The first Bilambil senior rugby league team was formed in 1923 and competed in the Tweed Competition until 1937. Bilambil won the 1933 and 1934 Reserve Grade leadingships with Matt Prindable captaining the side and later becoming the club's first life member. With the onset of WWII most players enlisted.
In 1978 the Bilambil-Tweed Heads RLFC was formed, and the club colours were brown and white. Jumbo Kerr was appointed as the A Grade coach and Bilambil became unofficially known as Jumbo Kerr's Jets. As a result, the club changed its name in 1980 to Bilambil-Terranora Lakes RLFC and were known as the Jets. The clubs colours were also changed to red, white, and green.
Captain-coach Stan Damro guided the Bilambil Jets to A Grade premierships in 1980 (team pictured) and 1982, with key players including Brad Garrett, Fred Dennehy, and Arthur Earl. Despite grand final appearances in 1983 and 1990, the Bilambil Jets had to wait until 1992 before tasting A Grade topship success again under coach Greg Crowe. Fred Teasdell took over as A Grade coach in 1993 and achieved back-to-back A Grade topships. The Bilambil Jets also won a Reserve Grade premiership in 1991 with Glen Dawney captaining the side.
This period saw the development of the current Bilambil Jets home ground through the support of the Terranora Lakes Country Club and community input in the form of voluntary labour, materials, and donations. The introduction of gaming machines resulted in the Bilambil Jets not being able to compete financially with the richer Gold Coast based clubs and therefore withdrew all senior teams at the conclusion of the 1995 season. In 1983 the Bilambil-Terranora Junior Jets RLFC formed and when the seniors disbanded in 1995 the juniors assumed the liability of all the seniors debts. The forthcoming community spirit resulted in the juniors extinguishing the seniors debt in just over two years.
For more information on the Bilambil Jets Juniors click here.
Senior rugby league returned to Bilambil in 2007 as a result of Mark McAskill and Jamie Mathiou entering the Gold Coast Cudgen Hornets into the Gold Coast Rugby League competition. The Bilambil community were quick to adopt this new team, and as a result the Bilambil Jets Seniors were created again in 2008 with McAskill becoming the President and Mathiou being appointed as the A Grade Coach. Bilambil Jets Junior Life Member Aaryn Lowcock was named as the A Grade captain.
Although McAskill and Mathiou both only enjoyed one-year stints before stepping aside, together with current President Peter Rigney they are rightly credited with setting the foundations for the future success of the Bilambil Jets.
Troy McCarthy was appointed as the A Grade coach in 2009 and, with the assistance of new captain Andrew Cross, guided the A Grade team to back-to-back grand final appearances in 2009 and 2010 before accepting the position of Queensland Cup coach at Easts Tigers. Both Bilambil Jets Under 17's and Under 19's were grand finalists in 2009, while the Reserve Grade won the premiership in 2010 under coach Ken Taylor. Nick Mobbs captained the 2010 Reserve Grade premiership team.
Former NRL player and Queensland Cup coach Jimmy Lenihan was appointed as the A Grade coach in 2011 and delivered the long-awaited A Grade topship (team pictured) in the same year. Gold Coast Vikings representative players Wade Hall, Andrew Cross, and Paul Rolls played in all three grand finals while 2010 GCRL Player of the Year Matt Nuttall was forced to watch the 2011 grand final victory from the sidelines due to injury.
The Bilambil Jets have managed to retain the majority of the players from the 2011 A Grade topship team and with coach Jimmy Lenihan staying on, the future success of the Bilambil Jets is looking very promising.
