1998 NRL grand final

1998 (1998) NRL Grand Final  ()
Brisbane Broncos Canterbury Bulldogs 38 12
1 2 Total BRI 10 28 38 CAN 12 0 12
Date	27 September 1998
Stadium	Sydney Football Stadium
Location	Sydney, Australia
Clive Churchill Medal	Gorden Tallis, Brisbane
Attendance	40,857
< ARL/SL NRL Grand Final 1999 >

The 1998 NRL grand final was the conclusive and premiership-deciding game of the 1998 NRL season. It was the first grand final since the National Rugby League's formation and featured minor premiers and the previous year's Super League premiers, the Brisbane Broncos against the Canterbury Bulldogs, who had finished the regular season 9th (out of 20) to make a top-ten play-off grouping. It was also the first grand final between these two sides, which had played each other twice during the season, the Broncos winning both times.

The game was played at the Sydney Football Stadium. Brisbane scored first but by half time trailed the Bulldogs 10-12. However, the Broncos scored 28 unanswered points in the second half, winning 12-38 and equalling the second highest score for a team in grand final history.

Contents 1 Match details 1.1 First half 1.2 Second half 2 Post-match 3 See also 4 References

Match details

The first grand final under the National Rugby League's administration was the last to be played at the Sydney Football Stadium. Despite good weather, the attendance of 40,857 was the lowest seen for a grand final since 1989.^[1] The two sides had met twice before during the regular season with the Broncos winning both times. Brisbane went into the match as unbackable favourites.^[2]

First half

Brisbane Broncos	Position	Canterbury Bulldogs
Darren Lockyer	FB	Rod Silva
Michael De Vere	WG	Gavin Lester
Steve Renouf	CE	Shane Marteene
Darren Smith	CE	Willie Talau
Wendell Sailor	WG	Daryl Halligan
Kevin Walters	FE	Corey Hughes
Allan Langer (c)	HB	Craig Polla-Mounter
Shane Webcke	PR	Darren Britt (c)[3]
Phillip Lee	HK	Jason Hetherington
Andrew Gee	PR	Steve Price
Gorden Tallis	SR	Tony Grimaldi
Brad Thorn	SR	Robert Relf
Tonie Carroll	LK	Travis Norton
Michael Hancock	INT	Steve Reardon
John Plath	INT	Glen Hughes
Kevin Campion	INT	Troy Stone
Petero Civoniceva	INT	David Thompson
Wayne Bennett	Coach	Steve Folkes

The Broncos kicked off and in only the third minute of the match, a tackle on Willie Talau twenty metres out from Canterbury's line saw the ball come loose. It was kicked ahead by Brisbane winger and last-minute inclusion (due to Michael Hancock's finger injury)^[4] Michael De Vere, who won the chase into the left side of the in-goal where he dived on it for the game's first points. Darren Lockyer converted to give Brisbane a 6-0 lead.^[5] A few minutes later the Broncos were denied a try in the same corner when Renouf caught a stray Kevin Walters pass to dive over, with video re-plays showing that the ball only appeared to travel forward because it was struck by a Canterbury defender. By the eleventh minute, Canterbury had made it down to Brisbane's line and got a penalty in front of the goal posts. They opted to go for the kick and Daryl Halligan brought the score back to 6-2. The Broncos withstood further pressure on their line until Tony Grimaldi forced his way over under the posts in the twenty-second minute. Daryl Halligan converted Grimaldi's try to give Canterbury an 8-6 lead. Bulldogs prop Troy Stone had to leave the field at this point with a broken arm, but would return ten minutes later with a guard on it to play the rest of the match.^[6] Five minutes later, the Broncos had the ball down at the other end of the field and after moving it quickly through the hands from the left hand side of the field out to the right, Kevin Campion forced his way over in the corner. Lockyer's attempted conversion from the sideline missed, so the Broncos were back in front 10-8. Canterbury struck back a few minutes later when Steve Price stepped through an opening twenty-five metres out and gave the ball to Willie Talau to diver over on the right side, regaining the lead. Halligan missed his kick so the score was 10-12 in favour of the Bulldogs.^[7] No more points were scored before the break.

Second half

Less than two minutes into the second half,^[8] Brisbane's Tonie Carroll crossed under the posts for Brisbane's third try,^[9] with Darren Lockyer converting to give Brisbane back the lead at 16-12. Eight minutes later Brisbane were in the centre of the field when Allan Langer threw a short pass inside to Steve Renouf who raced through into open space. He was tackled on the twenty-metre line but as the Bulldogs defence scrambled to get back, the Broncos kept it moving, the ball going out to Wendell Sailor who dived over in the right corner.^[10] Lockyer's kick from the sideline missed so Brisbane led 20-12. In the fifty-seventh minute, Allan Langer put a kick down field and Daryl Halligan picked the ball up in his own in-goal and he made it five metres into the field of play only to be forced back into goal by the Broncos chasers. Shortly after that, Brisbane seemed to have the game wrapped up when man-of-the-match Gorden Tallis at dummy-half threw a dummy and from close range forced his way over the try line under the posts. With Darren Lockyer converting, this gave Brisbane a 26-12 lead with twenty minutes of the match remaining.^[11] The Broncos' next try came in the sixty-ninthth minute after getting a penalty down close to the Bulldogs' line near the left corner, taking the tap and passing it quickly through the hands out to the right side where Phillip Lee, the only Bronco to be playing in his first Grand Final, ran though a gap to crash over. Lockyer kicked the extras so Brisbane led 32-12.^[12] In the seventy-fifth minute Brisbane, after playing the ball on their own twenty-metre line, got the ball to Langer who put a charging Tonie Carroll through a gap and into open space. Carroll ran forty metres before passing back in for Darren Smith, bound for Canterbury the following season, to run the remaining thirty-five to the try-line. Lockyer converted so the final score was 38-12.^[13]

Post-match

The Broncos' 38-12 scoreline equalled the record for the highest-scoring Grand Final in history and also kept intact Brisbane's winning record in Grand Finals with four from four.^[14] It was the second time that the Broncos had won back-to-back premierships. The Clive Churchill Medal for man-of-the-match was awarded to Gorden Tallis.^[15]

See also

• 1998 Brisbane Broncos season

References

NRL grand finals 1998  · 1999  · 2000  · 2001  · 2002  · 2003  · 2004  · 2005  · 2006  · 2007  · 2008  · 2009  · 2010  · 2011