# 2002 Brisbane Broncos season

The 2002 Brisbane Broncos season was the fifteenth in the club's history. They competed in the NRL's 2002 Telstra Premiership and finished the regular season in third position before going on to again come within one match of the grand final for the second consecutive year.

## Season summary

The 2002 NRL season saw the return of club legend Allan Langer to the Brisbane Broncos, following his successful comeback to Australian rugby league in the previous year's State of Origin decider. In 2002 he was the NRL's oldest player at 36 years and 60 days.
2002 was also the beginning of Brisbane's recurring "post origin slump", which was to haunt the club for the next four years. As most of the Queensland Maroons who compete in the mid-week State of Origin matches are Broncos' players, this extra workload often results in a loss of form for the club around and after the time of the Origin series. The Broncos finished the regular season in 3rd position, with the second-highest points differential in the league, but were knocked out in the Preliminary Final by the eventual premiers, the Sydney Roosters, in a rematch of the 2000 Grand Final.
One season highlight was the week 12 upset of Wests Tigers. Despite finishing the season down the ladder the Tigers were in a finals spot at the time. With nine players selected for Origin, Brisbane played six debutants, including Corey Parker, Scott Prince and Shaun Berrigan, ultimately defeating the Tigers 28–14.

## Match results

| Round | Opponent | Result | Bro. | Opp. | Date | Venue | Crowd | Position |
| 1 | North Queensland Cowboys | Win | 42 | 6 | 16 Mar | Dairy Farmers Stadium | 24,212 | 2/15 |
| 2 | Canterbury Bulldogs | Draw | 20 | 20 | 22 Mar | ANZ Stadium | 22,300 | 5/15 |
| 3 | Sydney Roosters | Win | 22 | 8 | 29 Mar | Sydney Football Stadium | 15,614 | 3/15 |
| 4 | Cronulla Sharks | Win | 18 | 16 | 7 Apr | ANZ Stadium | 22,005 | 2/15 |
| 5 | Canberra Raiders | Win | 18 | 16 | 13 Apr | Bruce Stadium | 12,029 | 2/15 |
| 6 | Penrith Panthers | Win | 30 | 26 | 21 Apr | ANZ Stadium | 13,613 | 2/15 |
| 7 | Newcastle Knights | Win | 18 | 12 | 26 Apr | ANZ Stadium | 37,166 | 1/15 |
| 8 | South Sydney Rabbitohs | Win | 42 | 16 | 3 May | Sydney Football Stadium | 14,874 | 1/15 |
| 9 | Northern Eagles | Win | 50 | 12 | 11 May | ANZ Stadium | 14,202 | 1/15 |
| 10 | BYE | | | | | | | 1/15 |
| 11* | St George Illawarra Dragons | Loss | 20 | 28 | 26 May | Sydney Football Stadium | 9,051 | 2/15 |
| 12 | Wests Tigers | Win | 28 | 14 | 31 May | Campbelltown Stadium | 9,540 | 2/15 |
| 13* | Parramatta Eels | Loss | 18 | 22 | 7 Jun | ANZ Stadium | 17,667 | 4/15 |
| 14 | North Queensland Cowboys | Win | 52 | 8 | 16 Jun | ANZ Stadium | 10,215 | 4/15 |
| 15 | BYE | | | | | | | 2/15 |
| 16* | New Zealand Warriors | Loss | 16 | 26 | 30 Jun | ANZ Stadium | 24,907 | 4/15 |
| 17 | St George Illawarra Dragons | Win | 34 | 22 | 7 Jul | ANZ Stadium | 19,998 | 3/15 |
| 18 | Penrith Panthers | Win | 38 | 20 | 13 Jul | Penrith Football Stadium | 10,099 | 2/15 |
| 19 | Wests Tigers | Win | 46 | 14 | 20 Jul | ANZ Stadium | 13,009 | 2/15 |
| 20 | Parramatta Eels | Win | 26 | 6 | 26 Jul | Parramatta Stadium | 15,525 | 2/15 |
| 21 | Melbourne Storm | Win | 48 | 20 | 3 Aug | Olympic Park Stadium | 10,308 | 2/15 |
| 22 | Sydney Roosters | Loss | 18 | 28 | 9 Aug | ANZ Stadium | 23,991 | 2/15 |
| 23 | New Zealand Warriors | Loss | 4 | 18 | 18 Aug | Mt Smart Stadium | 22,125 | 3/15 |
| 24 | Newcastle Knights | Loss | 10 | 40 | 23 Aug | EnergyAustralia Stadium | 18,601 | 3/15 |
| 25 | Canberra Raiders | Win | 36 | 2 | 31 Aug | ANZ Stadium | 22,502 | 2/15 |
| 26 | Canterbury Bulldogs | Loss | 18 | 25 | 6 Sep | Sydney Showground Stadium | 16,492 | 3/15 |
| Qualif. Final | Parramatta Eels | Win | 24 | 14 | 14 Sep | ANZ Stadium | 19,115 | |
| Prelim. Final | Sydney Roosters | Loss | 12 | 16 | 28 Sep | Sydney Football Stadium | 28,251 | |

## Ladder

2002 NRL seasonvte :
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | B | PF | PA | PD | Pts |
| 1 | New Zealand Warriors | 24 | 17 | 0 | 7 | 2 | 688 | 454 | +234 | 38 |
| 2 | Newcastle Knights | 24 | 17 | 0 | 7 | 2 | 724 | 498 | +226 | 38 |
| 3 | Brisbane Broncos | 24 | 16 | 1 | 7 | 2 | 672 | 425 | +247 | 37 |
| 4 | Sydney Roosters (P) | 24 | 15 | 1 | 8 | 2 | 621 | 405 | +216 | 35 |
| 5 | Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks | 24 | 15 | 0 | 9 | 2 | 653 | 597 | +56 | 34 |
| 6 | Parramatta Eels | 24 | 10 | 2 | 12 | 2 | 531 | 440 | +91 | 26 |
| 7 | St George Illawarra Dragons | 24 | 9 | 3 | 12 | 2 | 632 | 546 | +86 | 25 |
| 8 | Canberra Raiders | 24 | 10 | 1 | 13 | 2 | 471 | 641 | -170 | 25 |
| 9 | Northern Eagles | 24 | 10 | 0 | 14 | 2 | 503 | 740 | -237 | 24 |
| 10 | Melbourne Storm | 24 | 9 | 1 | 14 | 2 | 556 | 586 | -30 | 23 |
| 11 | North Queensland Cowboys | 24 | 8 | 0 | 16 | 2 | 496 | 803 | -307 | 20 |
| 12 | Penrith Panthers | 24 | 7 | 0 | 17 | 2 | 546 | 654 | -108 | 18 |
| 13 | Wests Tigers | 24 | 7 | 0 | 17 | 2 | 498 | 642 | -144 | 18 |
| 14 | South Sydney Rabbitohs | 24 | 5 | 0 | 19 | 2 | 385 | 817 | -432 | 14 |
| 15 | Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs | 24 | 20 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 707 | 435 | +272 | 8$^1$ |
$^1$ The Bulldogs were deducted 37 premiership points due to gross salary cap breaches.

## Scorers

| Player | Tries | Goals | FG | Points |
| Michael De Vere | 6 | 81/102 | 0 | 186 |
| Lote Tuqiri | 15 | 17/25 | 0 | 94 |
| Darren Lockyer | 15 | 1/1 | 0 | 62 |
| Chris Walker | 15 | 0 | 0 | 60 |
| Shaun Berrigan | 10 | 0 | 0 | 40 |
| Brent Tate | 10 | 0 | 0 | 40 |
| Gorden Tallis | 10 | 0 | 0 | 40 |
| Casey McGuire | 7 | 0 | 0 | 28 |
| Carl Webb | 7 | 0 | 0 | 28 |
| Allan Langer | 5 | 0 | 0 | 20 |
| Steve Irwin | 4 | 0 | 0 | 16 |
| Stuart Kelly | 4 | 0 | 0 | 16 |
| Brad Meyers | 3 | 0 | 0 | 12 |
| Scott Prince | 0 | 5/6 | 0 | 10 |
| Andrew Gee | 2 | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| Phillip Lee | 2 | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| Corey Parker | 2 | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| Brett Seymour | 2 | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| Shane Webcke | 2 | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| Petero Civoniceva | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Dane Carlaw | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Ashley Harrison | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Robert Tanielu | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 |

## Honours
### League

* Nil

### Club

* Player of the year: Darren Lockyer
* Rookie of the year: Brent Tate
* Back of the year: Darren Lockyer
* Forward of the year: Shane Webcke
* Club man of the year: Scott Prince