Brisbane Broncos History

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Rugby League has been in Brisbane since day one and in 1909, the Brisbane premiership was formed that is still going strong, now known as the Queensland Cup. Poker Machines came into Sydney clubs in the 1950's and without Poker Machines in Brisbane, the Sydney clubs pounced on the best talent in Brisbane. The drain on talent in Queensland from the open cheque book Sydney clubs brought the introduction of State of Origin football in 1980. Support for a team from Brisbane in the Sydney started to gather support after the birth of origin football and in 1984, a Combined Brisbane side won the mid-week competition, contested by Sydney clubs and invitational clubs outside of Sydney. Brisbane came close to fielding a team for the 1987 season but QRL officials backed away and reluctantly during the 1987 season had decided to allow a team to enter the Sydney premiership. The Brisbane based side was to be a private consortium with the QRL choosing the locally based Paul Morgan company ahead of a Western Australia firm to control the new Brisbane side in the Sydney premiership.

The new consortium called the team "Brisbane Broncos", choosing Broncos ahead of Brumbies. Australian Test captain Wally Lewis was the first Broncos signing and naturally appointed captain of the new franchise. The Lewis factor was very crucial for the Broncos winning the support of traditional fans in Brisbane from the outset. Lewis and close mate Gene Miles had agreed to terms with Manly for 1987, but a clause in their QRL contracts prevented them going to Manly because the QRL offered both the same amount as what Manly offered them in contract terms, Manly offered far more outside the contract. Brisbane won their first seven matches before a heavy rep season and the week-to-week grind in Sydney took its toll on the club. Lewis captained Australia in 1988-89, giving the Broncos an immediate Test captain. Also playing for Australia in the Broncos debut year were Miles, Greg Conescu and halfback sensation Allan Langer. Brisbane the next season tasted success by winning the mid-week Panasonic Cup but the tour to New Zealand where eight players were missing (six in the side plus Langer and Miles injured) tolled heavily on Brisbane as the lost five matches during that period. They still made the play-off for 5th position.

Wayne Bennett sacked Wally Lewis as captain for the 1990 season, the beginning of the end for Queensland's greatest ever player. Lewis was not in the Broncos plans for the future, despite him being the main reason why the Broncos were an instant success, especially off the field. Lewis would have a terrible year with injury and despite playing in the preliminary final, the ARL ruled that his arm was still broken and denied him a place on the Kangaroo tour. Gene Miles took over as captain for the 1990 season and did a great job and the Broncos finished 3rd at seasons end, a great season but one all over shadowed with Lewis' sacking from the club near the end of the season. Lewis would sign for Gold Coast and Brisbane struggled without him the next season.

Miles and Dowling left the scene at the end of 1991, those two were the last of the big mid-1980's Queensland and Brisbane premiership stars at the Broncos. Langer, who played two seasons with Ipswich before the Broncos introduction took over the captaincy for the 1992 season. Brisbane easily won the premiership in 1992 with Langer the star, scoring two tries and winning the Clive Churchill Medal. Brisbane after the 1992 World Cup final where Australia won 10-6 with Steve Renouf scoring the only try, defeated Wigan 22-8 at Central Park to win the World Club Championship. The following year, Brisbane moved to ANZ Stadium and they came from 5th position to take out the premiership. If they won the final round, they would have been minor premiers. Brisbane couldn't make it a hat-trick of premierships in 1994, they scraped into the finals and lost in the second week to North Sydney.

Super League came about in 1995 with Brisbane at the centre of it. They finished in the top three in 1995-96 but in both years, lost their two finals matches. It caused a clean out with Kerrod Walters, Willie Carne and Alan Cann the scapegoats. The Super League year in 1997 saw Brisbane predictibly win the premiership, but they played some great football despite the divided premiership. Rugby League united again in 1998, where Brisbane showed its class beating Newcastle 26-6 in the super bowl showdown in round 7 and won the minor premiership. After a hiccup in their first semi-final match against Parramatta, the Broncos found devastating form against Melbourne and Sydney City in the next finals matches before defeating Canterbury 38-12 in the grand final. Allan Langer at the end of the 1998 season would become the Broncos 2nd Test captain when he led the Kangaroos in the final two Test matches against New Zealand, both of them wins. Wayne Bennett was Australian coach, giving both men the very unique treble of premiership wins as captain and coach at club, state and test level.

Brisbane?s title defence got off to the worst possible start in 1999 with champion halfback Allan Langer announcing a shock retirement after Round 8. The Broncos under new captain Kevin Walters recovered from a horrendous start to finish the season in 8th position. Brisbane led from start to finish in the 2000 season where they won their 5th Premiership defeating the Sydney Roosters 14-6 in the Grand Final. Darren Lockyer won the Clive Churchill Medal for best player in the Grand Final and it was a fitting farewell for two Brisbane champions in Kevin Walters and 1988 original Michael Hancock.

Gorden Tallis tookover the Broncos captain in 2001 and Brisbane were again competitive but the dominance they had from previous seasons started to slide. Brisbane qualified for the Finals in 5th position and despite walloping the Dragons in the second week of the Finals were never a major threat to Newcastle or Parramatta in winning the title and were bundled out the following week losing to the Eels.

Allan Langer returned to Brisbane for the 2000 season and with that saw the Broncos have the direction they missed in 2001. Langer took the Broncos to one game short of the Grand Final and only a shocking display of refereeing cost Brisbane any chance of making the 2002 decider. Langer finally called it a day and there were never going to be any comebacks. Gorden Tallis would become the Broncos 3rd Test captain when he led the Kangaroos in a one-off Test against New Zealand in October 2002.

Brisbane limped their way into the 2003 Finals into 8th position losing eight games on the trot and despite an encouraging first half against eventual premiers Penrith were bundled out of the running. With Andrew Johns and Gorden Tallis out of the 2003 Kangaroo Tour, Darren Lockyer was announced as Australian captain and in just 16 seasons the Broncos have produced four Test captains.

The 2004 season was much the same as the 2003 season where Brisbane limped into the Finals but they won enough matches to final in 3rd position. They went out the backdoor with losses to Melbourne and North Queensland.

Brisbane will always be a powerhouse in the game but with strong challenges from North Queensland and soon to be Gold Coast, their mantle as the premier club in Queensland will come under some minor threat. The Broncos have been the benchmark and the games most professional club since the expansion of the National competition in 1988 for performances on and off the field. They?ve had one coach in that entire time and Wayne Bennett has proved to be the rock and foundation for the Broncos success and legacy of producing great players.

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