# 2016 Queensland Cup

The 2016 Queensland Cup season was the 21st season of Queensland's top-level statewide rugby league competition run by the Queensland Rugby League. The competition, known as the Intrust Super Cup due to sponsorship from Intrust Super, featured 14 teams playing a 29-week long season (including finals) from March to September.
The Burleigh Bears won their third premiership after defeating the Burleigh Bears 26–16 in the Grand Final at Suncorp Stadium. Mackay Cutters' hooker Josh Chudleigh was named the competition's Player of the Year, winning the Courier Mail Medal.

## Teams

In 2016, the lineup of teams remained unchanged for the second consecutive year.
| Club | Home ground(s) | Head coach(s) | Captain(s) | NRL Affiliate |
| Burleigh Bears | Pizzey Park | Jim Lenihan | Jamal Fogarty | Gold Coast Titans |
| Central Queensland Capras | Browne Park | Kim Williams | Gavin Hiscox | None |
| Easts Tigers | Suzuki Stadium | Scott Sipple | Dane Hogan | Melbourne Storm |
| Ipswich Jets | North Ipswich Reserve | Ben & Shane Walker | Dane Phillips | Brisbane Broncos |
| Mackay Cutters | Virgin Australia Stadium | David Simpson → Jim Wilson | Brenden Treston | North Queensland Cowboys |
| Northern Pride | Barlow Park | Joe O'Callaghan | Ryan Ghietti | North Queensland Cowboys |
| Norths Devils | Bishop Park | Mark Gliddon | Billy Brittain | Brisbane Broncos |
| Papua New Guinea Hunters | National Football Stadium | Michael Marum | Noel Zeming | None |
| Redcliffe Dolphins | Dolphin Oval | Adam Mogg | Sam Anderson | Brisbane Broncos |
| Souths Logan Magpies | Davies Park | Josh Hannay | Phil Dennis | Brisbane Broncos |
| Sunshine Coast Falcons | Sunshine Coast Stadium | Craig Ingebrigtsen | Troy Giess | Melbourne Storm |
| Townsville Blackhawks | Jack Manski Oval | Kristian Woolf | Glenn Hall & Anthony Mitchell | North Queensland Cowboys |
| Tweed Heads Seagulls | Piggabeen Sports Complex | Aaron Zimmerle | James Wood | Gold Coast Titans |
| Wynnum Manly Seagulls | BMD Kougari Oval | Jon Buchanan | Patrick Templeman | Brisbane Broncos |

## Ladder

2016 Queensland Cup :
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | B | PF | PA | PD | Pts |
| 1 | Redcliffe Dolphins | 23 | 18 | 0 | 5 | 2 | 728 | 345 | +383 | 40 |
| 2 | Burleigh Bears (P) | 23 | 17 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 680 | 497 | +183 | 39 |
| 3 | Townsville Blackhawks | 23 | 16 | 1 | 6 | 2 | 694 | 403 | +291 | 37 |
| 4 | Papua New Guinea Hunters | 23 | 15 | 0 | 8 | 2 | 541 | 421 | +120 | 34 |
| 5 | Sunshine Coast Falcons | 23 | 12 | 1 | 10 | 2 | 501 | 462 | +39 | 29 |
| 6 | Easts Tigers | 23 | 11 | 2 | 10 | 2 | 563 | 520 | +43 | 28 |
| 7 | Souths Logan Magpies | 23 | 11 | 2 | 10 | 2 | 587 | 590 | -3 | 28 |
| 8 | Northern Pride | 23 | 11 | 0 | 12 | 2 | 516 | 495 | +21 | 26 |
| 9 | Ipswich Jets | 23 | 11 | 0 | 12 | 2 | 562 | 555 | +7 | 26 |
| 10 | Wynnum Manly Seagulls | 23 | 10 | 0 | 13 | 2 | 547 | 561 | -14 | 24 |
| 11 | Norths Devils | 23 | 8 | 1 | 14 | 2 | 532 | 686 | -154 | 21 |
| 12 | Central Queensland Capras | 23 | 6 | 1 | 16 | 2 | 440 | 756 | -316 | 17 |
| 13 | Tweed Heads Seagulls | 23 | 6 | 0 | 17 | 2 | 393 | 728 | -335 | 16 |
| 14 | Mackay Cutters | 23 | 4 | 1 | 18 | 2 | 468 | 733 | -265 | 13 |

## Final series

| Home | Score | Away | Match Information | Match Information |
| Home | Score | Away | Date and Time (Local) | Venue |
| Elimination Finals |||||
| Townsville Blackhawks | 46 – 4 | Easts Tigers | 4 September 2016, 1:40 pm | Jack Manski Oval |
| PNG Hunters | 12 – 18 | Sunshine Coast Falcons | 4 September 2016, 3:00 pm | National Football Stadium |
| Major / Minor Semi-final |||||
| Townsville Blackhawks | 10 – 18 | Sunshine Coast Falcons | 10 September 2016, 4:00 pm | Jack Manski Oval |
| Redcliffe Dolphins | 24 – 40 | Burleigh Bears | 11 September 2016, 1:40 pm | Dolphin Oval |
| Preliminary Final |||||
| Redcliffe Dolphins | 38 – 16 | Sunshine Coast Falcons | 18 September 2016, 2:30 pm | Dolphin Oval |
| Grand Final |||||
| Burleigh Bears | 26 – 16 | Redcliffe Dolphins | 25 September 2016, 3:55 pm | Suncorp Stadium |
| Qualifying / Elimination Finals | Qualifying / Elimination Finals | Qualifying / Elimination Finals | Major / Minor Semi-finals | Major / Minor Semi-finals | Major / Minor Semi-finals | Preliminary Final | Preliminary Final | Preliminary Final | Grand Final | Grand Final | Grand Final |
| | | | 1 | Redcliffe | 24 | | | | 2 | Burleigh | 26 |
| | | | 2 | Burleigh | 40 | | | | 1 | Redcliffe | 16 |
| 3 | Townsville | 46 | | | | 1 | Redcliffe | 38 | | | |
| 6 | Easts | 4 | | | | 5 | Sunshine Coast | 16 | | | |
| | | | 3 | Townsville | 10 | | | | | | |
| | | | 5 | Sunshine Coast | 18 | | | | | | |
| 4 | PNG Hunters | 12 | | | | | | | | | |
| 5 | Sunshine Coast | 18 | | | | | | | | | |

## Grand Final

* Sunday, 25 September 3:55pm (AEST)
| Burleigh Bears | 26 – 16 | Redcliffe Dolphins |
| Tries: Kurtis Rowe 2 Cameron Cullen 1 Sami Sauiluma 1 Goals: Jamal Fogarty 5 | 1st: 14 - 10 2nd: 12 - 6 Report | Tries: 1 Tyson Cleal 1 Darren Nicholls 1 Jonus Pearson Goals: 2 Darren Nicholls |
* Suncorp Stadium Attendance: 6,611 Referee: Peter Gough, Jarrod Cole Player of the Match: Cameron Cullen (Burleigh)
| Burleigh Bears | Position | Redcliffe Dolphins |
| Kurtis Rowe | FB | Jack Ahearn |
| 2. Waka Wanahi | WG | 24. Jonus Pearson |
| 15. Sami Sauiluma | CE | 3. Daniel Randall |
| 4. Connor Broadhurst | CE | 4. Joseph Bradley |
| 5. Oliver Regan | WG | 5. Curtis Johnston |
| 6. Cameron Cullen | FE | 6. Zach Strasser |
| 7. Jamal Fogarty (c) | HB | 7. Darren Nicholls |
| 8. Luke Page | PR | 8. Sam Anderson (c) |
| 9. Pat Politoni | HK | 9. Shane Pumipi |
| 10. Paterika Vaivai | PR | 10. Charlie Fainga'a |
| 21. Jamie Dowling | SR | 11. Aaron Whitchurch |
| 12. Hayden Schwass | SR | 12. Daniel Bridge |
| 13. Lachlan Burr | LK | 13. Chris Gesch |
| 17. Louis Fanene | Bench | 15. Brandon Lee |
| 20. Josh Ailaomai | Bench | 20. Taylor Brown |
| 22. Nathaniel Peteru | Bench | 23. Tyson Cleal |
| 24. Jeff Lynch | Bench | 25. Christian Hazard |
| Jim Lenihan | Coach | Adam Mogg |
Burleigh returned to the finals for the first time in 11 years after finishing the regular season in 2nd. After their first week bye, they defeated Redcliffe 40–24 in the major semi final to qualify for their fifth Grand Final, their first since 2005. Redcliffe finished the regular season as minor premiers and qualified for the finals for the first time since 2012. After losing to Burleigh in the major semi final, they defeated the Sunshine Coast in the preliminary final and booked a spot in their 10th Grand Final, their third against Burleigh.

### First half

Burleigh got the scoring underway in the 12th minute when fullback Kurtis Rowe sliced through the Dolphins' defence and ran 35 metres to score. It took just four minutes for Redcliffe to hit back when winger Jonus Pearson scored following some slick offloading close to the line. In the 23rd minute, Rowe recorded his second try of the contest when he muscled his way over to extended Burleigh's lead to eight. A penalty goal converted from right in front pushed the Bears' lead to 10 before Redcliffe scored through Tyson Cleal to cut margin to four in the 33rd minute.

### Second half

The Bears again scored the first points of the half, this time through centre Sami Sauiluma in the 49th minute. Halfback Jamal Fogarty converted the try from out wide to give Burleigh a 10-point lead. The Dolphins got back into the game in the 57th minute thanks to a try to halfback Darren Nicholls, as they trailed by just four points. In the 71st minute, the Bears sealed the win when five-eighth Cameron Cullen scored and gave his side an unassailable 10-point lead. The victory was Burleigh's third Grand Final triumph, making them the second most successful club in the competition. Cullen was awarded the Duncan Hall Medal for man of the match for his performance.

### NRL State Championship

After winning the Grand Final, the Burleigh Bears qualified for the NRL State Championship on NRL Grand Final day. They were defeated by the Illawarra Cutters, the New South Wales Cup premiers, 54–12.
* Sunday, 2 October 3:40pm (AEDT)
| Illawarra Cutters | 54 – 12 | Burleigh Bears |
| Tries: Shannon Wakeman (7') 1 Damian Sironen (23') 1 Adam Quinlan (26') 1 Jacob Host (32') 1 Chris Lewis (37') 1 Drew Hutchison (45') 1 Siliva Havili (53') 1 Kurt Mann (57') 1 Taane Milne (63') 1 Goals: Shaun Nona 9/9 (8', 24', 27', 34', 39', 47', 55', 58', 65') | 1st: 30 - 0 2nd: 24 - 12 | Tries: 1 (61') Josh Ailaomai 1 (80') Kurtis Rowe Goals: 1/1 Darren Nicholls (61') 1/1 Luke Page (80') |
* ANZ Stadium, Sydney Referee: Peter Gough, Jon Stone Player of the Match: Drew Hutchison

## Player statistics

The following statistics are as of the conclusion of the season (including finals).

## QRL awards

* Courier Mail Medal (Best and Fairest): Josh Chudleigh ( Mackay Cutters)
* Coach of the Year: Jim Lenihan ( Burleigh Bears)
* Rookie of the Year: Jonus Pearson ( Redcliffe Dolphins)
* Representative Player of the Year: Jai Arrow ( Queensland Residents, Norths Devils)
* XXXX People's Choice Award: Justin Olam ( PNG Hunters)

### Team of the Year

| Position | Winner | Club |
| Fullback | Jahrome Hughes | Townsville Blackhawks |
| Wing | Jonus Pearson | Redcliffe Dolphins |
| Centre | Mosese Pangai | Townsville Blackhawks |
| Five-eighth | Cameron Cullen | Burleigh Bears |
| Halfback | Jamal Fogarty | Burleigh Bears |
| Prop | Sam Anderson | Redcliffe Dolphins |
| Hooker | Josh Chudleigh | Mackay Cutters |
| Second-row | Rhyse Martin | Townsville Blackhawks |
| Lock | Jai Arrow | Norths Devils |