The 1990’s – The Glory Years

In 1992 and after losing Eddie James early in the season, Grahame (“Slobbers”) Tresidder moved from the second row of 3rd Grade to take over the 1sts. Slobbers gave opportunities to up and coming young players such as Adam Rostirolla and Chris Doyle which they accepted gladly, winning many games by big scores and losing only one match during the season. However, Vikings also had a strong year and finished equal on the table with a better average to deny the Rocks the Minor Premiership. This was revenged when Shammies went on to beat the arch-rivals in the major semi-final and repeated the dose in the Grand Final when an Adam Potter try and a Chris Doyle field goal were enough to win 8-3 in a tight game. Twelve of the team were ex-Juniors, including half-back hero Adam Potter who was called up to replace Richie Aylett who was acting as best man at his brother’s wedding.

Rick Nicholls took the Seconds to a Grand Final showdown, also with Vikings, but the Blues outfit proved too good winning 22-0. Stuart Stoneham’s Thirds didn’t make the play-offs. Richie Aylett and Brendan Schoupp headed a coaching team for a rejuvenated U19’s which also made the semis, bowing out early. Kieran Love’s U17s won their premiership; Koro Ngarimu was the IDRU U17 Player of the Year with Josh Woodford the IDRU U17 Highest Pointscorer. Eight players made Illawarra rep teams, three players were picked for NSW Country and Chris Doyle became the second Shamrock player to represent NSW when selected in the U/19’s. Wayne de Jong played for NSW Country against the travelling Springboks and Tonga. Richard Aylett was the IDRU Player of the Year.

1st Grade Minor Premiers, Premiers 1993

Back: G Joy, G Tresidder, G Hutton, A Cracknell (c), I Westwood, W de Jong, R Lunney
Middle: S Lunney, S McKellar, C Doyle, M Joy, J Dokter, R Wylie
Front: D Aylett, B Schoupp, R Aylett, J Woodhill (Absent: A Rostirolla)

In 1993, after a successful 1992, hopes were high when the 1993 season got under way – but then they were exceeded: Shamrocks 1993 Club Champions for the second time. In defence of their title “Slobbers” 1st Grade lost only 2 games during the competition proper – both to Vikings! Revenge for these was sweet when the tables were turned in the major semi, and again with a repeat dose in the 20-12 Grand Final win after being down 3-12 at half time. Norm Coles caned the Vikings 14-1 in the second half and sent off one of their props for stomping on Adam Rostirolla. After Chris Doyle missed several goal attempts Scott Lunney took over the kicking duties to become the toast of the town, kicking 4 out of 5.

Jim Walker had charge of 2nd Grade and they also dominated their competition to win the Minor Premiership with only 3 losses. However in their second successive Grand Final they were pipped 8-7 by University in a thriller. 3rd Grade had a succession of coaches – Tony Armstrong was originally selected but after missing many games, Jim Duncan and Rod Mercer took over as caretaker coaches. Bill Blanch finished off the season, but the disruption proved problematic with the team missing out on the finals after being in the top three at the half way mark. Richie Aylett and Marc Joy coached the U19’s to the semis in second place with only 2 losses, but a couple of narrow losses in the finals saw them drop out of the title race. IDRU Honors went to Glenn Hutton (Most Consistent Player for the second time) and Chris Doyle the Highest Pointscorer.

1st Grade Minor Premiers, Premiers 1994

Back: G Osadczuk, A Rostirolla, G Myers, C Doyle, G Hutton (c), M Joy, A Cracknell, P Gardner, I Westwood, S Lunney, B Schoupp, S McKellar, G Tresidder (Absent J Woodhill)
Front: S Golightly, R Aylett, S Filan, P Murphy, K Smith, R Wylie, R Cheadle

1994 – The Peak of Shamrock success: The Club began its 25th season with wins in both of the Vikings and Batemans Bay preseason knock-outs…a taste of things to come. Chris Doyle celebrated early winning selection in the NSW Waratahs training squad. The second round match against Vikings at Nicho Park sealed the minor premiership for the greens, inspired by a monster 44 metre field goal by Ox Hutton. Shamrocks did not lose a game at home this year and finished the season by retaining the Club Championship title and winning the First Grade Minor Premiership. With all four senior grades qualifying for the Finals series the ‘Rocks went on to become the first club in the history of the Illawarra to achieve the clean sweep of First, Second and Third Grades major premierships. It also joined Vikings and Kiama as the only club to win 3 consecutive First Grade GRAND FINALs.

94 Grand Final Results: 1st Grade: Shamrocks 22 def Shoalhaven 12 2nd Grade: Shamrocks 24 def Campbelltown 6 3rd Grade: Shamrocks 12 def Vikings 9

This was clearly the best of Shamrock times: – Three 1st Grade Premierships in a row; three premierships in one year. The Juniors added to the Club’s overall success with Under 13, 15 and 17 teams all making the finals, with Under 17’s going down in the Grand Final. The depth was apparent in a truly great year.

Team Captain and Number 8 Glenn “Ox” Hutton won the IDRU Player of the Year for a third time, and Ray Wylie was the Districts leading try scorer for the third time. Ex Shamrock Barry Aylett was selected as 2nd Grade Grand Final referee and was honoured with being referee in the NSW Country Champions v Queensland Country Champions (Illawarra v Darling Downs) match.

2nd Grade Minor Premiers, Premiers 1995

Back: V Thicknesse, M Pymont, S Southwood, D Hudson, S House, B Endicott, J Walker
Middle: M Van Anen, T Filan, D Aylett, R Little, A Potter, S Filan, P Gardner
Front: J Charlesworth, P Geary, S Nicholls, P Hutton, J Woodford, J Pickthall, K Smith

The 1995 season started with 11 players out on representative duties – but the depth in the club was such that all 4 grades got a win against Weerona in Round 1 without a player needing to double up. 1995 was again a season of great success, highlighted by resounding wins against Vikings (73-15 at Nicho Park and 80-5 at Vikings Oval). With Minor Premierships in all three top senior grades, and U19’s making the finals play-offs, the Club Championship was Shamrocks again. 1st Grade qualified for its fourth consecutive Grand Final with this year’s opponent being the only team that the Rocks could not defeat in the rounds – Camden. Unfortunately the Rams repeated the dose in the Grand Final with Shammies losing by a penalty goal (9-6). Coach Grahame Tresidder announced he would step down as coach after four great seasons in which his team won 77 times and lost only 7 times (with 1 draw!). He had guided his squads to 3 minor premierships, 3 major premierships and 3 Club Championships.

The 90’s decade closed with Shamrocks having won four 1st Grade Premierships, four 2nd Grade Premierships, two 3rd Grade Premierships and three Club Championships. The crowning glory on the field was the 1994 win in all 3 grades. The 90s was undoubtedly the peak of Shamrocks footballing success and the future looked bright with planning well underway to relocate the Club to Ocean Park.

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Excerpt from “50 Years of Rugby: The Woonona Way” by Mick Traynor, documenting the history of the Woonona Shamrocks Rugby Union Football Club from 1970 to 2019. Reproduced with permission from the author.

To read more of the book, you can download it here.