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In 1986, expansion of the NSWRL Premiership was in the minds of the ARL
staff and
Queensland was a prime target.
After many obstacles, objections and the Brisbane Rugby League, the QRL made the
entry into the NSWRL and then set to the task of setting up a football club.
The first task at hand didn't take a rocket scientist to work out, that of which was to sign the King, Wally Lewis in their side. Wally negotiated directly with Paul Morgan and Barry Maranta before signing on the spot. The original offer was lower than that of Sydney club Manly, but with the cost of moving to Sydney and the Broncos' enormous $1500 win bonuses on offer, Lewis was never really considering signing with anyone else.
Arguably the most
important signing was of Canberra co-coach Wayne Bennett.
John Ribot was signed as the new club's chief executive and hotelier Gary Balkin
and marketing man Steve Williams were the third and fourth directors. Williams a
former North Sydney player, and Brisbane and Queensland representative in the
1970s.
Next on the 'To Do list' was a nickname by mid-July 1987, the list of nicknames for the new team was down to the Broncos, Bulls, Bombers, Kookaburras or Cowboys. The board wanted an Aussie style name, like Brisbane Boomers, but that was (and still is) the name of the Australian basketball team. Brisbane Brumbies was the next favourite, but fear of having it shortened to the Brisbane Brums after a loss worried the directors no end.
So it became the Brisbane Broncos.
On first unveiling the maroon, gold and white stripes and bands of the original Broncos jersey, the players were more than a little put off. However it was difficult to think of anything better. With time the players began to feel pride in the jersey, a jersey design that lasted with that pride for almost a decade.
Training started in November 1987 and built up solidly in January.
It was finally here, the big day, March 6, 1988. Round 1 of the NSWRL Premiership and the Broncos were scheduled to play the successful grad finalists of 87, Manly.
The first ever Brisbane Broncos first grade team
was:
Colin Scott; Joe Kilroy, Chris Johns, Gene Miles, Michael Hancock; Wally Lewis
(c), Allan Langer; Terry Matterson; Brett Le Man, Keith Gee; Greg Dowling, Greg
Conescu, Bryan Niebling. Res: Mark Hohn, Craig Grauf, Billy Noke.
The first ever historic try was scored by Brett
Le Man for a 6-0 early lead. Three of the Broncos were help of the field with
injuries, leaving one man on the bench.
Manly, despite being down 6-2, were controlling play early on. Cliff Lyons split
the defense but as he so often did in his career, he out-thought himself and
bombed a certain try scoring movement, twice missing halfback Des Hasler who was
in the clear. The speed of the game had the players gasping for breath.
One Manly player relieved himself on the ground in one of the funniest, and most disgusting pieces of television footage in league history.
Terry Matterson landed a field goal for an 8-2 lead, but then Wally Lewis had the Lang Park crowd on their feet with a trademark try before halftime. Langer saw the defense rush him, and he sped the ball to Lewis who dived over for a 14-2 lead. Dale Shearer scored for Manly right on half time but the Broncos led 14-6.
Lewis scored an inspirational try shortly after half time. After Greg Conescu made a break, Lewis supported him and ran at fullback Matt Burke. He stepped Burke beautifully and ran into the cover defense of Phil Daley and Des Hasler. Lewis managed to shrug both players off and kept moving towards the try line. Burke came again but Lewis fended him, then Shearer slid across field and hit Lewis around the legs, but he kept moving and dived over in the tackle for a tremendous try that put the Broncos up 20-6.
It was all down hill for the Broncos from there. More tries went to: Matterson (2), Noke and Kilroy and they gave the Broncos a commanding 44-10 victory.
The Broncos were here. Wayne Bennett summed it up best to Wally
Lewis in the quiet of the dressing room later that night "We've got a hell of a
football team here."
That football team went on to win its first 6 games, following their victory
over Manly with wins against Penrith, Wests, Norths, Parramatta and fellow
newcomers Newcastle.
However their bogey against Balmain began in Round 7.
The Tigers had struggled to date, and many didn't give them much hope of
knocking off the high flying Broncos at Lang Park. But any team with Benny Elias
is capable of surprises, and two simple errors from youngsters Terry Matterson
and Michael Hancock plus some trickery from Elias gave the Tigers a 26-18
victory that was celebrated outrageously in the Sydney media. They were as keen
to see the Broncos fail then as they are today.
Balmain coach Warren Ryan claimed the Broncos were easy beats up front. Ryan also raised the first question about Langer's tackling style where he uses the leg to trip the tackled player while holding him. Ironically that same argument has been raised time and time again until Langer's retirement from the Australian game in 1999.
The Broncos slumped to a massive defeat against Cronulla a week later. After 7 minutes the Sharks led 18-0, and it only got worse. They inflicted what would be the Broncos' worst ever defeat until 1999 with a 38-8 caning. Suddenly the Broncos were anything but the premiership favourites. As expected, Lewis copped a barrage from the Endeavour Field (now known as Shark Park) faithful. A young boy even hit him in the back. All this while Lewis was trying to do the right thing and sign autographs for the 100 or so kids waiting for him. Sydney's jealousy of the great Lewis was shocking, the worst case of bad sportsmanship ever witnessed in Australian sport.
Brisbane struggled through the traditional representative season, with losses to Canberra and a surprise loss to fellow newcomers Gold Coast Giants, who had not yet won a game. However, there is no bigger grudge than that of a football player overlooked by a recruiting drive, and that was exactly what happened to half the players and coaching staff at the Giants. They won 25-22 followed by Grand Final like celebrations. It was a tragic loss for the Broncos who missed out on the 1988 finals by just 1 point.
As the Broncos went into the State of Origin series, the Queenslanders had their own dilemma. A series without Wally Lewis, who had suffered a relatively serious shoulder injury. Despite missing Lewis, Queensland won the first match 26-18 after leading 26-6 shortly after half time.
The second State of Origin match is the now infamous Beer Can Origin where the
Lang Park crowd pelted beer cans onto the field after Wally Lewis was sin binned
incorrectly for allegedly instigating a brawl. Lewis had come in to wrestle New
South Wales thug Phil Daley off Queensland hooker Greg Conescu who was pinned on
his back and being hit with a barrage of punches from the gutless Daley.
As Lewis marched from the field, the crowd pelted thousands of cans onto the
field. Queensland won the match 16-6, but all the post-match attention was
directed against Wally Lewis for instigating the crowd's behaviour. A laughable
turn of events if it wasn't so serious. Queensland had won the series 2-0 and
went on to make a clean sweep with victory in the third game in Sydney.
Meanwhile the Broncos were struggling.
After their first six victories, they had lost 6 of their last 9 games after Canterbury knocked off the Broncos 25-10 at Lang Park in round 15. With their finals hopes on the line, Brisbane dug deep and managed four successive wins against Manly, Penrith, Wests and Norths. Two more wins from their final three games - against Parramatta, Newcastle and Balmain - would put the Broncos into the finals on debut.
Peter Sterling's Parramatta didn't want to see that happen. Although the Eels were out of contention for the finals and had lost six straight. At half time it was 10-10 and in the second half the Eels lifted and came away with the game 22-14. It left the Broncos sitting in equal third, but because of the congestion of the ladder and their poorer for and against, they were seventh. They had to win their last two games.
Their second last opponent was fellow debutants Newcastle, who had struggled all season and didn't stand a chance at Lang Park. Wally Lewis orchestrated a 24-8 victory that had the Broncos primed for the finals. A win against fellow finals aspirants Balmain would give them their dream. The Broncos tried in vain, but a depleted side, a struggling Lewis and a fiercely competitive Balmain was too much for them.
The Tigers won 20-10 and The Broncos Missed the finals by 2
points.