Jump to content

1998 Queensland Cup

Add links
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

1998 Queensland Cup
DurationMarch 14 – September 19, 1998
Teams16
Premiers Norths Devils (1st title)
Minor premiers Norths Devils (1st title)
Matches played185
Points scored9,184
Top points scorer(s) John Wilshere (276)
Player of the year Shane Perry
Top try-scorer(s) George Wilson (27)
← 1997
1999 →

The 1998 Queensland Cup season was the 3rd season of Queensland's top-level statewide rugby league competition.

The competition was contested by sixteen teams over a 27-week long season (including finals), with the Norths Devils defeating the Wests Panthers 35–16 in the Grand Final at Suncorp Stadium. Logan halfback Shane Perry was named the competition's Player of the Year.

Teams

[edit]

The competition returned to a 16-team format in 1998 with the Bundaberg Grizzlies returning to the competition after a year's absence and the admission of the Townsville Stingers and Gold Coast Vikings. The Port Moresby Vipers withdrew after two seasons in the competition after they were unable to continue to pay their travel and accommodation costs. Also in 1998, the Pine Rivers Brothers played as the Brisbane Brothers, while the Logan City Scorpions became the Logan Scorpions.

In 1998, a number of NRL clubs partnered with Queensland Cup sides, sending players not selected in first grade to play in the competition. The Brisbane Broncos were affiliated with Brisbane Brothers, the Gold Coast Chargers with the Gold Coast Vikings, the Melbourne Storm with the Norths Devils, the North Queensland Cowboys with the Townsville Stingers and the Adelaide Rams with the Wests Panthers.

Colours Club Home ground(s)
Brisbane Brothers Crosby Park
Bundaberg Grizzlies Salter Oval
Burleigh Bears Pizzey Park
Cairns Cyclones Barlow Park
Central Capras Browne Park
Easts Tigers Langlands Park
Gold Coast Vikings Carrara Stadium
Ipswich Jets North Ipswich Reserve
Logan Scorpions Meakin Park
Norths Devils Bishop Park
Redcliffe Dolphins Dolphin Oval
Souths Magpies Davies Park
Toowoomba Clydesdales Athletic Oval
Townsville Stingers Malanda Stadium
Wests Panthers Purtell Park
Wynnum Seagulls Kougari Oval

Results

[edit]

In 1998, the Queensland Cup became a full 22-round competition, unlike the previous two seasons which had 17 and 18 regular season rounds.

Ladder

[edit]
1998 Queensland Cup
Pos Team Pld W D L PF PA PD Pts
1 Norths Devils (P) 22 16 1 5 872 394 +478 33
2 Brisbane Brothers 22 16 0 6 731 364 +367 32
3 Wests Panthers 22 16 0 6 748 408 +340 32
4 Redcliffe Dolphins 22 16 0 6 647 314 +333 32
5 Gold Coast Vikings 22 15 0 7 673 423 +250 30
6 Wynnum Seagulls 22 15 0 7 531 382 +149 30
7 Townsville Stingers 22 13 3 6 686 435 +251 29
8 Burleigh Bears 22 14 0 8 604 442 +162 28
9 Easts Tigers 22 12 1 9 522 497 +25 25
10 Cairns Cyclones 22 8 2 12 500 642 -142 18
11 Central Capras 22 8 0 14 497 701 -204 16
12 Logan Scorpions 22 6 1 15 488 694 -206 13
13 Ipswich Jets 22 6 0 16 350 606 -256 12
14 Souths Magpies 22 6 0 16 381 763 -382 12
15 Toowoomba Clydesdales 22 5 0 17 310 755 -445 10
16 Bundaberg Grizzlies 22 0 0 22 286 1006 -720 0

Finals series

[edit]
Home Score Away Match Information
Date Venue
Week 1 Semi-finals
Gold Coast Vikings 30 – 10 Wynnum Seagulls 22 August 1998 Carrara Stadium
Wests Panthers 10 – 20 Redcliffe Dolphins 22 August 1998 Purtell Park
Norths Devils 28 – 10 Brisbane Brothers 23 August 1998 Kougari Oval
Week 2 Semi-finals
Wests Panthers 18 – 16 Gold Coast Vikings 29 August 1998 Pizzey Park
Brisbane Brothers 24 – 28 Redcliffe Dolphins 29 August 1998 Purtell Park
Week 3 Semi-finals
Norths Devils 16 – 12 Redcliffe Dolphins 5 September 1998 Dolphin Oval
Brisbane Brothers 16 – 18 Wests Panthers 6 September 1998 Crosby Park
Preliminary Final
Redcliffe Dolphins 14 – 27 Wests Panthers 12 September 1998 Dolphin Oval
Grand Final
Norths Devils 35 – 18 Wests Panthers 19 September 1998 Suncorp Stadium

Grand Final

[edit]
Sunday, 19 September
Norths Devils 35 – 16 Wests Panthers
Tries:
Matt Geyer 3
Anthony Bonus 1
Kevin Carmichael 1
Craig O'Dwyer 1
Goals:
John Wilshire 4
Kevin Carmichael 1
Field Goals:
Andrew Hamilton 1 		1st: 6 - 16
2nd: 29 - 0
Report
 Tries:
2 Jacob Twist
1 Mark Maguire
Goals:
2 Tony Devlin
Suncorp Stadium
Attendance: 4,283
Referee: Tony Maksoud
Norths Devils Position Wests Panthers
Paul Hubbard FB Tony Devlin
Matthew Dux WG Mark Maguire
Steven Bell CE Shaun Valentine
Matt Geyer CE Craig Smith
John Wilshire WG Scott Williamson
Craig O'Dwyer FE Craig Bowen (c)
Kevin Carmichael (c) HB Jason Twist
Anthony Bonus PR David Asplin
Dale Williams HK Jason Campbell
Wade Fenton PR Robert Campbell
Andrew Hamilton SR Cameron Roper
Daniel Frame SR Alan Wieland
Mark Protheroe LK Joel Twohill
Ricky Paul Bench David Fuller
Matt Rua Bench Peter Liddell
Ryan Gundry Bench Sam Faalafi
Tristan Brady-Smith Bench David Liddell
Mark Murray Coach Wayne Treleaven

Norths, who finished the season as minor premiers, qualified for their first Grand Final after defeating Brothers and Redcliffe in the finals series. Wests, who finished third, had a tougher road to their first Grand Final appearance, losing in Week 1 to Redcliffe. From there, the Panthers won three straight elimination games to qualify for the decider. When the two sides met in the regular season, Norths defeated the Panthers 42–22 in Round 5 at Purtell Park.[1]

First half

[edit]

Wests halfback Jason Twist scored the first points of the game after four minutes with a try close the posts. 15 minutes later, Wests added four more points when winger Mark Maguire crossed in the corner. The Panthers added to their tally soon after when Twist crossed for his second, backing up Shaun Valentine who made a break down the field. Trailing 16-0, Norths finally got on the board when centre Matt Geyer scored the first of his three tries.

Second half

[edit]

The second half was all Norths, as they ran in 29 unanswered points to secure their maiden premiership. Devils' prop Anthony Bonus crashed over right next to the posts to cut the lead to four, before Geyer scored his second to level the scores. John Wilshire's sideline conversion put Norths in front by two, their first lead of the game coming in the 60th minute. Captain Kevin Carmichael was the next to score for Norths, with second-rower Andrew Hamilton kicking a field goal 10 minutes later to extend Norths' lead to seven. Norths finished with two late tries to Craig O'Dwyer and Geyer to cap a remarkable 19-point win. The 16-0 deficit they overcame is (as of 2019), the biggest comeback in a Queensland Cup Grand Final.[2][3]

Geyer and Matt Rua would go onto play in the Melbourne Storm's NRL Grand Final win over the St George Illawarra Dragons a year later, while Steven Bell would win an NRL premiership with the Manly Sea Eagles in 2008.[4][5]

Player statistics

[edit]

End-of-season awards

[edit]

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Queensland Rugby League". queensland.rleague.com. Archived from the original on 18 March 2013. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
  2. ^ Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: "1998 QLD Cup Grand Final Norths 35 v Wests 16". YouTube.
  3. ^ "20 Years on - Remembering the 1998 Grand Final". 7 March 2018.
  4. ^ "Where are they now: 1999 NRL grand finalists". 26 September 2019.
  5. ^ "Bell to hang up boots in Rocky". The Courier Mail. 9 October 2008.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=1998_Queensland_Cup&oldid=1223733030"