1998 Brisbane Broncos season

Season summary

For the 1998 season the Broncos were joined by future Melbourne Storm coach, Craig Bellamy who would work under head coach Wayne Bennett as performance co-ordinator and assistant coach.

As could be expected by their finish to the 1997 season, Brisbane were solid in their first five matches of 1998, snatching five victories. In rounds five and seven, the Broncos won by a margin of 54 points, which was the club's record at the time. This was followed by shock losses to the Sydney City Roosters and Cronulla, but Langer led them to a big win over Canterbury only to see two more club losses. But the Broncos recovered to post huge wins over Penrith and the Western Suburbs Magpies. The Broncos finished the remainder of the regular season undefeated finishing with 10 wins and 1 draw in their last 11 games. The top try-scorer from the NRL season was Brisbane's Darren Smith.

After a week off granted by winning the minor premiership, the Broncos were smothered out of the game by Parramatta 15–10 in their opening finals match. But they lifted and provided some miracle spark against the Melbourne Storm 30-6 a week later, resurrecting their premiership hopes. A huge win over Sydney City 46–18 in the preliminary final installed them at near unbackable odds against Canterbury in the first NRL Grand Final. The Broncos came back from a 12-10 half time deficit to again win consecutive premierships for the second time, and their fourth in seven seasons with a 38-12 Grand Final victory.{{cite book

The Broncos were also named "Queensland Sport Team of the Year" at the Queensland Sport Awards.{{cite web |url-status=dead

The Broncos' consistent dominance over other teams at this period of time contributed to the National Rugby League's plans to cut the number of teams down to 14 in order to ensure competitiveness and the long-term financial success of the game. Despite the rationalization of the league, the club has continued to dominate in the modern era of the league, winning two more premierships in 2000 and 2006, as well as reaching another two Grand Finals in 2015 and 2023.

The Broncos' 1998 premiership win came in a year in which their Australian Football League neighbours, the Brisbane Lions, won the wooden spoon.

Match results

^Game following a State of Origin match

Brisbane Broncos NRL average home attendance in 1998: 20,073

Ladder

Grand final

Main article: 1998 NRL grand final

Brisbane Broncos vs. Canterbury Bulldogs

Scorers

Honours

League

• Premiership
• Minor premiership

Club

• Player of the year: Andrew Gee
• Rookie of the year: Petero Civoniceva
• Back of the year: Kevin Walters
• Forward of the year: Shane Webcke
• Club man of the year: Brett Green

References

References

1. (15 July 2013). "Broncos, Dragons: two fallen powerhouses". The Roar.
2. (13 August 2021). "FBF: 2000 GF - The Kevvie and Ben Show". Brisbane Broncos.
3. Gould, Joel. (21 November 2018). "2006 grand final rewind: Bennett hails Broncos 'finest hour'". National Rugby League.
4. Glover, Ben. (25 September 2015). "Brisbane Broncos v Sydney Roosters: Live coverage of NRL preliminary final". Herald Sun.
5. (23 September 2023). "Kev-olution complete: Broncos book GF as Wahs whacked by ‘absolute freak’". Fox Sports Australia.
6. McDonald, Darcie. (26 September 2023). "‘Through the boardroom roof’: Inside the Broncos’ ‘06 week-long GF celebrations". Fox Sports Australia.
7. (21 July 2019). "A decade of misery is almost over for the Brisbane Lions". The Roar.
8. "Honour Board". [[Brisbane Broncos]].