# 2000 Brisbane Broncos season

The 2000 Brisbane Broncos season was the thirteenth in the club's history. Coached by Wayne Bennett and captained by Kevin Walters, they competed in the NRL's 2000 Telstra Premiership, finishing the regular season 1st (out of 14 teams) to claim their 4th minor premiership before going on to win the 2000 NRL Grand final, their fifth title in nine years.

## Season summary

Brisbane spent the entire 2000 NRL season from round four in first position on the ladder. The Broncos started the season with an unbeaten run of 8 matches before going down to the Penrith Panthers in round 9. The Broncos were the first team to play the newly formed Wests Tigers (Merged team of Balmain Tigers and Western Suburbs Magpies) with both teams sharing the points with a 24-24 draw.
The Broncos went on a Win–loss run for 8 rounds before winning 7 of their last 8 regular season matches to finish Minor Premiers. Also the Broncos suffered their worst collapse in the club history when they led 22-4 at halftime to lose 26-22 against the Newcastle Knights in round 18.
The Qualifying Final was a different story when the Broncos came from 20-6 down at halftime to win 34-20 against the 8th-placed Cronulla Sharks. The Broncos had a week off to prepare for the Parramatta Eels in the Preliminary Final which the Broncos won 16-10 to go into a Grand Final against the Sydney Roosters. From the 10th minute, the Broncos led all the way when Michael De Vere landed a penalty goal to give the Broncos a 2-0 lead, erasing a 0 deficit in round 26 against Sydney when Sydney beat Brisbane 28-0. Broncos led at halftime 10-2 at halftime to go out winners 14-6 to clinch their 5th premiership in 9 years.

## Match results

| Round | Opponent | Result | Bro. | Opp. | Date | Venue | Crowd | Position |
| 1 | Wests Tigers | Draw | 24 | 24 | 6 Feb | Campbelltown Stadium | 15,376 | 8/14 |
| 2 | Parramatta Eels | Win | 18 | 10 | 11 Feb | ANZ Stadium | 15,366 | 4/14 |
| 3 | Auckland Warriors | Win | 28 | 10 | 20 Feb | Ericsson Stadium | 17,505 | 2/14 |
| 4 | Cronulla Sharks | Win | 18 | 14 | 26 Feb | Toyota Park | 15,969 | 1/14 |
| 5 | Newcastle Knights | Win | 20 | 14 | 4 Mar | ANZ Stadium | 27,146 | 1/14 |
| 6 | North Queensland Cowboys | Win | 50 | 8 | 11 Mar | Dairy Farmers Stadium | 27,643 | 1/14 |
| 7 | Canberra Raiders | Win | 14 | 6 | 17 Mar | ANZ Stadium | 27,506 | 1/14 |
| 8 | Canterbury Bulldogs | Win | 24 | 14 | 26 Mar | ANZ Stadium | 21,815 | 1/14 |
| 9 | Penrith Panthers | Loss | 2 | 18 | 31 Mar | Penrith Stadium | 15,290 | 1/14 |
| 10 | Melbourne Storm | Draw | 18 | 18 | 7 Apr | ANZ Stadium | 29,849 | 1/14 |
| 11 | St George Illawarra Dragons | Win | 34 | 18 | 16 Apr | ANZ Stadium | 22,190 | 1/14 |
| 12 | Northern Eagles | Loss | 6 | 16 | 23 Apr | Brookvale Oval | 10,781 | 1/14 |
| 13 | Parramatta Eels | Win | 28 | 6 | 28 Apr | Parramatta Stadium | 20,208 | 1/14 |
| 14 | Canberra Raiders | Loss | 14 | 16 | 8 May | Canberra Stadium | 12,552 | 1/14 |
| 15* | Sydney Roosters | Win | 40 | 14 | 14 May | ANZ Stadium | 15,577 | 1/14 |
| 16 | Melbourne Storm | Loss | 12 | 16 | 21 May | Olympic Park Stadium | 14,054 | 1/14 |
| 17* | Cronulla Sharks | Win | 32 | 4 | 26 May | ANZ Stadium | 19,665 | 1/14 |
| 18 | Newcastle Knights | Loss | 22 | 26 | 4 Jun | Marathon Stadium | 21,512 | 1/14 |
| 19* | North Queensland Cowboys | Win | 26 | 16 | 10 Jun | ANZ Stadium | 10,455 | 1/14 |
| 20 | Wests Tigers | Win | 56 | 12 | 18 Jun | ANZ Stadium | 19,953 | 1/14 |
| 21 | Canterbury Bulldogs | Win | 48 | 18 | 24 Jun | Stadium Australia | 12,214 | 1/14 |
| 22 | Penrith Panthers | Win | 48 | 6 | 2 Jul | ANZ Stadium | 24,912 | 1/14 |
| 23 | Northern Eagles | Win | 32 | 22 | 9 Jul | ANZ Stadium | 19,282 | 1/14 |
| 24 | St George Illawarra Dragons | Win | 44 | 14 | 16 Jul | WIN Stadium | 14,184 | 1/14 |
| 25 | Auckland Warriors | Win | 38 | 20 | 22 Jul | ANZ Stadium | 17,545 | 1/14 |
| 26 | Sydney Roosters | Loss | 0 | 28 | 28 Jul | Sydney Football Stadium | 22,613 | 1/14 |
| Qualif. Final | Cronulla Sharks | Win | 34 | 20 | 6 Aug | ANZ Stadium | 25,831 | |
| Prelim. Final | Parramatta Eels | Win | 16 | 10 | 20 Aug | Stadium Australia | 31,087 | |
| GRAND FINAL | Sydney Roosters | Win | 14 | 6 | 27 Aug | Stadium Australia | 94,277 | |
* Game following a State of Origin match

## Ladder

2000 NRL seasonvte :
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | PF | PA | PD | Pts |
| 1 | Brisbane Broncos (P) | 26 | 18 | 2 | 6 | 696 | 388 | +308 | 38 |
| 2 | Sydney Roosters | 26 | 16 | 0 | 10 | 601 | 520 | +81 | 32 |
| 3 | Newcastle Knights | 26 | 15 | 1 | 10 | 686 | 532 | +154 | 31 |
| 4 | Canberra Raiders | 26 | 15 | 0 | 11 | 506 | 479 | +27 | 30 |
| 5 | Penrith Panthers | 26 | 15 | 0 | 11 | 573 | 562 | +11 | 30 |
| 6 | Melbourne Storm | 26 | 14 | 1 | 11 | 672 | 529 | +143 | 29 |
| 7 | Parramatta Eels | 26 | 14 | 1 | 11 | 476 | 456 | +20 | 29 |
| 8 | Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks | 26 | 13 | 0 | 13 | 570 | 463 | +107 | 26 |
| 9 | St George Illawarra Dragons | 26 | 12 | 0 | 14 | 576 | 656 | -80 | 24 |
| 10 | Wests Tigers | 26 | 11 | 2 | 13 | 519 | 642 | -123 | 24 |
| 11 | Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs | 26 | 10 | 1 | 15 | 469 | 553 | -84 | 21 |
| 12 | Northern Eagles | 26 | 9 | 0 | 17 | 476 | 628 | -152 | 18 |
| 13 | Auckland Warriors | 26 | 8 | 2 | 16 | 426 | 662 | -236 | 18 |
| 14 | North Queensland Cowboys | 26 | 7 | 0 | 19 | 436 | 612 | -176 | 12$^1$ |
$^1$ North Queensland were stripped of 2 competition points due to a breach of the interchange rule in Round 4.

## Grand final

| Broncos | Position | Roosters |
| Darren Lockyer | 1 Fullback | Luke Phillips |
| Lote Tuqiri | 2 Wing | Matt Sing |
| Tonie Carroll | 3 Centre | Shannon Hegarty |
| Michael De Vere | 4 Centre | Ryan Cross |
| Wendell Sailor | 5 Wing | Anthony Minichiello |
| Ben Ikin | 6 Five-eighth | Brad Fittler (C) |
| Kevin Walters (C) | 7 Halfback | Adrian Lam |
| Shane Webcke | 8 Prop | Ian Rubin |
| Luke Priddis | 9 Hooker | Simon Bonetti |
| Dane Carlaw | 10 Prop | Peter Cusack |
| Gorden Tallis | 11 Second Row | Bryan Fletcher |
| Brad Thorn | 12 Second Row | Craig Fitzgibbon |
| Kevin Campion | 13 Lock | Luke Ricketson |
| Harvey Howard | Interchange | Dallas Hood |
| Michael Hancock | Interchange | David Solomona |
| Shaun Berrigan | Interchange | Shane Rigon |
| Ashley Harrison | Interchange | Craig Wing |
| Wayne Bennett | COACH | Graham Murray |
| Team | Points | Team |
| Brisbane Broncos | 14 - 6 | Sydney Roosters |
| TRIES: Tuqiri, Sailor; GOALS: De Vere 3/5 | 14 - 6 | TRIES: Fitzgibbon; GOALS: Phillips 1/1, Fitzgibbon 0/1 |
* Halftime: Brisbane 10-2
* Referee: Bill Harrigan
* Stadium: Stadium Australia
* Crowd: 94,277
* Clive Churchill Medal: Darren Lockyer (Brisbane)

## Statistics

| Player | Tries | Goals | FG | Points |
| Michael De Vere | 12 | 74/102 | 0 | 196 |
| Lote Tuqiri | 18 | 1/2 | 0 | 74 |
| Wendell Sailor | 18 | 0 | 0 | 72 |
| Ben Walker | 1 | 30/38 | 0 | 64 |
| Darren Lockyer | 11 | 5/6 | 0 | 54 |
| Luke Priddis | 9 | 0 | 0 | 36 |
| Gorden Tallis | 9 | 0 | 0 | 36 |
| Brad Thorn | 9 | 0 | 0 | 36 |
| Ben Ikin | 7 | 2/5 | 0 | 32 |
| Tonie Carroll | 7 | 0 | 0 | 28 |
| Ashley Harrison | 7 | 0 | 0 | 28 |
| Shaun Berrigan | 4 | 0 | 0 | 16 |
| Chris Walker | 4 | 0 | 0 | 16 |
| Kevin Walters | 4 | 0 | 0 | 16 |
| Dane Carlaw | 3 | 0 | 0 | 12 |
| Petero Civoniceva | 2 | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| Kevin Campion | 2 | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| Justin Hodges | 2 | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| Danny Bampton | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Michael Hancock | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Brad Meyers | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Shane Webcke | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Shane Walker | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 |

## Honours
### League

* NRL Premiership

### Club

* Player of the year: Wendell Sailor
* Rookie of the year: Dane Carlaw
* Back of the year: Wendell Sailor
* Forward of the year: Brad Thorn
* Club man of the year: Michael Hancock