Grand Final Football Returns to Wingham
Some games are about more than 80 minutes.
Some carry with them the history of a club, the memories of generations and the stories of the people who have worn the jersey before.
On Saturday, 12 September, when the Wingham Tigers First Grade side runs onto their home ground for the 2026 Group 3 Grand Final, they will do so 23 years after Wingham last hosted the First Grade Grand Final in 2003.
For Tiger Town, it has been a long wait.
And somehow, 23 years later, so many of the threads of Wingham's rugby league history have found their way back to the same place.
2003 – A Wingham Premiership to Remember
The 2003 season remains one of the great chapters in Wingham Tigers history.
Coming off a premiership in 2002, Wingham went through the 2003 season as the team to beat, finishing as minor premiers before earning the right to host the Grand Final at Wingham.
Their opponents were the Forster-Tuncurry Hawks.
In front of their home community, the Tigers delivered.
Wingham defeated Forster-Tuncurry 30–20 to claim the 2003 Group 3 First Grade Premiership – completing back-to-back titles and securing the ninth First Grade premiership in the club's history.
Among the men at the heart of that era were Stewart Baker and captain Andrew Gilbert.
Gilbert led the Tigers onto their home ground that day and produced a performance worthy of the occasion, being named Man of the Match as Wingham celebrated a premiership at Tiger Town.
At the time, nobody standing around that ground could have known just how significant that day would become.
Nobody knew Wingham would wait another 23 years to host another First Grade Grand Final.
And Andrew certainly could not have known that when Grand Final football finally returned to Wingham, his own son would be running onto the field wearing the same Tigers colours.
Three Generations of Collins
Mitch Collins represents the third generation of the Collins family to take the field for the Wingham Tigers.
For families like the Collins family, Wingham Tigers isn't simply a football club. It is something passed from one generation to the next.
In 2026, Mitch has helped lead First Grade as co-coach, bringing the passion and commitment to Wingham that has characterised his involvement with the club.
But on Grand Final Day, his role will change.
With Mitch set to take his place at hooker, he will hand the sideline responsibility to his co-coach, Andrew Neaves, and become a player again for the biggest game Wingham has hosted in more than two decades.
It adds another chapter to the Collins family's contribution to the Tigers – three generations connected by the same club and the same jersey.
From the Under 18s to First Grade – Andrew Neaves
Standing in charge on Grand Final Day will be a man who already knows what it feels like to guide a Wingham team to a premiership.
Andrew Neaves coached the Wingham Tigers Under 18s to the 2024 Group 3 premiership.
That side travelled to Port Macquarie for its Grand Final against Lake Cathie and, after going into halftime locked at 6–6, produced a superb second half to win 22–6 and return home as premiers.
Two years later, Neaves finds himself preparing for another Grand Final – this time with Wingham's First Grade side and this time at Tiger Town.
When Mitch Collins pulls on the playing jersey and takes his place at hooker, Neaves will assume responsibility from the sideline.
From guiding Wingham's young Tigers to a premiership in 2024 to helping guide its senior side into the 2026 Grand Final, his journey is another example of the pathway and continuity that exists within this club.
From Father to Son
Twenty-three years after Andrew Gilbert captained Wingham on Grand Final Day, Jett Gilbert will take the field for Wingham First Grade in the 2026 decider.
It is one of those sporting stories that could never have been planned.
A father who captained his hometown club on this ground in 2003, was named Man of the Match and helped deliver a premiership – now standing on the sideline watching his son run onto that same ground for Wingham in its next home First Grade Grand Final.
Their Wingham First Grade connection has already come full circle once.
In August 2024, during an injury-hit period for the Tigers, Andrew returned to First Grade while Jett was also in the side. Father and son had the rare opportunity to represent Wingham First Grade together.
For the Wingham Tigers, the 2026 Group 3 First Grade Grand Final at Wingham is one of those occasions.
When the Tigers run onto their home ground on Saturday, 12 September, they won't simply be representing the players and coaching staff who have worked throughout the 2026 season to get there.
They'll be carrying generations of Wingham rugby league history with them.
Fathers and sons. Uncles and nephews. Families whose names have appeared on Wingham team sheets across decades.
From 1997, to 2003, and now 2026, some of those same family names are preparing to become part of another chapter in the story of the Wingham Tigers.
The Tigers of 1997
To understand some of the connections in the 2026 side, you have to go back almost three decades.
This win was incredibly significant for the club, as it was their first first-grade premiership since 1989. The Grand Final team included Andy Guy, Scott Gilbert and Troy Atkins.
Twenty-nine years later, all three families will again have a connection to a Wingham Tigers Grand Final side.
This time, it's the next generation.
Ben Guy, son of Andy Guy, will take his place in the 2026 team.
Nash Atkins, son of Troy Atkins, will also run onto the field wearing the same Wingham colours his father wore in a Grand Final 29 years earlier.
And then there is the Gilbert family.
Jett Gilbert son of Andrew Gilbert, and nephew of Scott Gilbert will be part of the 2026 side.
Twenty-Three Years
A lot happens in 23 years.
Players retire.
Kids who once stood behind the fence watching their heroes grow up and pull on the jersey themselves.
Coaches become mentors.
Families welcome another generation of Tigers.
Volunteers come and go.
Supporters grow older.
But the club remains.
Since 2003 there have been seasons of success, seasons of disappointment and years when September ended earlier than everyone hoped.
Wingham returned to the First Grade Grand Final in 2004, finishing runners-up, and there have been finals campaigns since.
But the First Grade premiership trophy has not returned to Wingham since that afternoon in 2003.
And the Grand Final itself has not returned home.
Until now.
More Than a Football Game
That is what makes 12 September 2026 so special.
For the current players, it is their Grand Final.
But for hundreds of former players, coaches, committee members, volunteers, sponsors and supporters, it represents something more.
It is a chance to remember the people who built this club.
It is a chance to recognise men like Stewart Baker and the members of that 2003 side who gave Wingham one of its greatest days.
It is another chapter in three generations of the Collins family wearing the Tigers colours.
It is Andrew Neaves going from coaching Wingham's Under 18s to premiership glory in 2024 to taking charge of First Grade on the biggest day the club has hosted in decades.
It is a chance for Andrew Gilbert to stand at the ground where he captained his club 23 years earlier and watch his son Jett have his opportunity.
And it is a new group of players being given something every footballer who has represented Wingham dreams about:
the opportunity to play for a premiership at Tiger Town!
Now It Is Their Turn
The 2003 team has its story.
Their names and their premiership will always be part of Wingham Tigers history.
Twenty-three years later, the next group is ready.
They don't need to recreate 2003.
They have the opportunity to create 2026.
Years from now, another generation of young Tigers may look at photographs from this Grand Final, hear stories about the players who took the field and talk about what it felt like when Grand Final football finally came home to Wingham.
That is how club history is made.
One generation hands it to the next.
On Saturday, Grand Final football comes home.
This is Tiger Town!