Tristan Hope is completing pre-season training with Wests Tigers, as the 27-year-old Queenslander aims to fulfil his lifelong dream of reaching the NRL.
A junior star who represented Queensland U/18s, the hooker has played nearly 70 games of Queensland Cup, bringing a wealth of senior football experience to the young group who began pre-season training on November 4.
Like many train-and-triallists across the NRL, Hope is making one last push to the top.
“I definitely jumped at the opportunity as a 27-year-old, you know, opportunities like this don't come around often in rugby league circles,” Hope said.
“I thought I'll give it one more crack, one more throw at the stumps and just see what happens.
“The wife jumped on the back of it and said, ‘This is your goal, this is your dream’. So once I got the okay from her, it was all guns blazing and here we are.”
A Toowoomba junior, Hope moved to Brisbane after high school to play in the Holden Cup for the Broncos.
After going on to play for multiple clubs in the Queensland Cup, his hard work was rewarded in 2023.
“I’ve spent the last seven or eight years in the Queensland Cup and ended up winning the competition with Brisbane Tigers in 2023.
“Winning a competition at that level is always a great accomplishment and a great achievement, especially for the club.
“It was the first Grand Final that they had won in 15 years so it was a pretty awesome moment to see; there were grown men back at the leagues club crying after the game because it meant so much to them.”
Since arriving at Wests Tigers, Hope has been particularly blown away by the coaching staff.
Hope describes their guiding influence on players such as himself who have not played NRL before as ‘awesome’.
“They just want to give you everything and pass down all their knowledge that they've gained over thousands of games of NRL between them.
“I just love the fact that they actually jump into drills and do them and demonstrate them, it’s awesome.
“They've been in those moments in the trenches when you're training, they’ve been in the moments in games where it's all locked up and they need to come up with the play.
“So you respect that so much coming from someone that's done it so many times before.”
In addition to grasping this new opportunity at Wests Tigers, Tristan also has his hands full away from footy.
“First and foremost, I’ve got a little two-year-old, he’s a ball of energy so he takes up a fair bit of my time and I'm also expecting number two in the next few weeks.
In the next ten years or so when my little fella can understand it, I just hope that my career’s something that he can look at and be proud of.
Tristan Hope
“Whatever he wants to do, if it's footy, or whatever he wants to do, I just want to give him something to look up to.”
