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ABOVE: Former Sydney player Troy Luff, winner of the 2002 Phelan Medal.

Balmain was a force during the early years of the Sydney-based New South Wales Australian Football League, reaching the grand final in the competition's second year, 1904, and contesting the finals in 1905 (4th) and 1906 (3rd). The club was again prominent during the first World War when a grand final defeat by Paddington in 1916 was interspersed between 3rd and 4th place finishes in 1915 and 1917. However, at the end of the 1925 season the league was restructured along district lines and Balmain was excluded.  The club did not reform until 1947 when it again competed in the top grade Sydney competition, the New South Wales Australian National Football League.  However, it struggled, only contesting the finals twice in four decades. On the second of these occasions in 1983 the Tigers as they were nicknamed at the time made it all the way to the grand final, but  an all conquering East Sydney side proved too strong, and it was not until the 1990s that Balmain rose to prominence once again. After a concerted period of success in the Sydney Football Association the side resumed participation in New South Wales football's senior competition, the SFL, in 1994, and after struggling initially  finally secured a long awaited flag in 1997. A second flag the following year appeared to confirm that the Tigers had 'arrived'.