# 1998 Brisbane Broncos season

The 1998 Brisbane Broncos season was the eleventh in the history of Brisbane's National Rugby League premiership team, the Brisbane Broncos. Coached by Wayne Bennett and captained by Allan Langer, they participated in the newly formed National Rugby League's 1998 premiership and posted their three biggest ever wins in rounds 5, 7 and 15 before finishing the regular season as minor premiers. The Broncos then won the 1998 NRL Grand Final, capturing their fourth premiership in seven seasons.

## Season summary

For the 1998 season the Broncos were joined by future Melbourne Storm coach, Craig Bellamy who would work under head coach Wayne Bennett as performance co-ordinator and assistant coach.
As could be expected by their finish to the 1997 season, Brisbane were solid in their first five matches of 1998, snatching five victories. In rounds five and seven, the Broncos won by a margin of 54 points, which was the club's record at the time. This was followed by shock losses to the Sydney City Roosters and Cronulla, but Langer led them to a big win over Canterbury only to see two more club losses. But the Broncos recovered to post huge wins over Penrith and the Western Suburbs Magpies. The Broncos finished the remainder of the regular season undefeated finishing with 10 wins and 1 draw in their last 11 games. The top try-scorer from the NRL season was Brisbane's Darren Smith.
After a week off granted by winning the minor premiership, the Broncos were smothered out of the game by Parramatta 15–10 in their opening finals match. But they lifted and provided some miracle spark against the Melbourne Storm 30-6 a week later, resurrecting their premiership hopes. A huge win over Sydney City 46–18 in the preliminary final installed them at near unbackable odds against Canterbury in the first NRL Grand Final. The Broncos came back from a 12-10 half time deficit to again win consecutive premierships for the second time, and their fourth in seven seasons with a 38-12 Grand Final victory.
The Broncos were also named "Queensland Sport Team of the Year" at the Queensland Sport Awards.
The Broncos' consistent dominance over other teams at this period of time contributed to the National Rugby League's plans to cut the number of teams down to 14 in order to ensure competitiveness and the long-term financial success of the game. Despite the rationalization of the league, the club has continued to dominate in the modern era of the league, winning two more premierships in 2000 and 2006, as well as reaching another two Grand Finals in 2015 and 2023.
The Broncos' 1998 premiership win came in a year in which their Australian Football League neighbours, the Brisbane Lions, won the wooden spoon.

## Match results

| Round | Opponent | Result | Bro. | Opp. | Date | Venue | Crowd | Position |
| 1 | Manly Sea Eagles | Win | 22 | 6 | 13 Mar | ANZ Stadium | 39,109 | 4/20 |
| 2 | Canterbury Bulldogs | Win | 20 | 12 | 22 Mar | Belmore Oval | 10,962 | 3/20 |
| 3 | Penrith Panthers | Win | 26 | 18 | 28 Mar | ANZ Stadium | 18,570 | 3/20 |
| 4 | Gold Coast Chargers | Win | 40 | 18 | 5 Apr | Carrara Stadium | 13,126 | 2/20 |
| 5 | North Queensland Cowboys | Win | 58 | 4 | 12 Apr | ANZ Stadium | 20,904 | 1/20 |
| 6 | Manly Sea Eagles | Loss | 4 | 28 | 17 Apr | Brookvale Oval | 13,194 | 1/20 |
| 7 | North Sydney Bears | Win | 60 | 6 | 26 Apr | ANZ Stadium | 18,791 | 1/20 |
| 8 | Newcastle Knights | Win | 26 | 6 | 1 May | Newcastle ISC | 27,119 | 1/20 |
| 9 | Sydney City Roosters | Loss | 12 | 26 | 10 May | ANZ Stadium | 19,346 | 1/20 |
| 10 | Cronulla Sharks | Loss | 10 | 20 | 16 May | Endeavour Field | 10,582 | 5/20 |
| 11^ | Canterbury Bulldogs | Win | 40 | 12 | 24 May | ANZ Stadium | 15,407 | 4/20 |
| 12 | Canberra Raiders | Loss | 18 | 24 | 31 May | Bruce Stadium | 14,728 | 5/20 |
| 13^ | Parramatta Eels | Loss | 16 | 20 | 7 Jun | ANZ Stadium | 18,163 | 6/20 |
| 14 | Penrith Panthers | Win | 44 | 4 | 13 Jun | Penrith Football Stadium | 11,637 | 6/20 |
| 15^ | Western Suburbs Magpies | Win | 56 | 4 | 21 Jun | ANZ Stadium | 12,415 | 5/20 |
| 16 | St George Dragons | Win | 30 | 18 | 26 Jun | Kogarah Oval | 16,258 | 4/20 |
| 17 | Melbourne Storm | Win | 34 | 16 | 3 Jul | ANZ Stadium | 35,119 | 3/20 |
| 18 | Illawarra Steelers | Win | 18 | 12 | 12 Jul | WIN Stadium | 12,018 | 3/20 |
| 19 | Gold Coast Chargers | Win | 44 | 10 | 19 Jul | ANZ Stadium | 12,740 | 2/20 |
| 20 | Balmain Tigers | Draw | 10 | 10 | 25 Jul | Leichhardt Oval | 7,159 | 2/20 |
| 21 | Adelaide Rams | Win | 46 | 12 | 1 Aug | ANZ Stadium | 13,858 | 1/20 |
| 22 | North Queensland Cowboys | Win | 22 | 10 | 8 Aug | Stockland Stadium | 30,250 | 1/20 |
| 23 | Auckland Warriors | Win | 16 | 4 | 16 Aug | ANZ Stadium | 16,456 | 1/20 |
| 24 | South Sydney Rabbitohs | Win | 16 | 10 | 23 Aug | Sydney Football Stadium | 7,262 | 1/20 |
| Qualif. Final | Parramatta Eels | Loss | 10 | 15 | 6 Sep | ANZ Stadium | 21,172 | |
| Semi Final | Melbourne Storm | Win | 30 | 6 | 13 Sep | Sydney Football Stadium | 20,354 | |
| Prelim. Final | Sydney City Roosters | Win | 46 | 18 | 19 Sep | ANZ Stadium | 28,374 | |
| GRAND FINAL | Canterbury Bulldogs | Win | 38 | 12 | 27 Sep | Sydney Football Stadium | 40,857 | |
^Game following a State of Origin match
Brisbane Broncos NRL average home attendance in 1998: 20,073

## Ladder

1998 NRL seasonvte :
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | PF | PA | PD | Pts |
| 1 | Brisbane Broncos (P) | 24 | 18 | 1 | 5 | 688 | 310 | +378 | 37 |
| 2 | Newcastle Knights | 24 | 18 | 1 | 5 | 562 | 381 | +181 | 37 |
| 3 | Melbourne Storm | 24 | 17 | 1 | 6 | 546 | 372 | +174 | 35 |
| 4 | Parramatta Eels | 24 | 17 | 1 | 6 | 468 | 349 | +119 | 35 |
| 5 | North Sydney Bears | 24 | 17 | 0 | 7 | 663 | 367 | +296 | 34 |
| 6 | Sydney City Roosters | 24 | 16 | 0 | 8 | 680 | 383 | +297 | 32 |
| 7 | Canberra Raiders | 24 | 15 | 0 | 9 | 564 | 429 | +135 | 30 |
| 8 | St. George Dragons | 24 | 13 | 1 | 10 | 486 | 490 | -4 | 27 |
| 9 | Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs | 24 | 13 | 0 | 11 | 489 | 411 | +78 | 26 |
| 10 | Manly Warringah Sea Eagles | 24 | 13 | 0 | 11 | 503 | 473 | +30 | 26 |
| 11 | Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks | 24 | 12 | 1 | 11 | 438 | 387 | +51 | 25 |
| 12 | Illawarra Steelers | 24 | 11 | 1 | 12 | 476 | 539 | -63 | 23 |
| 13 | Balmain Tigers | 24 | 9 | 1 | 14 | 381 | 463 | -82 | 19 |
| 14 | Penrith Panthers | 24 | 8 | 2 | 14 | 525 | 580 | -55 | 18 |
| 15 | Auckland Warriors | 24 | 9 | 0 | 15 | 417 | 518 | -101 | 18 |
| 16 | North Queensland Cowboys | 24 | 9 | 0 | 15 | 361 | 556 | -195 | 18 |
| 17 | Adelaide Rams | 24 | 7 | 0 | 17 | 393 | 615 | -222 | 14 |
| 18 | South Sydney Rabbitohs | 24 | 5 | 0 | 19 | 339 | 560 | -221 | 10 |
| 19 | Gold Coast Chargers | 24 | 4 | 0 | 20 | 289 | 654 | -365 | 8 |
| 20 | Western Suburbs Magpies | 24 | 4 | 0 | 20 | 371 | 802 | -431 | 8 |

## Grand final

Brisbane Broncos vs. Canterbury Bulldogs
| Player | Position | Player |
| Darren Lockyer | Fullback | Rod Silva |
| Michael De Vere | Wing | Gavin Lester |
| Steve Renouf | Centre | Shane Marteene |
| Darren Smith | Centre | Willie Talau |
| Wendell Sailor | Wing | Daryl Halligan |
| Kevin Walters | Five-eighth | Craig Polla-Mounter |
| Allan Langer (C) | Halfback | Corey Hughes |
| Shane Webcke | Prop | Darren Britt (C) |
| Phillip Lee | Hooker | Jason Hetherington |
| Andrew Gee | Prop | Steve Price |
| Gorden Tallis | Second Row | Tony Grimaldi |
| Brad Thorn | Second Row | Robert Relf |
| Tonie Carroll | Lock | Travis Norton |
| Michael Hancock | Interchange | Steve Reardon |
| John Plath | Interchange | Troy Stone |
| Kevin Campion | Interchange | Glen Hughes |
| Petero Civoniceva | Interchange | David Thompson |
| Wayne Bennett | Coach | Steve Folkes |
* Sunday, 27 September 15:00 AEST (UTC+10)
| Brisbane Broncos | 38 – 12 | Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs |
| Tries: 7 De Vere 2' Campion 27' Carroll 41' Sailor 50' Tallis 59' Lee 68' Smith 75' Goals: 5 Lockyer 4', 43', 60', 69', 76' (5/7) | 1st: 10–12 2nd: 28–0 Report | Tries: 2 Grimaldi 21' Talau 30' Goals: 2 Halligan pen 11', 22' (2/3) |
* Sydney Football Stadium, Sydney Attendance: 40,857 Referee: Bill Harrigan Touch judges: Steve Betts, John McCormack Clive Churchill Medal: Gorden Tallis (Brisbane)

## Scorers

| Player | Tries | Goals | FG | Points |
| Darren Lockyer | 19 | 98/144 | 0 | 272 |
| Darren Smith | 23 | 0 | 0 | 92 |
| Steve Renouf | 20 | 0 | 0 | 80 |
| Wendell Sailor | 18 | 0 | 0 | 72 |
| Michael De Vere | 8 | 9/13 | 0 | 50 |
| Michael Hancock | 10 | 0 | 0 | 40 |
| Allan Langer | 10 | 0 | 0 | 40 |
| Gorden Tallis | 8 | 0 | 0 | 32 |
| Kevin Campion | 6 | 0 | 0 | 24 |
| Phillip Lee | 6 | 0 | 0 | 24 |
| Ben Walker | 4 | 1/2 | 0 | 18 |
| Tonie Carroll | 4 | 0 | 0 | 16 |
| Andrew Gee | 4 | 0 | 0 | 16 |
| Kevin Walters | 4 | 0 | 0 | 16 |
| Petero Civoniceva | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| John Plath | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Peter Ryan | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Brad Thorn | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Shane Webcke | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 |

## Honours
### League

* Premiership
* Minor premiership

### Club

* Player of the year: Andrew Gee
* Rookie of the year: Petero Civoniceva
* Back of the year: Kevin Walters
* Forward of the year: Shane Webcke
* Club man of the year: Brett Green