the first-round thrilling draw with Brisbane while Jamie Ainscough, Jason Taylor, Russell Wyer, Stan Presdee and Angelo Alavanja all graduated to the Senior level. Also, considering that St Gregory’s Campbelltown won the Commonwealth Bank Cup for the second year running, it was obvious there was a significant junior nursery on the way up.
After a promising start, making the semi-finals of the pre-season Channel 10 Cup, Wests finished with six wins and a draw, often leading and then fading late in a number of matches. At least the U21s reached a play-off for the semi-finals, where they were beaten by Canterbury-Bankstown in extra time.
Apart from Bob Lindner’s stellar representative performance, Steve Jackson, Ivan Henjak, Cameron Blair, Shaun Devine, Russell Wyer and Jamie Ainscough all made various representative teams.
Trevor Cogger was rewarded with a Testimonial Dinner to honour his many years of service and he indicated he was going to sign on for another season.
Trevor Cogger still playing well in his Testimonial Year
Unfortunately, the news came through that two important administrators in the history of the club had passed away. Both Alan Clarke and Bill Beaver had devoted their lives to the furtherment of Western Suburbs as a club. They would be sorely missed.
The salary cap had been raised from 1.1m to 1.5m and it was announced that some significant players in Andrew Farrar, Paul Langmack, Joe Thomas and David Gillespie had been signed for the 1991 season.