| 1992 NSWRL season | |
| Teams | 16 |
| Premiers | Brisbane (1st title) |
| Minor premiers | Brisbane (1st title) |
| Matches played | 182 |
| Points scored | 5993 (total) 32.929 (per match) |
| Attendance | 2,282,194 (total) 12,540 (per match) |
| Top point scorer(s) | Daryl Halligan (168) |
| Top try scorer(s) | Mark Bell (16) Tim Brasher (16) |
The 1992 New South Wales Rugby League Premiership season was the eighty-fifth season of professional rugby league football in Australia. Sixteen teams competed for the J J Giltinan Shield during the season which culminated in a grand final for the Winfield Cup between the Brisbane Broncos, making their grand final debut, and the St. George Dragons.
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Twenty-two regular season rounds were played from March till August, resulting in a top five of Brisbane, St. George, Illawarra, Newcastle and Wests, who battled it out in the finals.
the 1992 Great Britain Lions tour of Australia and New Zealand also took place during the season.
The 1992 season's Rothmans Medallist was the Brisbane Broncos' halfback and captain, Allan Langer. The Dally M Award went to Eastern Suburbs' halfback, Gary Freeman, while Western Suburbs forward Paul Langmack was named Rugby League Week's player of the year.
The 1992 season also saw the retirement from the League of future Australian Rugby League Hall of Fame inductee, Wally Lewis.
The lineup of teams remained unchanged for the fourth consecutive season, with sixteen clubs contesting the 1992 premiership, including five Sydney-based foundation teams, another six from Sydney, two from elsewhere in New South Wales, two from Queensland, and one from the Australian Capital Territory.
Riding the consistent Australian popularity of the "The Best" since its 1989 release, due partially to its use and association with the NSWRL, Tina Turner went into a Los Angeles recording studio in early 1992 with Jimmy Barnes to record a duet version specifically for Australian release.[1] The production capitalised on the complementary vocal styles of Turner and Barnes and also features Barnes' brother-in-law Johnny Diesel on guitar.
A simple black & white film clip shot around the recording sessions was produced and the track was released and re-named "Simply the Best" to coincide with the 1992 NSWRL season. That year the track peaked at #13 on the Australian charts.
In 1992 and 1993 the League and its advertising agency Hertz Walpole would use the new duet performance of the song in the season launch ads. Excerpts from the black & white film clip start the 1992 ad with firstly Tina and then Barnes in wistful solo shots before coming together and displaying a camaraderie that's intended to capture the good times they appear to have had in recording the track. Diesel also appears in the black & white footage before the ad bursts into colour with the standard fare of big hits and previous season action.
| Team | Pld | W | D | L | PF | PA | PD | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brisbane | 22 | 18 | 0 | 4 | 506 | 311 | +195 | 36 |
| 2 | St. George | 22 | 15 | 0 | 7 | 401 | 283 | +118 | 30 |
| 3 | Illawarra | 22 | 13 | 1 | 8 | 318 | 259 | +59 | 27 |
| 4 | Newcastle | 22 | 12 | 2 | 8 | 363 | 267 | +96 | 26 |
| 5 | Western Suburbs | 22 | 12 | 1 | 9 | 356 | 327 | +29 | 25 |
| 6 | Eastern Suburbs | 22 | 12 | 0 | 10 | 392 | 319 | +73 | 24 |
| 7 | Canterbury-Bankstown | 22 | 10 | 2 | 10 | 423 | 417 | +6 | 22 |
| 8 | Manly-Warringah | 22 | 10 | 2 | 10 | 334 | 335 | -1 | 22 |
| 9 | Penrith | 22 | 11 | 0 | 11 | 274 | 309 | -35 | 22 |
| 10 | Balmain | 22 | 10 | 1 | 11 | 402 | 398 | +4 | 21 |
| 11 | North Sydney | 22 | 10 | 1 | 11 | 376 | 381 | -5 | 21 |
| 12 | Canberra | 22 | 10 | 0 | 12 | 435 | 409 | +26 | 20 |
| 13 | Cronulla-Sutherland | 22 | 8 | 0 | 14 | 284 | 395 | -111 | 16 |
| 14 | South Sydney | 22 | 7 | 0 | 15 | 429 | 533 | -104 | 14 |
| 15 | Parramatta | 22 | 6 | 1 | 15 | 276 | 491 | -215 | 13 |
| 16 | Gold Coast | 22 | 6 | 1 | 15 | 288 | 423 | -135 | 11 |
A great advertisement for the expansion of the game was the appearance of three non-Sydney teams in the final five - Brisbane, Illawarra and Newcastle. The "steel-city-cousins", Illawarra and Newcastle, both won their first semi finals from their first attempt, Illawarra defeating St George and Newcastle downing Wests.
An all non-Sydney grand final was a real possibility, with Illawarra and St George meeting a second time in the preliminary final with Brisbane waiting to play the winner in the grand final.
The Dragons played two of the lowest scoring matches in finals history as they beat the Newcastle Knights 3-2 in the semi final and the Illawarra Steelers 4-0 in the preliminary final.
The preliminary final saw four disallowed tries with Saints denied once in the first half and Illawarra three times in the second half. Illawarra looked as though they were going to finish on top and began opening up the St George defence, only to be denied twice by referee Greg McCallum for forward passes. A late attacking movement from the Steelers saw winger Allan McIndoe excitedly appeal for a try off a John Simon grubber kick but was denied by the in-goal touch judge. St George had held on to win 4-0 and ensure a Sydney club appeared in the grand final once again (this Sydney representation in grand finals would be maintained until 2006).
| Home | Score | Away | Match Information | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date and Time | Venue | Referee | Crowd | |||||
| Qualifying Finals | ||||||||
| Newcastle Knights | 21–2 | Western Suburbs Magpies | 5 September 1992 | Sydney Football Stadium | Greg McCallum | 28,571 | ||
| St. George Dragons | 16–18 | Illawarra Steelers | 6 September 1992 | Sydney Football Stadium | Graeme Annesley | 28,521 | ||
| Semi Finals | ||||||||
| St. George Dragons | 3–2 | Newcastle Knights | 12 September 1992 | Sydney Football Stadium | Graeme Annesley | 38,772 | ||
| Brisbane Broncos | 22–12 | Illawarra Steelers | 13 September 1992 | Sydney Football Stadium | Greg McCallum | 38,859 | ||
| Preliminary Final | ||||||||
| Illawarra Steelers | 0–4 | St. George Dragons | 20 September 1992 | Sydney Football Stadium | Greg McCallum | 38,928 | ||
| Grand Final | ||||||||
| Brisbane Broncos | 28–8 | St. George Dragons | 27 September 1992 | Sydney Football Stadium | Greg McCallum | 41,560 | ||
| Brisbane Broncos | Position | St. George Dragons |
|---|---|---|
| Julian O'Neill | FB | Mick Potter |
| Michael Hancock | WG | Ricky Walford |
| Steve Renouf | CE | Mark Coyne |
| Chris Johns | CE | Michael Beattie (c) |
| Willie Carne | WG | Ian Herron |
| Kevin Walters | FE | Peter Coyne |
| Allan Langer (c) | HB | Noel Goldthorpe |
| Glenn Lazarus | PR | Tony Priddle |
| Kerrod Walters | HK | Wayne Collins |
| Gavin Allen | PR | Neil Tierney |
| Trevor Gillmeister | SR | David Barnhill |
| Alan Cann | SR | Scott Gourley |
| Terry Matterson | LK | Jeff Hardy |
| Mark Hohn | Bench | Brad Mackay |
| Andrew Gee | Bench | Matthew Elliott |
| John Plath | Bench | Tony Smith |
| Tony Currie | Bench | Rex Terp |
| Wayne Bennett | Coach | Brian Smith |
In their fifth year of competition, Brisbane finally put together the right combination to reach the grand final. Their big names in Langer, Renouf, Hancock and Lazarus had been unstoppable all year and helped the club power their way straight through the finals. This meant the Broncos went into the grand final as favourites.[2]
for the pre-match entertainment, Debbie Byrne sang I Still Call Australia Home in a duet with the late Peter Allen, thanks to video on the big screen. Yothu Yindi also performed, and Jodie Gillies sang the national anthem.[3]
Early in the first half St. George came very close to scoring first when Ricky Walford dived over in the corner, but had only just slipped into touch. Around the ten-minute mark Brisbane were on the attack when on the last tackle Allan Langer cleverly stepped and passed inside to Gavin Allen who charged at the line, drawing the defence before flicking the ball back in to the little half to nip in and score untouched beneath posts. Terry Matterson kicked the simplest of conversions so the score was 6-0 in favour of the Broncos. The Dragons hit back about five minute later when Scott Gourley charged from just within his own half and produced a remarkable off-load for Michael Beattie in support,[4] who then passed it out for Blacklock to race off and score in the right-hand corner.[5] Ian Herron hooked the conversion attempt so Brisbane remained in the lead at 6-4. Both sides then came close to scoring from kicks but no further points were posted before half-time.
For Langer to play as he did, after a week of hearing how St George must stop him, confirms he deserves to be talked about with Peter Sterling and Wally Lewis as one of the three best players of the past decade.
In the second half the Broncos ran away with the game. About ten minutes in and after winning a scrum close to the Dragons try-line, Langer scurried through the defence from dummy-half and reached out to put the ball down. Terry Matterson kicked the extras so Brisbanes lead was now 12-4. A few minutes later they scored again when, about thirty metres out, the Broncos again decided to run on the fifth tackle, the ball reaching Alan Cann who beat several defenders to put it down.[7] Matterson kicked the extras so now Brisbane led 18-4. Around the mid-point of the second half, after Willie Carne did well to return a kick from his own in goal to the field of play before being tackled, the Broncos decided to swing the ball left, out to centre Steve Renouf, who took off on a 90-metre run to the try-line in what was a defining moment in the game and the Broncos' season.[8] Matterson missed the conversion attempt so the score remained at 22-4. About five minutes later Cann scored a second try when he ran from over twenty metres out, stepping past lazy defence to score untouched. The extras were kicked successfully this time by Matterson, giving the Bronocos a lead of 28-8. In the seventy-ninth minute St. George got a consolation try when Scott Gourley crossed in the right corner and as the full-time siren sounded, Herron's kick from the sideline missed leaving the final score Brisbane 28, St. George 8.
The win enabled Brisbane captain Allan Langer, in his first year in the role, to hoist the Winfield Cup and bear the trophy and title back to Queensland. As a result of his two-try performance, Langer also became the first Queenslander to be awarded the Clive Churchill Medal. Brisbane thus became the first team from outside of the boundaries of New South Wales (excluding the Australian Capital Territory) to win the premiership.
Brisbane Broncos 28
Tries: Langer 2, Cann 2, Renouf
Goals: Matterson 4/5
St. George Dragons 8
Tries: Walford, Gourley
Goals: Herron 0/2
Clive Churchill Medal: Allan Langer (Brisbane)
On the 31st of October the Broncos travelled to England to play in the World Club Challenge against British champions, Wigan. Brisbane became the first team since 1975's premiers, Eastern Suburbs, to defeat the English champions, and the first to do so on English soil, winning the match 22 - 8 in front of 17,460 spectators.
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