Shane Webcke (born 28 September 1974) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer, who spent his entire club career playing for the Brisbane Broncos. Webcke represented Queensland in the State of Origin 21 times and also captained the side. He made 26 test appearances for Australia. His position was prop forward and at his peak he was renowned as the best front rower in the world. Alongside Glenn Lazarus and Arthur Beetson, Webcke is considered by many to have been one of the finest post-war front-rowers to play the game.[3][4][5]
After retiring from playing in 2006, Webcke became the Sunday–Thursday sports presenter on Seven News in his hometown of Brisbane, a position he holds to this day.[6]
Originally from Leyburn, Queensland and having played for Toowoomba, Webcke was scouted by Wayne Bennett, whom he acknowledges as the greatest influence on his career, after seeing him play as a schoolboy in 1993. The following year Webcke's father was killed in a work accident when he was still 19 years of age. [9]
Webcke made his first appearance for the Queensland Maroons in the first game of the 1998 State of Origin series and was named man of the match in the third and deciding game that year. From his debut until his retirement from representative football following Game III in 2004, no other player wore the number 8 for Queensland.
In 2000 Webcke broke his arm during the finals series that season but went on to play for the Broncos in their grand final victory over the Sydney Roosters.[10] Post-season he was a member of the Australian team that won the 2000 Rugby League World Cup. Webcke was also awarded the Australian Sports Medal for his contribution to Australia's international standing in rugby league. Following Australia's World Cup victory, Webcke and teammate Gorden Tallis wrote an open letter to players appealing for an end to scandalous behaviour amongst footballers which had been tarnishing the sport.[11]
Having won the 2000 NRL Premiership, the Broncos travelled to England to play against 2000's Super League V Champions, St. Helens for the 2001 World Club Challenge, with Webcke playing at prop forward in Brisbane's loss.
Webcke announced on 26 April 2006 that he would retire at the end of the 2006 NRL season. Webcke's final game was the Broncos' victory in the 2006 grand final against the Melbourne Storm,[14] days after his 32nd birthday.
Post-playing
Webcke training with the Broncos in 2006
Post-football, Webcke went on to release his auto-biography, Warhorse and also ventured into media with the Seven Network in his hometown of Brisbane, presenting sport on the local Seven News bulletin on Sundays to Thursdays.[6] He also worked on-screen with Matthew Johns in the first and only season of The Matty Johns Show.
Webcke's pub at Leyburn, Queensland – the Royal Hotel – is the longest, continuously licensed premises in Queensland . Webcke was set to become the first player to give the annual Tom Brock Lecture when he was invited to do so in 2007,[15] but this did not eventuate.
In 2007 at the Broncos' 20-year anniversary celebration, the club announced a list of the 20 best players to play for them to date which included Webcke.[16]
In February 2008, Webcke was named in the list of Australia's 100 Greatest Players (1908–2007) which was commissioned by the NRL and ARL to celebrate the code's centenary year in Australia.[17][18]
A few months later the Brisbane Broncos appointed Shane Webcke, along with Allan Langer, as full-time assistant coaches to work alongside new head coach Ivan Henjak from the 2009 season. However, shortly after the start of the season, Webcke quit his post in the wake of controversy surrounding the release of his new book in which he was openly critical of the Broncos administration not standing down star players Darius Boyd, Sam Thaiday and Karmichael Hunt when police were investigating sexual assault allegations against them in September 2008.[19] He went on to state that he was 'filthy' about the state of affairs at the Broncos.[20]
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 seven premierships, including two New South Wales Rugby League premierships, a Super League premiership and four 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%.
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Glenn Patrick Lazarus is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer, and a former Australian Senator. An Australian international and New South Wales State of Origin representative prop, Lazarus won premierships with the Canberra Raiders, Brisbane Broncos and Melbourne Storm, who he also captained. He is the only player in the history of the game to win grand finals with three separate clubs, with the grand final wins also being the first for each club. He is remembered as one of the greatest players in the history of rugby league. After his retirement from football he assisted several NRL clubs in a coaching capacity.
Gorden James Tallis, also known by the nickname of "Raging Bull" for his on-field aggression, is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1990s and 2000s. A Queensland State of Origin and Australian international representative second-row forward, he captained both these teams as well as the Brisbane Broncos with whom he won the 1997, 1998 and 2000 Grand Finals, after starting his career with the St. George Dragons in Sydney. At the peak of his career Tallis was considered as the best second-row forward in the world and in 2008 was named in an Indigenous Australian rugby league team of the century. He is currently a commentator and pundit for the Fox Sports network. He served as a National Rugby League board member and was a member of the board of directors for the North Queensland Cowboys. Tallis also worked on the coaching staff of the South Sydney Rabbitohs.
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The 2006 Brisbane Broncos season was the nineteenth in the club's history. Coached by Wayne Bennett and captained by Darren Lockyer, they won the NRL's 2006 Telstra Premiership, finishing the regular season in 3rd place before going on to defeat the first-placed Melbourne Storm in the 2006 NRL Grand Final.
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The history of the Brisbane Broncos Rugby League Football Club stretches back from their inception in the mid-1980s to the present day. They were introduced to the NSWRL's Winfield Cup premiership in 1988, taking the competition by storm in winning their first six games. The Broncos participated in 18 consecutive finals series from 1992–2009, winning premierships six times, including the 1992 and 1993 NSWRL premierships, the Superleague premiership in 1997 and then the 1998, 2000 and 2006 National Rugby League premierships.
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