ahhh yes, i remember that game very well !!!
as a Dragons lifelong fan and growing up in Sydney i was a excited as a young bloke when Illawarra and Canberra were admitted to the Sydney Premiership and again a little more excited when 6 years later the Knights, Bronco's and Giants were admitted
i was taken to Perth for a holiday as a kid and luvd it, i remember i saw a story in a Rugby League annual magazine about that time and saw South Perth wearing the Dragons colours so they became my team to follow in Perth - i didnt even know Rugby League was played there at the time !!
as i got older and saw ads in the RLW for Captain Coaches wanted over in WA i always thought about applying and heading over coz i always felt an affinity to the place after that holiday a sa kid and I used to love seeing the Winfield Cup games get taken to the WACA and because they would always pull solid crowds to the WACA i was keen to see the ARL expand to the West Coast
so when the Reds won admission in '95 with the Crushers and Cowboys i replaced my "second" team, Illawarra, with the Reds - they'd grabbed a couple of my favourite players in Brad Mackay and Mick Potter off the Dragons as well as a bunch of other players i liked such as Mark Geyer, Dale Fritz, Matty Rodwell, Matt Fuller and a coach i respected and was happy to see in his first First grade appointment in Peter Mulholland, so i was into the Reds bigtime and very excited at the prospect of having a team based in Perth coz iud always wanted the ARL to be truly national
i was so into the Western Reds i remember buying their jersey the first time i saw it and it had only been in the store since that morning so i was buying the first one and i still love it to this day !!
the kickoff weekend was a beauty, i was on a rostered day off so i was walking around on that Friday like it was GF day come 6 months early i was so happy and what a first game it was to kickoff the season as the Warriors nearly pulled off a stunning upset over Brisbane
the Satdy arvo ABC live game saw the debuting Crushers get touched up by the Raiders and then we got the live game of Cowboys hosting Bulldogs and getting bashed by the team that would finish Premiers 6 months later
and so it was onto the Sunday game, irony not lost on me that this new team who i was so happy to see in the comp was about to get pumped by my team and i remember watching it just stunned at the dismantling the Reds gave us, it looked a fast game in real hot conditions and the Redsfans were crazy behind their team and although we got nutted i still couldnt get ticked off
the Knights hammered the Reds the next week in their first road trip but then the Reds hit back beating Cronulla at Cronulla in the live ABC game on th following Satdy which i still have on tape
i still have the Reds v STG game on tape and thanks to Fox Sports Chooseday night footy i have it on disc as well as the memorable Reds '96 upset win over Manly, 11-8 at the WACA
have kept following the club via the internet and Rugby League Review magazine and keeping up with the Junior Reds and am so glad the WARL have decided to launch the Pirates after initially being xcited at the prospect of the Benny Elias/Tony Seage consortium getting a Perth team going