Our overall win percentage is below 40% at C'town and above 50% at LO however we need to move all our home games to Homebush and make it our fortress as it is central for all our support base and will easily fit even our largest crowds when we start winning (whenever that is).
The Numbers Don’t Lie. And Neither Does History.
This isn't about turf wars or reigniting old rivalries. It's about performance, identity, and results. So let’s look at the facts, not opinions, and maybe we’ll learn something that helps us move forward as a club.
Post-Merger (Wests Tigers 2000 to Present):
- Leichhardt Oval: 99 games – 55 wins, 43 losses, 1 draw – 55.5% win rate
- Campbelltown Sports Stadium: 99 games – 39 wins, 59 losses, 1 draw – 39.4% win rate
That’s a consistent 16 percent gap in performance across 25 years. Spread across a season, that’s roughly two extra wins a year, which in many cases would have been enough to push us into finals.
But the story doesn’t start in 2000.
Pre-Merger:
- Balmain Tigers at Leichhardt Oval
555 games: 343 wins, 197 losses, 15 draws
Win rate: 61.8 percent
- Western Suburbs Magpies at Campbelltown Sports Stadium
141 games: 67 wins, 67 losses, 7 draws
Win rate: 47.5 percent
Again, we see a double-digit difference in performance.
This isn't about scrapping Campbelltown or playing the Balmain versus Wests card. Both clubs originally came from Sydney’s inner west. Wests from Ashfield, Concord, and Lidcombe. Balmain from Rozelle and Balmain. Campbelltown was a strategic expansion, not a traditional base.
The current players train in the inner west. Coaching and HQ are based there. And players consistently talk about Leichhardt's atmosphere. That connection is real.
The numbers, both historical and modern, point to one clear pattern. We consistently play better in the inner west.
So the question is this:
Why is Campbelltown underperforming?
Is it facilities, atmosphere, player connection, travel? We don’t need to abandon it, but we do need to understand it. Because the difference is real and it’s costing us results.
To the long-time Wests fans: did Campbelltown ever feel like Pratten Park or Lidcombe Oval? Did it have that same bite, that same home-ground edge?
Let’s have the conversation. Not to argue. To understand. Because if we can close that performance gap, we close the gap on finals footy. Simple as that.
