1987 Brisbane Rugby League season

Last updated

1987 Brisbane Rugby League
DurationMarch 1 – September 20, 1987
Teams9
Premiers Brothers Colours.svg Past Brothers
Minor premiers Brothers Colours.svg Past Brothers
Matches played76
Points scored2898
Player of the year Wynnum-Manly Colours.svg Gene Miles
  1986
1988  

The 1987 Brisbane Rugby League premiership was the 77th season of Brisbane's professional rugby league football competition. Nine teams from across Brisbane competed for the premiership, which culminated in a grand final match between the Redcliffe and Past Brothers clubs.

Contents

Season summary

The format of the Winfield Cup was changed once again for the 1987 season, with games between Brisbane sides in the Winfield State League no longer granting competition points for the regular season. Instead, rounds 2 to 5 of the Woolies Pre-Season Competition were once again treated as first-grade games (Round 1, in which only 2 games were played, did not give competition points).

Teams played each other twice, with 18 rounds of competition played. It resulted in a top four of Past Brothers, Northern Suburbs, Redcliffe and Wynnum-Manly. The 1987 season is significant as most Rugby League historians view it as the final season of the BRL as a true top-tier competition, as the entry of the Brisbane Broncos and Gold Coast Giants into the NSWRL Premiership in 1988 devastated the BRL by stripping it of mainstream media coverage and players. [1]

Teams

ClubHome groundCoachCaptain
Balmain colours.svg Eastern Suburbs Langlands Park Shane McNally Ian Stains
Ipswich Colours.svg Ipswich North Ipswich Reserve Tommy Raudonikis Glen Haggarth
Norths Devils colours.svg Northern Suburbs Bishop Park Greg Oliphant Darryl Duncan
Brothers Colours.svg Past Brothers Corbett Park Ross Strudwick Trevor Bailey
Redcliffe colours.svg Redcliffe Dolphin Oval Darryl Van de Velde Bryan Niebling → Steve Bleakley
Valleys colours.svg Seagulls-Diehards Neumann Oval Peter McWhirter Steve Hegarty Mark Hohn
Western Suburbs colours.svg Southern Suburbs Davies Park Graeme Atherton Gary French
Wests Panthers Colours.svg Western Suburbs Purtell Park Peter ForemanKevin Langer → Darren Gilbert
Wynnum-Manly Colours.svg Wynnum-Manly Kougari Oval Wally Lewis Wally Lewis

Pre-Season

The 1987 Woolies pre-season competition took place over 5 rounds, from February 22 to March 22. Four competition points were available in each match, with one point going to the side that scored the most points in each half and two points to the winning side. Winfield Cup competition points were also available for teams that won games in rounds 2 through 5 of the pre-season. The pre-season final was held on March 29, between Brothers and Norths, both teams that had won all of their pre-season matches. The Brethren were without captain Trevor Bailey, who would also miss the Winfield State League and two rounds of the regular season. Second-row forward Gary Smith captained Brothers in Bailey's absence, the side winning 18–4 after taking the lead in the 33rd minute.

Results

Team12345F1F2
Eastern Suburbs Tigers XBRO

-34

SOU

-12

RED

-28

WST

+2

Ipswich Jets BRO

-2

XWST

+22

VAL

+6

NOR

-6

BRO

-10

Northern Suburbs Devils XSOU

+10

RED

+12

WST

+14

IPW

+6

WYN

+3

BRO

-14

Past Brothers IPW

+2

EST

+34

WYN

+4

XVAL

+14

IPW

+10

NOR

+14

Redcliffe Dolphins XWST

+3

NOR

-12

EST

+28

WYN

-24

Seagulls-Diehards SOU

+14

WYN

-10

XIPW

-6

BRO

-14

Southern Suburbs Magpies VAL

-14

NOR

-10

EST

+12

WYN

-14

X
Western Suburbs Panthers XRED

-3

IPW

-22

NOR

-14

EST

-2

Wynnum-Manly Seagulls XVAL

+10

BRO

-4

SOU

+14

RED

+24

NOR

-3

Team12345F1F2

Ladder

TeamPldWDLBPFPAPDPts
1 Norths Devils colours.svg Northern Suburbs 4400110866+4216.5
2 Brothers Colours.svg Past Brothers (P)4400110652+5416
3 Wynnum-Manly Colours.svg Wynnum-Manly 430118844+4413
4 Ipswich Colours.svg Ipswich 420217050+2010.5
5 Redcliffe colours.svg Redcliffe 420217883-510
6 Valleys colours.svg Seagulls-Diehards 410316682-168.5
7 Balmain colours.svg Eastern Suburbs 4103146118-726.5
8 Western Suburbs colours.svg Southern Suburbs 410317096-265.5
9 Wests Panthers Colours.svg Western Suburbs 400413374-413.5

Regular Season Results

TeamP2P3P4P556789101112131415161718F1F2GF
Eastern Suburbs Tigers BRO

-34

SOU

-12

RED

-28

WST

+2

NOR

-4

IPW

-16

WYN

-28

XVAL

-52

BRO

-50

SOU

-40

RED

-30

WST

-2

NOR

-30

IPW

-22

WYN

-10

XVAL

-2

Ipswich Jets XWST

+22

VAL

+6

NOR

-6

BRO

-12

EST

+16

SOU

-4

WYN

-16

RED

+14

XWST

+14

VAL

+2

NOR

-4

BRO

-28

EST

+22

SOU

+2

WYN

-16

RED

-2

Northern Suburbs Devils SOU

+10

RED

+12

WST

+14

IPW

+6

EST

+4

WYN

+12

XVAL

+7

BRO

-8

SOU

0

RED

-18

WST

+16

IPW

+4

EST

+30

WYN

+10

XVAL

+2

BRO

-10

BRO

-9

RED

-8

Past Brothers EST

+34

WYN

+4

XVAL

+14

IPW

+12

SOU

-4

RED

-22

WST

+36

NOR

+8

EST

+50

WYN

-4

XVAL

+9

IPW

+28

SOU

+24

RED

+12

WST

+4

NOR

+10

NOR

+9

XRED

+18

Redcliffe Dolphins WST

+3

NOR

-12

EST

+28

WYN

-24

XVAL

+12

BRO

+22

SOU

+13

IPW

-14

WST

+44

NOR

+18

EST

+30

WYN

-5

XVAL

+3

BRO

-12

SOU

+36

IPW

+2

WYN

+23

NOR

+8

BRO

-18

Seagulls-Diehards WYN

-10

XIPW

-6

BRO

-14

SOU

+21

RED

-12

WST

+38

NOR

-7

EST

+52

WYN

+9

XIPW

-2

BRO

-9

SOU

-6

RED

-3

WST

+16

NOR

-2

EST

+2

Southern Suburbs Magpies NOR

-10

EST

+12

WYN

-14

XVAL

-21

BRO

+4

IPW

+4

RED

-13

WST

+34

NOR

0

EST

+40

WYN

+5

XVAL

+6

BRO

-24

IPW

-2

RED

-36

WST

+14

Western Suburbs Panthers RED

-3

IPW

-22

NOR

-14

EST

-2

WYN

-31

XVAL

-38

BRO

-36

SOU

-34

RED

-44

IPW

-14

NOR

-16

EST

+2

WYN

-10

XVAL

-16

BRO

-4

SOU

-14

Wynnum-Manly Seagulls VAL

+10

BRO

-4

SOU

+14

RED

+24

WST

+31

NOR

-12

EST

+28

IPW

+16

XVAL

-9

BRO

+4

SOU

-5

RED

+5

WST

+10

NOR

-10

EST

+10

IPW

+16

XRED

-23

TeamP2P3P4P556789101112131415161718F1F2GF

Ladder

TeamPldWDLBPFPAPDPts
1 Brothers Colours.svg Past Brothers (P)1613032442227+21530
2 Norths Devils colours.svg Northern Suburbs 1612132340249+9129
3 Redcliffe colours.svg Redcliffe 1611052404262+14226
4 Wynnum-Manly Colours.svg Wynnum-Manly 1611052354226+12826
5 Western Suburbs colours.svg Southern Suburbs 168172311310+121
6 Ipswich Colours.svg Ipswich 168082325315+1020
7 Valleys colours.svg Seagulls-Diehards 1660102373304+6916
8 Wests Panthers Colours.svg Western Suburbs 1610152164462-2986
9 Balmain colours.svg Eastern Suburbs 1610152185543-3586

Source: [2]

Woolies Trophy

The 1987 Woolies Trophy match was held on August 2, as part of round 15 of the regular season. The Trophy was contested by Northern Suburbs and Wynnum-Manly, the teams that led the competition after the end of round 9.

Match details

1987 Woolies Trophy
2 August 1987
Northern Suburbs Norths Devils colours.svg 22 12 Wynnum-Manly Colours.svg Wynnum-Manly Seagulls
Tries:3
C Grauf Ru ball.svg 2'
M Booth Ru ball.svg 12'
G Dowling Ru ball.svg 64'
Goals:5
G Harvey Rugby penalty.svg 2', 27', 43', 47', 64'
1st: 12 12
2nd: 10 0
Tries:1
C Scott Ru ball.svg 15'
Goals:4
B Samuelson Rugby penalty.svg 8', 15', 24', 33'
Lang Park, Brisbane
Referee: Eddie Ward

Finals

HomeScoreAwayMatch Information
Date and TimeVenueRefereeCrowd
Semi-finals
Redcliffe colours.svg Redcliffe 30-7 Wynnum-Manly Colours.svg Wynnum-Manly 30 August 1987 Lang Park Eddie Ward9,800
Brothers Colours.svg Past Brothers 25-16 Norths Devils colours.svg Northern Suburbs 6 September 1987 Lang Park Ian Irwin7,500
Preliminary Final
Redcliffe colours.svg Redcliffe 24-16 Norths Devils colours.svg Northern Suburbs 13 September 1987 Lang Park Eddie Ward7,612
Grand Final
Brothers Colours.svg Past Brothers 26-8 Redcliffe colours.svg Redcliffe 20 September 1987 Lang Park Eddie Ward25,000

Grand Final

1987 BRL Grand Final
20 September 1987
Past Brothers Brothers Colours.svg 26 8 Redcliffe colours.svg Redcliffe
Tries:5
T Bailey Ru ball.svg 13'
J Kilroy Ru ball.svg 31'
M Coyne Ru ball.svg 39'
T Rea Ru ball.svg 47'
C Mohr Ru ball.svg 74'
Goals:3/5
T Rea Rugby penalty.svg 39', 47', 74'
1st: 14 0
2nd: 12 8
Tries:1
J Sandy Ru ball.svg 71'
Goals:2/3
B Keogh Rugby penalty.svg 43', 71'(2/2)
T Benson (0/1)
Lang Park, Brisbane
Attendance: 25,000
Referee: Eddie Ward

BrothersPositionRedcliffe
  1. Clinton Mohr
FB
  1. Greg Donnelly
2. Joe Kilroy WG 2. Shane Knuth
3. Robert Grogan CE 3. Rohan Teevan
4. Jeff Burns CE 4. Steve Cherry
5. Mark Coyne WG 5. Robin Thorne
6. Peter Gill FE 6. Trevor Benson
7. Greg Smith HB 7. Jamie Sandy
8. Brett Le Man LK 8. Steve Bleakley (c)
9. Tony Rea SR 9. Bob Keogh
10. Gary Smith SR 10. Ashhley Tupea
11. Steve Carter PR 11. Brian Niebling
12. Trevor Bailey (c) HK 12. Greg Conescu
13. Jim Stafford PR 13. Dave Brown
Reserve
Reserve
Ross Strudwick Coach Darryl Van De Velde

[3] [4] [5]

Winfield State League

The 1987 Winfield State League was the inaugural season of the Queensland Rugby League's statewide competition. A total of 14 teams competed in the season, 8 of which were BRL Premiership clubs. The remaining six were regional teams from across the state, hence the State League name. Wynnum Manly, Redcliffe, Brisbane Brothers and Toowoomba were the semi-finalists. Toowoomba were only the second non-Brisbane side to make the state league finals, but lost by 22 points to Wynnum-Manly in the semi-finals. The Seagulls faced Redcliffe in the State League Final for the second year in a row, winning 36–14.

References

  1. Page 6, THE POST-BRONCOS BRISBANE RUGBY LEAGUE COMPETITION - http://www.rogerswebsite.com/rl/Post-BroncosHistory.pdf
  2. Waite, Roger (2017). "A history of Brisbane rugby league (1909-2017)" (PDF). rogerswebsite.com.[ self-published source ]
  3. 1987 BRL Grand Final - Brothers v Redcliffe https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOkkHCowzck&t=297s
  4. 1987 Brisbane Rugby League Grand Final https://web.archive.org/web/20041225094700/http://queensland.rleague.com/flashback/1987gf.php
  5. 1987 BRL season on Rugby League Project https://www.rugbyleagueproject.org/seasons/brisbane-rugby-league-1987/results.html