the season. In July 1999, the option of forming a joint venture with fellow foundation club, the Western Suburbs Magpies was put to the Football Club members. The members ultimately voted in favour of a joint venture. As it turned out Balmain was in the top 14 clubs under the criteria (ahead of current NRL teams Penrith and South Sydney) but would have continued to struggle to be financially competitive with bigger clubs. The decision to enter a joint venture saw a crowd of 15,240 turn-out in atrocious conditions to watch the Tigers play their last home game in first grade at Leichhardt Oval as the Balmain Tigers. Balmain's final game in the top grade as a sole entity was in Round 26 1999 against the Canberra Raiders at Bruce Stadium which ended in a 42–14 defeat. At the time of the club's exit, Balmain were the third most successful club in the competition's history with eleven premierships. Only St. George and South Sydney had won more premierships. The new entity, Wests Tigers, made it to the 2005 NRL Grand Final and defeated the North Queensland Cowboys 30-16. Club today The club currently competes in both of the junior New South Wales Rugby League competitions, the Harold Matthews Cup and S. G. Ball Cup competitions, recording consecutive SG Ball premierships in 2012–13. From 2000, they played in the NSW Cup as a merged team with the Ryde-Eastwood Hawks and competed as the Balmain Ryde-Eastwood Tigers. From season 2013 onwards, Balmain does not have a senior representative side, having formed a joint venture with the Western Suburbs Magpies to form a Wests Tigers team. In October 2018, it was reported that the Balmain Leagues Club was placed into voluntary administration placing the future of the Balmain side at risk. It was also revealed that Balmain was required to pay a $2.5 million loan to the NRL by November 2021. The report followed on from the news that for over 10 years the leagues club at Rozelle had sat dormant as different shareholders and developers struggled to negotiate deals on what to do with the land. Both the Harold Matthews Cup and S. G. Ball Cup Balmain sides who still compete were reportedly not to be in any danger in the short term future. On 21 March 2019, it was revealed that Wests Ashfield accepted responsibility for the Balmain club's outstanding loan