# 1988 Brisbane Broncos season

The 1988 Brisbane Broncos season was the first in the club's history. The new venture team was added, along with the Newcastle Knights and Gold Coast-Tweed Giants to the New South Wales Rugby League's 1988 Winfield Cup premiership, coached by previous season grand final co-coach Wayne Bennett and captained by Australian national skipper Wally Lewis. Despite a strong start to the season, Brisbane failed to make the finals. During the season the Broncos also competed in the 1988 Panasonic Cup.

## Season summary

The same year Brisbane hosted World Expo 88, the Brisbane Broncos joined the New South Wales Rugby League premiership, making their debut on 6 March at Lang Park in Brisbane. The brand-new club which featured many Queensland-based international and state representatives, defeated the 1987 Winfield Cup Premiers Manly-Warringah 44-10 in their first premiership game. Brett Le Man scored the Broncos' first ever try from the scraps of a Craig Grauf bomb.
Although the Broncos won their first six games in their inaugural season, a midseason slump cost the club a debut finals appearance, finishing the season in seventh position. The Broncos also competed in the mid-week knockout competition, the 1988 Panasonic Cup, losing in the first round while they were still yet to lose a Winfield Cup match.

## Match results

| Round | Opponent | Result | Bro. | Opp. | Date | Venue | Crowd |
| Trial | Canberra Raiders | Win | 22 | 16 | | Lang Park | 10,000+ |
| Trial | New Zealand President's XIII | Win | 38 | 6 | 27 Feb | | 8,324 |
| 1 | Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles | Win | 44 | 10 | 6 Mar | Lang Park | 17,451 |
| 2 | Penrith Panthers | Win | 20 | 18 | 12 Mar | Lang Park | 13,621 |
| 3 | Western Suburbs Magpies | Win | 38 | 4 | 20 Mar | Campbelltown | 10,112 |
| 4 | North Sydney Bears | Win | 24 | 12 | 27 Mar | North Sydney | 9,329 |
| 5 | Parramatta Eels | Win | 24 | 18 | 3 Apr | Lang Park | 23,202 |
| PC | Penrith Panthers | Loss | 10 | 24 | 6 Apr | Parramatta Stadium | |
| 6 | Newcastle Knights | Win | 24 | 10 | 10 Apr | Newcastle ISC | 30,220 |
| 7 | Balmain Tigers | Loss | 18 | 26 | 16 Apr | Lang Park | 18,434 |
| 8 | Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks | Loss | 8 | 38 | 23 Apr | Endeavour | 10,115 |
| 9 | Sydney Roosters | Win | 24 | 20 | 1 May | Lang Park | 16,489 |
| 10 | Gold Coast-Tweed Giants | Loss | 22 | 25 | 8 May | Seagulls | 13,432 |
| 11* | Canberra Raiders | Loss | 16 | 36 | 22 May | Lang Park | 15,909 |
| 12* | Illawarra Steelers | Win | 32 | 10 | 5 Jun | Wollongong | 9,738 |
| 13 | St. George Dragons | Win | 26 | 22 | 13 Jun | Lang Park | 19,954 |
| 14 | South Sydney Rabbitohs | Loss | 4 | 16 | 17 Jun | SFS | 10,871 |
| 15* | Canterbury Bulldogs | Loss | 10 | 25 | 26 Jun | Lang Park | 15,371 |
| 16 | Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles | Win | 28 | 10 | 3 Jul | Brookvale Oval | 17,193 |
| 17 | Penrith Panthers | Win | 8 | 6 | 10 Jul | Penrith Park | 17,106 |
| 18 | Western Suburbs Magpies | Win | 32 | 6 | 16 Jul | Lang Park | 11,419 |
| 19 | North Sydney Bears | Win | 24 | 6 | 23 Jul | Lang Park | 11,452 |
| 20 | Parramatta Eels | Loss | 14 | 22 | 31 Jul | Parramatta | 13,190 |
| 21 | Newcastle Knights | Win | 24 | 8 | 6 Aug | Lang Park | 13,919 |
| 22 | Balmain Tigers | Loss | 10 | 20 | 13 Aug | Leichhardt Oval | 13,015 |
* Game following a State of Origin match

## Ladder

| | Team | Pld | W | D | L | PF | PA | PD | Pts |
| 1 | Cronulla-Sutherland | 22 | 16 | 2 | 4 | 507 | 330 | +177 | 34 |
| 2 | Canterbury-Bankstown | 22 | 16 | 0 | 6 | 412 | 268 | +144 | 32 |
| 3 | Canberra | 22 | 15 | 0 | 7 | 596 | 346 | +250 | 30 |
| 4 | Manly-Warringah | 22 | 15 | 0 | 7 | 538 | 347 | +191 | 30 |
| 5 | Penrith | 22 | 15 | 0 | 7 | 394 | 258 | +136 | 30 |
| 6 | Balmain | 22 | 15 | 0 | 7 | 402 | 341 | +61 | 30 |
| 7 | Brisbane Broncos | 22 | 14 | 0 | 8 | 474 | 368 | +106 | 28 |
| 8 | South Sydney | 22 | 12 | 2 | 8 | 425 | 383 | +42 | 24 |
| 9 | North Sydney | 22 | 9 | 2 | 11 | 366 | 424 | -58 | 20 |
| 10 | St. George | 22 | 9 | 0 | 13 | 352 | 493 | -141 | 18 |
| 11 | Parramatta | 22 | 8 | 0 | 14 | 359 | 412 | -53 | 16 |
| 12 | Eastern Suburbs | 22 | 6 | 3 | 13 | 387 | 443 | -56 | 15 |
| 13 | Illawarra | 22 | 6 | 1 | 15 | 353 | 510 | -157 | 13 |
| 14 | Newcastle Knights | 22 | 5 | 1 | 16 | 270 | 460 | -190 | 11 |
| 15 | Gold Coast-Tweed Giants | 22 | 4 | 2 | 16 | 238 | 484 | -246 | 10 |
| 16 | Western Suburbs | 22 | 4 | 1 | 17 | 287 | 493 | -206 | 9 |

## Awards
### League

nil

### Club

* Player of the year: Allan Langer
* Rookie of the year: Shane Duffy / Kerrod Walters
* Forward of the year: Terry Matterson
* Back of the year: Wally Lewis
* Clubman of the year: Greg Conescu