Coal League: Tigers keep it in the family 20 years on

Some of the surnames linger, the old faces are still around and even a couple of their offspring wear the black and gold in Helensburgh.

So just how much alike are  Ben Haran’s modern-day side and  their predecessors of 20 years ago, the last Tigers to emerge victorious from the big dance?

‘‘They’re just really even across the park and it’s the same as what we had in ’93,’’ recalled the then Tigers captain-coach Trevor Kissell.

‘‘And they’ve got depth. In ’93 we were in all the grand finals and you need that depth to win a first grade comp.

‘‘Here they are with first grade in, reserve grade is in and Coal Shield just missed out. You need that depth to cover the loss of injuries so I think this is the year.’’

And wouldn’t it make for some sort of family celebration if that was the case.

Packing down in Helensburgh’s second row tomorrow will be Brock Gilmour and Blake Phillips. If the surnames sound familiar, they should.

Their fathers Steve Gilmour and Mark Phillips were part of Kissell’s crusaders way back when.

They can all tell you it’s been a helluva long time between drinks.

‘‘We were all local blokes and it just so happened we all got together in the one year,’’ Kissell said.

‘‘We had a very, very strong side. We lost one game the whole year and won the pre-season and then came out and won the grand final.

‘‘I’ve got a lot of memories with them and to captain-coach your home-town was awesome.’’

Kissell’s influence hasn’t been completely lost on the current crop of Tigers.

Several of the squad bounce in and out of his personal training studio in the town, but there’s no more frequent visitor than Helensburgh’s on-field leader,  Steve McCallum.

Kissell, the former Illawarra Steelers great, also coached Haran when he graduated to grade at the turn of the century.

He’s seen enough to know the town, also celebrating its  footballing cousins’ District League minor premiership, will flock to WIN Stadium.

‘‘You’ll see the crowd on Sunday, most of the town will be there and it will be a good thing,’’ Kissell said. 

‘‘It’s a buzz and the support you get when you’re going well just lifts the place.

‘‘They will definitely be the underdogs because Collies have beaten them three out of three this year, but you don’t mind being an underdog.

‘‘I think they know that last semi they had them until the end so they know they can be competitive with them.

‘‘They’ve had that feeling of letdown, but they’ve had that euphoria of beating Wests to make the grand final. With that in their mind they should be really hard to beat.’’

And if they were to win?

‘‘It would be a party for a week at least, for sure,’’ Kissell said.

Old boys included.