# 1997 Brisbane Broncos season

The 1997 Brisbane Broncos season was the tenth in the history of the Brisbane Broncos club. This season was unique in that they participated in the Australian Super League's 1997 Telstra Cup premiership and 1997 World Club Championship, winning both competitions.

## Season summary

The Broncos again won their first seven matches, before finally losing to the Penrith Panthers in round 8. Brisbane won their final three regular season games to capture their second minor premiership. In the major semi-final against Cronulla the Broncos thrashed the Sharks to move into the Super League Grand Final to be played at their home venue, ANZ Stadium. The Sharks recovered to make the big one, but they were no match for the Broncos. Despite being without key forward Glenn Lazarus and hampered by a troublesome groin injury, Allan Langer led his side to victory 26–8 for their third premiership in front of almost 60,000 home fans. Steve Renouf scored a hat-trick in the match.
Following the premiership win, the Broncos also won the 1997 World Club Championship which involved clubs from the Super League as well.

## Match results

| Round | Opponent | Result | Bro. | Opp. | Date | Venue | Crowd | Position |
| 1 | Auckland Warriors | Win | 14 | 2 | 1 Mar | ANZ Stadium | 42,361 | 2/10 |
| 2 | Adelaide Rams | Win | 28 | 12 | 9 Mar | ANZ Stadium | 16,279 | 1/10 |
| 3 | Perth Reds | Win | 26 | 16 | 16 Mar | WACA Ground | 11,109 | 2/10 |
| 4 | Canberra Raiders | Win | 24 | 8 | 24 Mar | ANZ Stadium | 26,103 | 2/10 |
| 5 | Cronulla Sharks | Win | 14 | 12 | 31 Mar | ANZ Stadium | 17,294 | 1/10 |
| 6 | North Queensland Cowboys | Win | 42 | 16 | 5 Apr | Stockland Stadium | 30,122 | 1/10 |
| 7 | Adelaide Rams | Win | 20 | 10 | 13 Apr | Adelaide Oval | 17,633 | 1/10 |
| 8 | Penrith Panthers | Loss | 26 | 27 | 21 Apr | Penrith Football Stadium | 12,648 | 1/10 |
| 9 | Canterbury Bulldogs | Win | 34 | 16 | 28 Apr | ANZ Stadium | 17,921 | 1/10 |
| 10 | Auckland Warriors | Win | 34 | 18 | 4 May | Mt Smart Stadium | 16,471 | 1/10 |
| 11 | North Queensland Cowboys | Draw | 20 | 20 | 25 May | ANZ Stadium | 14,167 | 1/10 |
| 12 | Hunter Mariners | Loss | 6 | 24 | 30 May | Topper Stadium | 7,124 | 1/10 |
| 13 | Cronulla Sharks | Loss | 4 | 32 | 30 Jun | Endeavour Field | 12,240 | 1/10 |
| 14 | Perth Reds | Win | 50 | 14 | 6 Jul | ANZ Stadium | 11,806 | 1/10 |
| 15 | Canberra Raiders | Win | 19 | 4 | 14 Jul | Bruce Stadium | 13,067 | 1/10 |
| 16 | Penrith Panthers | Win | 54 | 12 | 10 Aug | ANZ Stadium | 13,921 | 1/10 |
| 17 | Hunter Mariners | Win | 34 | 16 | 18 Aug | ANZ Stadium | 13,830 | 1/10 |
| 18 | Canterbury Bulldogs | Win | 32 | 24 | 25 Aug | Belmore Oval | 9,781 | 1/10 |
| Semi Final | Cronulla Sharks | Win | 34 | 2 | 6 Sep | Stockland Stadium | 26,256 | |
| GRAND FINAL | Cronulla Sharks | Win | 26 | 8 | 20 Sep | ANZ Stadium | 58,912 | |

## World Club Challenges Match results

| Round | Opponent | Result | Bro. | Opp. | Date | Venue | Crowd |
| WCC 1 | London Broncos | Win | 42 | 22 | 6 Jun | ANZ Stadium | 18,193 |
| WCC 2 | Wigan Warriors | Win | 34 | 0 | 16 Jun | ANZ Stadium | 14,833 |
| WCC 3 | Halifax Blue Sox | Win | 76 | 0 | 24 Jun | ANZ Stadium | 11,358 |
| WCC 4 | Wigan Warriors | Win | 30 | 4 | 20 Jul | Central Park | 12,816 |
| WCC 5 | London Broncos | Win | 34 | 16 | 27 Jul | The Stoop | 9,846 |
| WCC 6 | Halifax Blue Sox | Win | 54 | 10 | 4 Aug | Thrum Hall | 3,255 |
| WCC Quarter Final | St. Helens | Win | 66 | 12 | 4 Oct | ANZ Stadium | 6,438 |
| WCC Semi Final | Auckland Warriors | Win | 22 | 16 | 10 Oct | ANZ Stadium | 9,686 |
| WCC Final | Hunter Mariners | Win | 36 | 12 | 17 Oct | Mt Smart Stadium | 12,000 |

## Ladders
### Telstra Cup Premiership Ladder

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | PF | PA | PD | Pts |
| 1 | Brisbane (P) | 18 | 14 | 1 | 3 | 481 | 283 | +198 | 29 |
| 2 | Cronulla | 18 | 12 | 0 | 6 | 403 | 230 | +173 | 24 |
| 3 | Canberra | 18 | 11 | 0 | 7 | 436 | 337 | +99 | 22 |
| 4 | Canterbury | 18 | 10 | 0 | 8 | 453 | 447 | +6 | 20 |
| 5 | Penrith | 18 | 9 | 0 | 9 | 431 | 462 | -31 | 18 |
| 6 | Hunter | 18 | 7 | 0 | 11 | 350 | 363 | -13 | 14 |
| 7 | Auckland | 18 | 7 | 0 | 11 | 332 | 406 | -74 | 14 |
| 8 | Perth | 18 | 7 | 0 | 11 | 321 | 456 | -135 | 14 |
| 9 | Adelaide | 18 | 6 | 1 | 11 | 303 | 402 | -99 | 13 |
| 10 | North Queensland | 18 | 5 | 2 | 11 | 328 | 452 | -124 | 12 |
* (P) - Premiers

### World Club Challenge Australasia Pool A

| | Team | Pld | W | L | D | PF | PA | PD | Pts |
| 1 | Brisbane | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 270 | 52 | +218 | 12 |
| 2 | Auckland | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 268 | 82 | +186 | 12 |
| 3 | Cronulla | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 230 | 54 | +176 | 12 |
| 4 | Penrith | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 256 | 120 | +136 | 12 |
| 5 | Canberra | 6 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 302 | 108 | +194 | 10 |
| 6 | Canterbury | 6 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 218 | 121 | +97 | 8 |

## Scorers

| Player | Tries | Goals | FG | Points |
| Darren Lockyer | 7 | 70/109 | 0 | 168 |
| Wendell Sailor | 15 | 0 | 0 | 60 |
| Steve Renouf | 14 | 0 | 0 | 56 |
| Michael De Vere | 7 | 2/2 | 0 | 32 |
| Darren Smith | 8 | 0 | 0 | 32 |
| Kevin Walters | 8 | 0 | 0 | 32 |
| Tonie Carroll | 6 | 0 | 0 | 24 |
| Peter Ryan | 6 | 0 | 0 | 24 |
| Brett Le Man | 4 | 0 | 0 | 16 |
| Allan Langer | 5 | 0 | 1 | 21 |
| Michael Hancock | 5 | 0 | 0 | 20 |
| Brad Thorn | 4 | 0 | 0 | 16 |
| Anthony Mundine | 3 | 0 | 0 | 12 |
| John Plath | 3 | 0 | 0 | 12 |
| Gorden Tallis | 3 | 0 | 0 | 12 |
| Shane Webcke | 3 | 0 | 0 | 12 |
| Andrew Gee | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Phillip Lee | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 |

## Grand final

* Saturday, 20 September 20:00 AEST (UTC+10)
| Brisbane | 26 – 8 | Cronulla |
| Tries: 4 Renouf 34', 55', 65' Hancock 79' Goals: 5 Lockyer pen 8', pen 25', 35', 56', 80' (5/6) | 1st: 10–2 2nd: 16–6 Report | Tries: 1 Richardson 45' Goals: 2 Rogers pen 22', 46' (2/2) |
* ANZ Stadium, Brisbane Attendance: 58,912 Referee: Bill Harrigan Player of the Match: Steve Renouf (Brisbane)
Team details :
| Brisbane Broncos | Brisbane Broncos | Position | Cronulla Sharks | Cronulla Sharks |
| Name | Number | Position | Number | Name |
| Darren Lockyer | 1 | FB | 21 | David Peachey |
| Michael De Vere | 18 | WG | 45 | Mat Rogers |
| Steve Renouf | 3 | CE | 3 | Andrew Ettingshausen (c) |
| Anthony Mundine | 4 | CE | 33 | Russell Richardson |
| Wendell Sailor | 5 | WG | 17 | Geoff Bell |
| Kevin Walters | 6 | FE | 6 | Mitch Healey |
| Allan Langer (c) | 7 | HB | 7 | Paul Green |
| Brad Thorn | 10 | PR | 8 | Danny Lee |
| Andrew Gee | 23 | HK | 9 | Dean Treister |
| Shane Webcke | 21 | PF | 40 | Jason Stevens |
| Gorden Tallis | 11 | SR | 11 | Craig Greenhill |
| Peter Ryan | 12 | SR | 31 | Chris McKenna |
| Darren Smith | 13 | LK | 13 | Tawera Nikau |
| Tonie Carroll | 15 | IN | 18 | Adam Dykes |
| John Plath | 9 | IN | 24 | Sean Ryan |
| Michael Hancock | 2 | IN | 38 | Les Davidson |
| Ben Walker | 16 | IN | 12 | Nathan Long |
| Wayne Bennett | | Coach | | John Lang |
| RLP |||||

## Honours
### League

* Nil

### Club

* Player of the year: Peter Ryan
* Rookie of the year: Michael De Vere
* Back of the year: Kevin Walters
* Forward of the year: Brad Thorn
* Club man of the year: Tony Spencer