Reply to thread

Message: [QUOTE="Big Pete, post: 2743009, member: 1899"] Brisbane Broncos 1989 Season Summary For the second year in a row the Brisbane Broncos’ hopes for a premiership faltered dramatically at representative time. Just as in 1988, the Broncos were premiership frontrunners for the early part of the season, but slumped alarmingly during the period of heaviest commitment in June and July. In that time in 1989 the Broncos lost seven matches out of eight. For three weeks they were without skipper Wally Lewis, Peter Jackson, Tony Currie, Michael Hancock, Sam Backo and Kerrod Walters who all toured New Zealand with the Australian team and lost Allan Langer and Gene Miles, injured while playing for Queensland. As their desperate semi-final drive hotted up Walters damaged a wrist and workhorse prop Greg Dowling was suspended for eight matches, adding insult to injury. In the end the disruptions became insurmountable, and they missed the final five cut-off. But it was a near thing. The Broncos qualified for a play-off for fifth place only to strike a red-hot Cronulla team at Parramatta Stadium. On the positive side Brisbane won their first title when they downed Illawarra 22-20 in a magnificent Panasonic Cup final struggle and eight Broncos tasted success in the Queensland Origin side. Centre Chris Johns and lock Terry Matterson became the first Queensland-based players to represent New South Wales in State of Origin. Hancock and Walters carried their excellent club form into the Queensland Origin side, from where they were both called up to the Australian team for the first time. The loss of Langer for half the season was a shattering blow to the Broncos. His dazzling individual skills and his alertness had been relied upon heavily and his absence created a vacuum that was never quite filled. The Brisbane forwards were the target of some criticism, particularly after heavy losses to Canberra and Balmain late in the season. There were some fine individual players in the pack, however. Miles played some memorable hands, while Walters was the Broncos’ outstanding overall performer for 1989. His speed around the rucks, high workrate and quick thinking make him a player destined to stay at the top for a long time. Crowd support for the Broncos grew in 1989, a record 30,000 crowd watched Parramatta and Brisbane at Lang Park in August, 16,000 watched those teams in a Panasonic Cup match in Townsville and overall attendances were up on 1988. The ’89 season will be remembered as another year that outside “distraction” cost the Broncos a semi-final berth. With the pre-season knockout replacing the mid-week Panasonic Cup in 1990, the Broncos will be at least have one fewer diversion. [/QUOTE]

Verification

Active Now

No members online now.

Total: 10 (members: 0, guests: 10)

Reply to thread

Log in

Active Now