Battle for Brisbane (rugby league)

Last updated

Battle for Brisbane
Other namesBattle of Brisbane
Location Flag of Queensland.svg Brisbane, Queensland
Teams Brisbane colours.svg Brisbane Broncos
Dolphins colours.png Dolphins
South Queensland colours.svg South Queensland Crushers (former)
First meetingBroncos 32 – 0 Crushers
(31 March 1995)
Latest meetingBroncos 28 – 14 Dolphins
(12 April 2024)
Next meeting31 August 2024
Stadiums Suncorp Stadium
The Gabba
Statistics
Meetings total3
Most winsBroncos (3)
Top scorer Selwyn Cobbo (24)
All-time seriesBroncos: 3 wins
Dolphins: 0 wins
Largest victoryBroncos – 14 points
(12 April 2023)

The rugby league Battle for Brisbane is the name for the series of matches between the professional rugby league clubs in Brisbane. [1]

Contents

The original series was between the Brisbane Broncos and the South Queensland Crushers during the ARL competition in the mid-1990s. The Brisbane Broncos won both encounters.

In 2023, the new Dolphins franchise re-ignited the series, [2] with the teams striking a new Battle Medal as the player of the match award, as decided by prominent rugby league commentators. [3] [4]

Results

Broncos vs Crushers

The Brisbane Broncos would meet the South Queensland Crushers just twice in the then ARL-controlled competition. The first meeting at Brisbane's ANZ Stadium came on the night the Super League war broke out in 1995. [5] The long-awaited clash between Brisbane's two teams ended up a bit of a non-event, with the Broncos having a glut of possession to race out to an early 12–0 lead, extending it further in the second half. [5] The Crushers lack of penetration in attack was their ultimate downfall, as they were held scoreless in just their fourth competition fixture. [6]

The second match between the teams came over a year later in the 1996 ARL season, with the Broncos again winners, in front of a then competition record crowd of 34,263 at Suncorp Stadium. [7] The Crushers would take an 8–6 lead into halftime, before the Broncos overwhelmed the Crushers in the final ten minutes with three tries. [7]

Due to the split caused by the Super League war, the two teams would not meet again before the Crushers' ultimate demise in December 1997. [8]

GameHomeScoreAwayDateVenueCrowd
1 Brisbane colours.svg Brisbane Broncos 32–0 South Queensland colours.svg South Queensland Crushers 31 March 1995 QE II 49,607
2 South Queensland colours.svg South Queensland Crushers 8–28 Brisbane colours.svg Brisbane Broncos 12 April 1996 Lang Park 34,263

Broncos vs Dolphins

GameHomeScoreAwayDateRoundVenueRefereeAttendanceBattle Medal
1 Dolphins colours.png Dolphins 12–18 Brisbane colours.svg Brisbane Broncos 24 March 2023Round 4 Suncorp Stadium Adam Gee 51,047 Brisbane colours.svg Payne Haas [9]
2 Brisbane colours.svg Brisbane Broncos 24–16 Dolphins colours.png Dolphins 1 July 2023Round 18 The Gabba Peter Gough30,606 Brisbane colours.svg Selwyn Cobbo
3 Brisbane colours.svg Brisbane Broncos 28–14 Dolphins colours.png Dolphins 12 April 2024Round 6 Suncorp Stadium Adam Gee Brisbane colours.svg Selwyn Cobbo
4 Dolphins colours.png Dolphins Brisbane colours.svg Brisbane Broncos 31 August 2024Round 26 Suncorp Stadium

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brisbane Broncos</span> Australian rugby league football club

The Brisbane Broncos Rugby League Football Club Ltd., commonly referred to as the Broncos, is an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Brisbane, Queensland. Founded in April 1987, the Broncos currently compete in the National Rugby League (NRL). The club has won six premierships, including two New South Wales Rugby League premierships, a Super League premiership and three NRL premierships. The Broncos have won two World Club Challenges, and four minor premierships in multiple competitions. Prior to 2015, Brisbane had never been defeated in a grand final, and since 1991, the club has failed to qualify for the finals five times. The club is one of the most successful clubs in the National Rugby League since it began in 1998, winning three premierships. The club is one of the most successful clubs in the history of rugby league, having won 59.9% of games played since its induction in 1988, second only to Melbourne Storm with 67.3%.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Rugby League</span> Australasian rugby league football competition

The National Rugby League is a professional rugby league competition in Australasia which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory and New Zealand.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wayne Bennett (rugby league)</span> Australian rugby league coach and former footballer

Wayne James Bennett, also known by the nickname "Benny", is an Australian professional rugby league football coach and former player. He is currently the head coach of the Dolphins in the National Rugby League (NRL), and has previously coached the South Sydney Rabbitohs, the Brisbane Broncos, the Newcastle Knights, the St George Illawarra Dragons, the Canberra Raiders, the Queensland Maroons State of Origin team, the NRL All Stars and the Australian Kangaroos national team as well as the England and Great Britain national teams.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Super League (Australia)</span> Australian rugby league competition active in 1997

Super League was an Australian rugby league football administrative body that conducted professional competition in Australia and New Zealand for one season in 1997. Along with Super League of Europe, it was created by News Corporation during the Super League war which arose following an unsuccessful attempt to purchase the pay television rights to rugby league in Australia. After two years of legal battles the competition was played for a single season in 1997 alongside the rival Australian Rugby League (ARL) competition before the two merged in 1998 to form the National Rugby League (NRL).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Allan Langer</span> Australia international rugby league footballer

Allan Jeffrey "Alfie" Langer AM is an Australian former multi-award-winning rugby league footballer who played in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s and worked as an assistant coach for the Australian national team, the Queensland Maroons and the Brisbane Broncos.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Redcliffe Dolphins</span> Australian rugby league club, based in Redcliffe, QLD

The Redcliffe Dolphins are a semi-professional rugby league club based in Redcliffe, Queensland, Australia. Founded in 1947, they were accepted into the Brisbane Rugby League (BRL) premiership competition in 1960, and since 1996 have played in the Queensland Cup. The Redcliffe Dolphins thrived in the BRL. However, the 1988 admission of the Brisbane Broncos team in the New South Wales Rugby League competition caused the decline of the BRL.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Queensland Cup</span> Australian rugby league competition

The Queensland Cup, currently known as the Hostplus Cup for sponsorship reasons, is the highest-level regional rugby league football competition in Queensland, Australia. It is run by the Queensland Rugby League (QRL) and is contested by fifteen teams, thirteen of which are based in Queensland, with one based in New South Wales and one in Central Province, Papua New Guinea.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">South Queensland Crushers</span> Defunct Australian rugby league club, based in Brisbane, QLD

South Queensland Crushers was an Australian rugby league football club based in Brisbane, Queensland. In 1992 it was decided that the team would be admitted into the New South Wales Rugby League competition, along with three other teams, as part of the League's expansion plans for professional rugby league in Australia. The competition was re-branded the Australian Rugby League competition in 1995, which was the Crushers' first season.

John Ribot, also known by the nickname of "Reebs", is an Australian sports administrator, former rugby league footballer of the 1970s and 1980s. Once a Queensland State of Origin and Australian international representative, Ribot was the 1980 NSWRFL season's equal top try-scorer. Also a member of the 1982 "Invincibles" Kangaroo touring squad, he played club football in Brisbane for Fortitude Valley, Wests and Redcliffe, and in Sydney for Newtown, Wests and Manly-Warringah.

The 1998 NRL season was the 91st season of professional rugby league football in Australia, and the inaugural season of the newly formed National Rugby League (NRL). After the 1997 season, in which the Australian Rugby League and Super League organisations ran separate competitions parallel to each other, they joined to create a reunited competition in the NRL. The first professional rugby league club to be based in Victoria, the Melbourne Storm was introduced into the League, and with the closure of the Hunter Mariners, Western Reds and South Queensland Crushers, twenty teams competed for the premiership, which culminated in the 1998 NRL grand final between the Brisbane Broncos and Canterbury-Bankstown. It was also the final season for the Illawarra Steelers and the St. George Dragons as their own clubs prior to their merger into the St. George-Illawarra Dragons for the 1999 NRL season

Aaron Moule is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1990s and 2000s. He played club football for the South Queensland Crushers and Melbourne Storm in Australasia's National Rugby League and Widnes Vikings and Salford City Reds in the Super League.

The 1997 Super League season was a breakaway professional rugby league football competition in Australia and the only one to be run by the News Limited-controlled Super League organisation. Eight teams which had broken away from the existing Australian Rugby League, in addition to the newly created Adelaide Rams and Hunter Mariners, competed over eighteen weekly rounds of the regular season. The top five teams then played a series of knock-out finals which culminated in a September grand final played in Brisbane between the Brisbane Broncos and Cronulla.

The history of the National Rugby League (NRL), the top league of professional rugby league football clubs in Australasia, goes back to December 1997, when it was formed in the aftermath of the Super League war of the mid-1990s. The NRL has, in its relatively brief history, enjoyed growth and record attendance figures.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rugby league in Queensland</span>

Rugby league in Queensland is the most watched winter sport in the state and the second most participated football code after soccer. Rugby league was introduced in 1908 and within just a few years it surpassed rugby union there to become the most popular football code as players switched to play professionally in the Queensland Rugby League. In the 1920s, Queenslanders began leaving to play professionally in the New South Wales Rugby League which became a more popular competition. However Queensland maintained a strong rugby league culture, with the state continuing to perform well in interstate rugby league. The later advent of the State of Origin series ensured that players would return to represent their state.

The Super League war was a commercial competition between the Australian Rugby League (ARL) and the Australian Super League to establish pre-eminence in professional rugby league competition in Australia and New Zealand in the mid-1990s.

The National Rugby League is the top level rugby league competition in Australia and New Zealand. It was formed in 1998 after the merger of the Australian Super League and the Australian Rugby League. Inaugurally containing 20 teams, rationalisation cut this number down to 14 by 2000, before the competition expanded back to 16 in 2007 and 17 in 2023. Debate regarding the expansion of the competition to 18 and even 20 teams is ongoing.

The Queensland derby refers to rugby league matches between National Rugby League (NRL) clubs, the Brisbane Broncos and North Queensland Cowboys, first contested in 1995. The rivalry features the two longest-serving Queensland based clubs in the ARL/Super League/NRL competitions. They have met 53 times since 1995, with Brisbane leading the head-to-head series 35–18; with two drawn matches.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jamayne Isaako</span> New Zealand & Samoa international rugby league footballer

Jamayne Isaako is a New Zealand professional rugby league footballer who plays as a goal-kicking winger for the Dolphins in the National Rugby League (NRL). At the 2023 Dally M Awards, Isaako received the Ken Irvine Medal for being the "Top Tryscorer of the Year". He was also the "Top Pointscorer of the Year", and named as Best Winger of the Year along with Dallin Watene-Zelezniak from the New Zealand Warriors.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dolphins (NRL)</span> Australian Rugby League club, based in Brisbane

The Dolphins are a professional rugby league football team, based in the Redcliffe Peninsula area of the City of Moreton Bay, that competes in the Australian National Rugby League (NRL).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2023 Dolphins (NRL) season</span> 2023 NRL rugby league season

The 2023 Dolphins season is historically the inaugural season for the Dolphins club in the professional National Rugby League (NRL) football competition in Australia. With Wayne Bennett as head coach and Jesse Bromwich as the regular team captain, the Dolphins competed in the 2023 NRL Telstra Premiership but did not qualify for the finals. Nevertheless, they finished in thirteenth place, ahead of four other established teams.

References

  1. ↑ Walter, Brad (24 March 2023). "'We are the Broncos': Scene set for Battle of Brisbane". NRL.com. Retrieved 27 March 2023.
  2. ↑ "The Battle for Brisbane". dolphinsnrl.com.au. 10 November 2022. Retrieved 27 March 2023.
  3. ↑ Crockford, Nick (24 March 2023). "Medal battle in Dolphins-Broncos blockbuster". moretondaily.com.au. Retrieved 27 March 2023.
  4. ↑ "Battle medal unveiled". dolphinsnrl.com.au. 24 March 2023. Retrieved 27 March 2023.
  5. 1 2 Middleton, David, ed. (1996). Rugby League 1996. Surrey Hills: Harper Sports. pp. 87–89. ISBN   0732256720.
  6. ↑ "South Queensland Crushers results". Rugby League Tables. Retrieved 3 April 2023.
  7. 1 2 Middleton, David, ed. (1997). Rugby League 1997. Sydney: Harper Sports. pp. 62–63. ISBN   0732257875.
  8. ↑ Alan Whiticker; Ian Collis (2004). The History of Rugby League Clubs. New Holland Publishers (Australia) Pty Ltd. ISBN   1741100755.
  9. ↑ Gates, Zachary (24 March 2023). "Friday night NRL AS IT HAPPENED: Kotoni Staggs wins derby thriller, hits Dolphins with screaming message; Payne Haas wins inaugural 'Battle Medal'". Nine's Wide World of Sport. Nine Media. Retrieved 27 March 2023.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.