Rockingham Vipers

The Rockingham Vipers are a gridiron football club competing in the Gridiron West league.

The Vipers were established in 1996 with the merging of the Rockingham Dolphins and the Fremantle Seahawks. The result of the merger was immediately shown with the Vipers making the Semi-Final of Gridiron West in their inaugural year. The Vipers quickly became one of the top-tier sides while gaining a reputation for their hard-hitting style of play.

History
The Rockingham Vipers are celebrating its 10th year in Gridiron West and what better way then to look at the clubs great history. The Rockingham Vipers have played finals football in all of its 10 years, the Vipers have played in the Gridiron West Grand final 5 of the last 6 years.

In 2001-02 season the Vipers played in there first Grand Final against the Westside Steelers in a battle that has created a rivalry matched by no other two clubs in Gridiron West. An experienced Steelers side gave the Vipers a lesson in football that might have started something they wished they never had.

The 2002-03 season brought satisfaction as the Vipers returned to the Grand Final and defeated the Leederville Giants in a thrilling game where Defense dominated. Led by the awesome middle linebacking Duo of #60 Jason Gastarov and #56 Chris Tracy, the Viper D was ferocious, constantly shutting down the Giants offense. The game was a defense showdown until the Viper offensive line #69 Pete O'Neil and #74 Ricky "Ruckus" Read opened up a massive hole in which the Vipers running back and superstar of the game #21 Desi Dugoid ran in a 35 yard touchdown in the dying seconds to seal the game.

In the following season the Vipers managed too lose only 1 game as they defended the title they had fought so hard for the last 7 years and now that it was there’s had no plans of letting go. They would find themselves against a seasoned campaigner QB #10 Ben Newton led Claremont Jets team who were looking too knock the Vipers off there perch. But with another marvelous coaching job, Head Coach Phil Mullan had his boys ready. As the game went on it was all but over by halftime as the Viper offense led by game MVP, quarterback #13 Ben Gastarov hit there stride and never looked back, always knowing that defense was going too do there job it was the offense that surprised with 42 points in a game they were not meant to win according too critics.

The game most Vipers had been waiting for since there first Grand Final. They would finally meet the Steelers in another Grand Final. This game started as a defensive one and the pressure was on from the first play onwards. It was an even game all the way until halftime with both defenses not giving an inch. At halftime Head Coach Phil Mullan threw out his challenges to his offense and there were some pretty stern words directed at one of the game's most potent offenses at the time. The first play back in the 3rd quarter it all started with some brilliant catches by tight end #85 Simon Popplier that ended up with him scoring a touchdown over 3 defenders in a jump ball situation. The rest of the team responded and the Vipers captured their 3rd championship trophy.

In the next season there was a mass exodus with 10 to 15 veteran players retiring and 4 to 5 moving to other teams, as well as losing Head Coach Phil Mullan to work commitments. This proved to be costly as the Vipers slipped to fourth on the ladder and got knocked out of the finals by eventual champions Leederville Giants. The season was long and hard as the team only had 12 full-time players and a few that came and went, but all was not lost as the Rockingham Vipers found some potential superstars in rookies Jason Miles and Ben Jardine. Both of whom would play on and be a major part of the next season.

In the 2005-06 season there would be a few surprises with new players Sean Bruce, Drazen Vucic, Bojan Vucic and the well campaigned, veteran, running back Justin Rogers switching sides to join a Viper team that was on the move back up again. One surprise that nobody expected was the welcomed return of club stalwart Head Coach Phil Mullan. He produced one of his finest displays of coaching throughout the season. The season would take the team on some highs and lows as the Vipers would meet an old foe in the Grand Final.

The same old foe was met in the 2006-07 season with the vipers causing the only defeat of the reigining champions the Westside Steelers, who went on to win the final against the vipers in sensational fashion 40-0.

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