# 1986 National Panasonic Cup

The 1986 National Panasonic Cup was the 13th edition of the NSWRL Midweek Cup, a NSWRL-organised national club Rugby League tournament between the leading clubs and representative teams from the NSWRL, the BRL, the CRL, Western Australia and Papua New Guinea.
A total of 17 teams from across Australia and Papua New Guinea played 16 matches in a straight knock-out format, with the matches being held midweek during the premiership season.

## Qualified teams

| Team | Nickname | League | Qualification | Participation (bold indicates winners) |
| Enter in Round 1 |||||
| Canterbury-Bankstown | Bulldogs | NSWRL | Winners of the 1985 New South Wales Rugby League Premiership | 13th (Previous: 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985) |
| St. George | Dragons | NSWRL | Runners-Up in the 1985 New South Wales Rugby League Premiership | 13th (Previous: 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985) |
| Parramatta | Eels | NSWRL | Third Place in the 1985 New South Wales Rugby League Premiership | 13th (Previous: 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985) |
| Balmain | Tigers | NSWRL | Fourth Place in the 1985 New South Wales Rugby League Premiership | 13th (Previous: 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985) |
| Penrith | Panthers | NSWRL | Fifth Place in the 1985 New South Wales Rugby League Premiership | 13th (Previous: 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985) |
| Manly-Warringah | Sea Eagles | NSWRL | Sixth Place in the 1985 New South Wales Rugby League Premiership | 13th (Previous: 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985) |
| Eastern Suburbs | Roosters | NSWRL | Seventh Place in the 1985 New South Wales Rugby League Premiership | 13th (Previous: 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985) |
| Cronulla-Sutherland | Sharks | NSWRL | Eighth Place in the 1985 New South Wales Rugby League Premiership | 13th (Previous: 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985) |
| South Sydney | Rabbitohs | NSWRL | Ninth Place in the 1985 New South Wales Rugby League Premiership | 13th (Previous: 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985) |
| Canberra | Raiders | NSWRL | Tenth Place in the 1985 New South Wales Rugby League Premiership | 5th (Previous: 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985) |
| North Sydney | Bears | NSWRL | Eleventh Place in the 1985 New South Wales Rugby League Premiership | 13th (Previous: 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985) |
| Western Suburbs | Magpies | NSWRL | Twelfth Place in the 1985 New South Wales Rugby League Premiership | 13th (Previous: 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985) |
| Illawarra | Steelers | NSWRL | Thirteenth Place in the 1985 New South Wales Rugby League Premiership | 5th (Previous: 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985) |
| Brisbane | Poinsettias | BRL | League Representative Team | 8th (Previous: 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985) |
| NSW Country | Kangaroos | CRL | Country League Representative Team | 8th (Previous: 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985) |
| Enter in Preliminary round |||||
| Port Moresby | Vipers | PNGRFL | League Representative Team | 1st |
| Western Australia | Black Swans | WARL | State Representative Team | 3rd (Previous: 1977, 1978) |

## Venues

| Sydney | Sydney | Brisbane | Newcastle | Lismore | Bathurst | Goroka |
| Leichhardt Oval | Orana Park | Lang Park | Newcastle International Sports Centre | Oakes Oval | Carrington Park | Danny Leahy Oval |
| Capacity: 23,000 | Capacity: 20,000 | Capacity: 45,000 | Capacity: 33,000 | Capacity: 12,000 | Capacity: 12,000 | Capacity: 10,000 |

## Preliminary round

| Date | Winner | Score | Loser | Score | Venue |
| 13/04/86 | Port Moresby | 52 | Western Australia | 14 | Danny Leahy Oval |

## Round 1

| Date | Winner | Score | Loser | Score | Venue | Man of the Match |
| 5/03/86 | Balmain (Gartner, John Davidson, Gale, tries, Conlon 5 goals) | 22 | Cronulla-Sutherland (Docking, Wakefield tries, Carney 3 goals) | 14 | Leichhardt Oval | Mark Wakefield - Cronulla-Sutherland |
| 12/03/86 | Parramatta (Jurd, Grothe, Hunt tries, Hunt 2 goals, Sterling field goal) | 17 | Illawarra (Upfield try) | 4 | Orana Park | Peter Sterling - Parramatta |
| 19/03/86 | Canterbury-Bankstown (Lamb 2 goals, Lamb, C.Mortimer field goals) | 6 | South Sydney (Baker 2 goals, Baker field goal) | 5 | Oakes Oval | Peter Tunks - Canterbury-Bankstown |
| 26/03/86 | Canberra (Belcher 2, Coyne tries, Meninga 2 goals, Elliott field goal) | 17 | North Sydney (Teasdell try, Kiss goal) | 6 | Leichhardt Oval | Gary Belcher - Canberra |
| 2/04/86 | Western Suburbs (Naden 2, Brett Clark, Bruce Clark tries, Schubert 3 goals, Brett Clark field goal) | 23 | Penrith (Gonzales, Fenton tries, Alexander 2 goals) | 12 | Leichhardt Oval | Brett Clark - Western Suburbs |
| 16/04/86 | Manly-Warringah (Blake 2, Close, Ronson tries, Cochrane goal) | 18 | Combined Brisbane (Lindner, S.Lewis tries, Scott goal) | 10 | Lang Park | Dale Shearer - Manly-Warringah |
| 16/04/86 | Eastern Suburbs (Bennett 3, Katsogiannis, Melrose 2, Leggett, McGahan, Patterson, Hardy tries, Melrose 8 goals) | 60 | Port Moresby (PNG) (Numapo, Jakis, Kerekere tries, Numapo, Heni goals) | 16 | Lang Park | Trevor Gillmeister - Eastern Suburbs |
| 23/04/86 | St George (Selby 2, Funnell, Johnston, Haddock, Morris tries, O'Connor 6 goals) | 36 | NSW Country (Elwin 2 goals) | 4 | Carrington Park | Geoff Selby - St George |

## Quarter finals

| Date | Winner | Score | Loser | Score | Venue | Man of the Match |
| 9/04/86 | Parramatta (Ella, R.Price, Sharp tries, Ella 2 goals) | 16 | Canterbury-Bankstown (Folkes, Bugden tries, Lamb goal) | 10 | Leichhardt Oval | Ray Price - Parramatta |
| 30/04/86 | Manly-Warringah (Lyons, Cox, Blake tries, Cochrane 3 goals) | 18 | St George (O'Connor goal) | 2 | Newcastle ISC | Des Hasler - Manly-Warringah |
| 7/05/86 | Balmain (John Davidson 2, Roach, Myler tries, Conlon 2 goals) | 20 | Canberra ( Meninga, O'Sullivan tries, Meninga 2 goals) | 12 | Leichhardt Oval | Steve Roach - Balmain |
| 14/05/86 | Eastern Suburbs (Wurth, McGahan tries, Melrose 3 goals, Hastings 2 field goals) | 16 | Western Suburbs (Geelan try, Crooks 2 goals) | 8 | Leichhardt Oval | Hugh McGahan - Eastern Suburbs |

## Semi finals

| Date | Winner | Score | Loser | Score | Venue | Man of the Match |
| 21/05/86 | Parramatta (Hunt, Kenny, Laurie, Lillis tries, Hunt 3 goals, Ella field goal) | 23 | Manly-Warringah (Ronson try) | 4 | Leichhardt Oval | Brett Kenny - Parramatta |
| 28/05/86 | Balmain (Bridge, Gartner, Schofield, John Davidson tries, Conlon 4 goals, Bridge field goal) | 25 | Eastern Suburbs (Simpkins, Bennett tries, Melrose goal) | 10 | Leichhardt Oval | Paul Sironen - Balmain |

## Final

| Date | Winner | Score | Loser | Score | Venue | Man of the Match |
| 4 June 1986 | Parramatta (Kenny 2, Muggleton, Ella, Wynn, Bugden tries, Eden 4 goals) | 32 | Balmain (Gale, Myler, Humphreys tries, Schofield 2 goals) | 16 | Leichhardt Oval | Peter Sterling - Parramatta |

### Player of the Series

* Ray Price (Parramatta)

### Golden Try

* Gary Bridge (Balmain)

## Sources

* ↑ Rugby League Project - Port Moresby Vipers http://www.rugbyleagueproject.org/teams/port-moresby-vipers/results.html
* https://web.archive.org/web/20070929103317/http://users.hunterlink.net.au/~maajjs/aus/nsw/sum/nsw1986.htm