1997 Brisbane Broncos season

The 1997 Brisbane Broncos season was the tenth in the club's history. This season was unique in that they participated in the Australian Super League's 1997 Telstra Cup premiership and 1997 World Club Championship, winning both competitions.

Season summary

The Broncos again won their first 7 matches, before finally losing to the Penrith Panthers in round 8. Brisbane won their final three regular season games to capture their second minor premiership. In the Major Semi-Final against Cronulla the Broncos thrashed the sharks to move into their first home Grand Final. The Sharks recovered to make the big one, but they were no match for the Broncos. Despite being without key forward Glenn Lazarus and hampered by a troublesome groin injury, Allan Langer led his side to victory 26-8 for their third premiership in front of almost 60,000 home fans. Steve Renouf scored a hat-trick in the match.^[1]

Following the premiership win, the Broncos also won the 1997 World Club Championship which involved clubs from the European Super League as well.

Match results

Round	Opponent	Result	Bro.	Opp.	Date	Venue	Crowd	Position
1	Auckland Warriors	Win	14	2	1 Mar	ANZ Stadium	42,361	2/10
2	Adelaide Rams	Win	28	12	9 Mar	ANZ Stadium	16,279	1/10
3	Perth Reds	Win	26	16	16 Mar	WACA Ground	11,109	2/10
4	Canberra Raiders	Win	24	8	24 Mar	ANZ Stadium	26,103	2/10
5	Cronulla Sharks	Win	14	12	31 Mar	ANZ Stadium	17,294	1/10
6	North Queensland Cowboys	Win	42	16	5 Apr	Stockland Stadium	30,122	1/10
7^[2]	Adelaide Rams	Win	20	10	13 Apr	Adelaide Oval	17,633	1/10
8	Penrith Panthers	Loss	26	27	21 Apr	Penrith Football Stadium	12,648	1/10
9^[3]	Canterbury Bulldogs	Win	34	16	28 Apr	ANZ Stadium	17,921	1/10
10	Auckland Warriors	Win	34	18	4 May	Mt Smart Stadium	16,471	1/10
11^[4]	North Queensland Cowboys	Draw	20	20	25 May	ANZ Stadium	14,167	1/10
12	Hunter Mariners	Loss	6	24	30 May	Topper Stadium	7,124	1/10
13	Cronulla Sharks	Loss	4	32	30 Jun	Endeavour Field	12,240	1/10
14	Perth Reds	Win	50	14	6 Jul	ANZ Stadium	11,806	1/10
15	Canberra Raiders	Win	19	4	14 Jul	Bruce Stadium	13,067	1/10
16	Penrith Panthers	Win	54	12	10 Aug	ANZ Stadium	13,921	1/10
17	Hunter Mariners	Win	34	16	18 Aug	ANZ Stadium	13,830	1/10
18	Canterbury Bulldogs	Win	32	24	25 Aug	Belmore Oval	9,781	1/10
Semi Final	Cronulla Sharks	Win	34	2	6 Sep	Stockland Stadium	26,256
GRAND FINAL	Cronulla Sharks	Win	26	8	20 Sep	ANZ Stadium	58,912

World Club Challenges Match results

Round	Opponent	Result	Bro.	Opp.	Date	Venue	Crowd
WCC 1	London Broncos	Win	42	22	6 Jun	ANZ Stadium	18,193
WCC 2	Wigan Warriors	Win	34	0	16 Jun	ANZ Stadium	14,833
WCC 3	Halifax Blue Sox	Win	76	0	24 Jun	ANZ Stadium	11,358
WCC 4	Wigan Warriors	Win	30	4	20 Jul	Central Park	12,816
WCC 5	London Broncos	Win	34	16	27 Jul	The Stoop	9,846
WCC 6	Halifax Blue Sox	Win	54	10	4 Aug	Thrum Hall	3,255
WCC Quarter Final	St Helens	Win	66	12	4 Oct	ANZ Stadium	6,438
WCC Semi Final	Auckland Warriors	Win	22	16	10 Oct	ANZ Stadium	9,686
WCC Final	Hunter Mariners	Win	36	12	17 Oct	Mt Smart Stadium	12,000

Ladders

Telstra Cup Premiership Ladder

	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts
1	Brisbane	18	14	1	3	481	283	+198	29
2	Cronulla	18	12	0	6	403	230	+173	24
3	Canberra	18	11	0	7	436	337	+99	22
4	Canterbury	18	10	0	8	453	447	+6	20
5	Penrith	18	9	0	9	431	462	-31	18
6	Hunter	18	7	0	11	350	363	-13	14
7	Auckland	18	7	0	11	332	406	-74	14
8	Perth	18	7	0	11	321	356	-135	14
9	Adelaide	18	6	1	11	303	402	-99	13
10	North Queensland	18	5	2	11	328	452	-124	12

World Club Challenge Australasia Pool A

	Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts
1	Brisbane	6	6	0	270	52	+218	12
2	Auckland	6	6	0	268	82	+186	12
3	Cronulla	6	6	0	230	54	+176	12
4	Penrith	6	6	0	256	120	+136	12
5	Canberra	6	5	1	302	108	+194	10
6	Canterbury	6	4	2	218	121	+97	8

Scorers

Player	Tries	Goals	FG	Points
Darren Lockyer	7	70/109	0	168
Wendell Sailor	15	0	0	60
Steve Renouf	14	0	0	56
Michael De Vere	7	2/2	0	32
Darren Smith	8	0	0	32
Kevin Walters	8	0	0	32
Tonie Carroll	6	0	0	24
Peter Ryan	6	0	0	24
Brett Le Man	4	0	0	16
Allan Langer	5	0	1	21
Michael Hancock	5	0	0	20
Brad Thorn	4	0	0	16
Anthony Mundine	3	0	0	12
John Plath	3	0	0	12
Gorden Tallis	3	0	0	12
Shane Webcke	3	0	0	12
Andrew Gee	1	0	0	4
Phillip Lee	1	0	0	4

Grand final

Player	Position	Player
Darren Lockyer	Fullback	David Peachey
Michael De Vere	Wing	Mat Rogers
Steve Renouf	Centre	Andrew Ettingshausen (C)
Anthony Mundine	Centre	Russell Richardson
Wendell Sailor	Wing	Geoff Bell
Kevin Walters	Five-eighth	Mitch Healey
Allan Langer (C)	Halfback	Paul Green
Brad Thorn	Prop	Danny Lee
Andrew Gee	Hooker	Dean Triester
Shane Webcke	Prop	Jason Stevens
Gorden Tallis	Second Row	Craig Greenhill
Peter Ryan	Second Row	Chris McKenna
Darren Smith	Lock	Tawera Nikau
Tonie Carroll	Interchange	Adam Dykes
John Plath	Interchange	Sean Ryan
Michael Hancock	Interchange	Les Davidson
Ben Walker	Interchange	Nathan Long
Wayne Bennett	COACH	John Lang

20 September

Brisbane 26 (TRIES: Renouf 3, Hancock; GOALS: Lockyer 5/6)

defeated

Cronulla 8 (TRIES: Richardson; GOALS: Rogers 2/2)

Halftime: Brisbane 10-2

Referee: Bill Harrigan

Stadium: ANZ Stadium, (Brisbane)

Crowd: 58, 912

Honours

League

Nil

Club

Player of the year: Peter Ryan^[5]
Rookie of the year: Michael De Vere
Back of the year: Kevin Walters
Forward of the year: Brad Thorn
Club man of the year: Tony Spencer

References

^ "Grand final simply super". Illawarra Mercury. Fairfax Digital. 21 September 1997. p. 26. Retrieved 6 October 2009. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
^ This match was played after a Tri-series match between Queensland and New South Wales on 11 April.
^ This match was played after the ANZAC Test between Super League Australia and New Zealand on 25 April.
^ This match was played after Tri-series matches between Queensland and New Zealand on 9 May, and Queensland and New South Wales on 19 May.
^ "Honour Board". broncos.com.au. Brisbane Broncos. Retrieved 22 December 2013.

External links

27°33′30″S 153°03′44″E / 27.558333°S 153.062222°E / -27.558333; 153.062222 (ANZ Stadium)

[1] "Grand final simply super". Illawarra Mercury. Fairfax Digital. 21 September 1997. p. 26. Retrieved 6 October 2009. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)

[2] This match was played after a Tri-series match between Queensland and New South Wales on 11 April.

[3] This match was played after the ANZAC Test between Super League Australia and New Zealand on 25 April.

[4] This match was played after Tri-series matches between Queensland and New Zealand on 9 May, and Queensland and New South Wales on 19 May.

[5] "Honour Board". broncos.com.au. Brisbane Broncos. Retrieved 22 December 2013.

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v t e Brisbane Broncos
Est. 1988 in Brisbane, Queensland
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