INSIDE THE ULTIMATE TIGERS DEN:
KEN Olson of Mount Sheridan may well be one of the biggest Wests Tigers fans.
The retired Vietnam veteran has dedicated his home bar to the Sydney side, creating a ‘Tigers’ den’ with more than 50 individual pieces of memorabilia and supporter merchandise on display.
“I was born and raised down south and I spent most of my life in the Balmain/Leichhardt area in Sydney,” he said. “I came up here in 2004 ... but once a Balmain boy, always a Balmain boy.
“I’ve got the 2005 premiership jumper and the original one when they were the Balmain Tigers and my collection has just progressed from there.
“I’ve got about 18 different jumpers and I buy a new one every two years ... I’m running out of room.
“I’ve also got the original DVD of when the Tigers thrashed the Cowboys in the 2005 grand final, I’ve still got it in the original cover.”
Mr Olson said he was still adding to his collection, much to his wife’s dislike.
“She thinks I’m overboard,” he said.
“I still come across new things to add and I’m getting two neon lights made up in China that project the Wests Tigers logo.
“I’ve also got a full sound system and when the game is on we put it on the wall with the projector.”
But Mr Olson said he was looking forward to seeing the action live in tonight’s trial match against the North Queensland Cowboys.
“The Tigers are going to win, but if they don’t they’ll be putting up a smoke screen for the year ahead,” he said.
“I think it’ll be a close game, there’s a lot of young guys in the Tigers team that are starting to work well together.
“Then they’ve got a couple of senior players that will get the game through.
“But I’m up here in Cowboys territory now, they’re so fanatical up here I wore a Tigers jersey into a hotel once and I was lucky to get out with my life.”
Mr Olson said he hoped to rub shoulders with his number one player at Barlow Park tonight.
“Benji Marshall would have to be my favourite player, he’s just a top class player, a class above the rest,” he said.
“I was hoping to get my photo with him at the game.”