Brisbane Broncos - NRL 1998

1998 - Broncos Take Inaugural NRL Competition

BRISBANE 38 (Campion, Carroll, Devere, Lee, Sailor, Smith, Tallis tries, Lockyer 5 goals)
d. CANTERBURY 12 (Grimaldi, Talau tries, Halligan 2 goals).
Referee: W. Harrigan. Crowd: 40,857 at SFS.

Following re-unification of the Super League and ARL competitions into the National Rugby League premiership, rugby league began the long path back to recovery. In December 1997 the two warring parties formed a joint board to run an elite rugby league competition in Australia. But the seasons to come would not be without further ongoing pain to clubs, players and fans alike.

Despite the obvious imbalance in the number of Sydney teams in the so called national competition, three expansion teams - Hunter Mariners (1997), Perth Reds (1995-97) and South Queensland Crushers (1995-97) - were all closed down in the lead up to the compromise of December 1997. The nineteen remaining teams (11 of which were in Sydney) were joined by the Melbourne Storm for the initial season of the National Rugby League premiership. A condition of the peace agreement was that the number of teams be reduced to 14 for the 2000 season - there would be much more pain ahead for rugby league but for the moment at least there was some footy to enjoy.

Justifiably perhaps, the premiers of the 1997 split competitions Brisbane and Newcastle, finished the regular season together at the top of the NRL table. The Broncos took the minor premiership on points for and against, even though with a twenty team competition not every team could play each other twice. This imbalance was addressed by the NRL who adopted a ten team semi-finals series. This kept many teams in the hunt for the play-offs until very late in the season, but Adelaide, Souths, Gold Coast and Wests were long out of the race by June.

Melbourne surprised many pundits by taking third place for the play-offs ahead of Parramatta, Norths, Sydney City, Canberra, St George, Canterbury and Manly. The semi-finals series was highlighted by the run of the Canterbury Bulldogs to the Grand Final. After beating the Dragons and the Bears, the Bulldogs then produced two remarkable come from behind victories over Newcastle and Parramatta to gain a place in the premiership decider against the Broncos. In the Final against the Eels, Canterbury were down by 18-2 with 10 minutes to play. On the back of a magnificent sideline conversion from Daryl Halligan the Bulldogs levelled with the Eels to force the game into extra time, where they went on to win 32-20.

Reality struck the Bulldogs in the Grand Final in the shape of the powerful Brisbane side. The Broncos had played well all season despite the heavy burden of being favourites throughout. Brisbane produced an awesome performance to take the game 38-12 to claim their fourth premiership in seven years. Through the upheavals of the most turbulent time in rugby league history, the Brisbane Broncos continued to relentlessly set the standards. To bring them down would require other teams to be competing consistently at a comparable level. The NRL argued that to achieve competitiveness and the long-term financial success of the game, the drive to 14 teams must continue.

At the end of the season the Illawarra Steelers (est.1982) and the famous St. George Dragons (est.1921) formed the games first joint venture - the St.George-Illawarra Dragons were born. This was followed by decisions from the ARL and News Ltd which seemed to bely the inclusion of the word "National" in the premiership's name - they closed down the Gold Coast Chargers (who started as the Giants in 1988) and the Adelaide Rams (est.1997).

GRAND FINAL: September 27, Sydney Football Stadium (40,857)
Brisbane 38 defeated Canterbury 12
BRISBANE: D.Lockyer, S. Renouf, M.Devere, D.Smith, W.Sailor, K.Walters, A.Langer (c), S.Webcke, P.Lee, A.Gee, G.Tallis, B.Thorn, T.Carroll. Interchange: J.Plath, M.Hancock, K.Campion, P.Civoniceva.
CANTERBURY- R. Silva, G. Lester, S. Marteene, W. TaJau, D. Halligan, C. Polla-Mounter, C. Hughes, D. Britt, J. Hetherington, S. Price, T Grimaldi, R. Relf, T Norton.
BRISBANE 38 (Campion, Carroll, Devere, Lee, Sailor, Smith, Tallis tries, Lockyer 5 goals) CANTERBURY 12 (Grimaldi, Talau tries, Halligan 2 goals). Referee: W. Harrigan. Crowd: 40,857. At SFS.

Finals: Brisbane 46 d. Sydney City 18. Canterbury 32 d. Parramatta 20.
Semi-finals: Canberra 17 d. Manly 4. Canterbury 20 d. St George 12. Parramatta 25 d. Norths 12. Sydney City 26 d. Melbourne 12. Canterbury 23 d. Norths 2. Melbourne 24 d. Canberra 10. Sydney City 26 d. Newcastle 15. Parramatta 15 d. Brisbane 10. Canterbury 28 d. Newcastle 16. Brisbane 30 d. Melbourne 6.