The 1996 Queensland Cup season was the 1st season of Queensland's premier statewide competition.[1] It had been formed after the Winfield State League was closed after the end of the 1995 Season. It was subsequently superseded by the Queensland Cup.[2] At this time it was considered as the second highest league, directly under the Brisbane Rugby League. It would run under the BRL until 1998 when it would become the highest rugby league competition in the state.

1996 Queensland Cup
DurationMarch 30 – August 31, 1996
Teams16
Premiers Toowoomba Clydesdales (1st title)
Minor premiers Toowoomba Clydesdales (1st title)
Matches played129
Points scored4,789
Top points scorer(s) James Brown (124)
Player of the year Alan Wieland
Top try-scorer(s) Ricky Hewinson
Floyd Hill (14)
1997 →

Teams

edit

The inaugural Queensland Cup season featured 16 teams, 12 from south east Queensland, two from north Queensland and one each from central Queensland and Papua New Guinea.

Colours Club Home ground(s)
Bundaberg Grizzlies Salter Oval
Cairns Cyclones Barlow Park
Central Capras Browne Park
Easts Tigers Langlands Park
Ipswich Jets North Ipswich Reserve
Logan City Scorpions Meakin Park
Mackay Sea Eagles Mackay JRL Grounds
Norths Devils Bishop Park
Pine Rivers Brothers Bray Park
Port Moresby Vipers Lloyd Robson Oval
Redcliffe Dolphins Dolphin Oval
Souths Magpies Davies Park
Sunshine Coast Falcons Kawana Sports Ground
Toowoomba Clydesdales Athletic Oval
Wests Panthers Purtell Park
Wynnum Seagulls Kougari Oval

Regular season

edit

The inaugural Queensland Cup consisted of 16 teams and ran for 15 regular season rounds (which included two split rounds) with a top 6 finals system.[3][4]

Ladder

edit
1996 Queensland Cup
Pos Team Pld W D L PF PA PD Pts
1   Toowoomba Clydesdales (P) 15 11 1 3 360 226 +134 23
2   Redcliffe Dolphins 15 10 2 3 365 193 +172 22
3   Souths Magpies 15 10 1 4 375 205 +170 21
4   Wests Panthers 15 10 1 4 359 208 +151 21
5   Cairns Cyclones 15 10 0 5 310 224 +86 20
6   Easts Tigers1 14 9 0 5 315 224 +91 19
7   Wynnum Seagulls 15 8 2 5 325 225 +100 18
8   Pine Rivers Brothers 15 9 0 6 339 354 -15 18
9   Norths Devils 15 8 0 7 334 332 +2 16
10   Port Moresby Vipers 15 8 0 7 323 408 -85 16
11   Central Capras 15 7 0 8 309 336 −27 14
12   Mackay Sea Eagles 15 6 1 8 306 285 +21 13
13   Bundaberg Grizzlies1 14 4 0 10 211 348 −137 9
14   Logan City Scorpions 15 3 2 10 236 346 −110 8
15   Sunshine Coast Falcons 15 1 0 14 184 397 −213 2
16   Ipswich Jets 15 0 0 15 138 478 −340 0

1Awarded one point due to game being cancelled.

Finals series

edit
Home Score Away Match Information
Date Venue
Week 1 Qualifying Finals
  Cairns Cyclones 12 – 16   Easts Tigers 3 August 1996 Barlow Park
  Souths Magpies 15 – 22   Wests Panthers 3 August 1996 Davies Park
  Toowoomba Clydesdales 12 – 10   Redcliffe Dolphins 3 August 1996 Athletic Oval
Week 2 Qualifying Finals
  Souths Magpies 34 – 6   Easts Tigers 10 August 1996 Davies Park
  Redcliffe Dolphins 30 – 10   Wests Panthers 11 August 1996 Dolphin Oval
Semi Finals
  Wests Panthers 21 – 8   Souths Magpies 17 August 1996 Purtell Park
  Redcliffe Dolphins 6 – 0   Toowoomba Clydesdales 17 August 1996 Athletic Oval
Preliminary Final
  Toowoomba Clydesdales 19 – 8   Wests Panthers 24 August 1996 Athletic Oval
Grand Final
  Redcliffe Dolphins 6 – 8   Toowoomba Clydesdales 31 August 1996 Suncorp Stadium

Grand Final

edit
Saturday, 31 August
Redcliffe Dolphins   6 – 8   Toowoomba Clydesdales
Tries:
Mark Shipway 1
Goals:
Tony Gould 1
1st: 0 - 2
2nd: 6 - 6
Tries:
1 Shaun Lawson
Goals:
2 Scott Kuhnemann
Suncorp Stadium
Attendance: 6,500
Referee: Paul Oliver
Redcliffe Dolphins Position Toowoomba Clydesdales
Barry Denduck FB Kyle Warren
Stephen Leyden WG Peter Stennier
Ricky Hewinson CE Andrew Richards
Mark Shipway CE Jeffery Slater
Aaron Douglas WG Darren Lawson
Tom O'Reilly FE Cameron Hamblin
Peter Robinson HB Damian Fry
Grant Cleal PR Russell Voll
Darren Smallhorne HK Mick Jenkins
Danny Nutley PR Kayne Spicer
Ian Graham (c) SR Scott Kuhnemann
Kahu Tweedie SR Tony Evans
Tony Gould LK Don Saunders (c)
Graham Cotter Bench Paul Sutton
James Hinchey Bench Ross Murray
Bevan Canning Bench Shaun Lawson
Cameron Hurren Bench Craig Scanlan
John Boxsell Coach Gary Lawrence

The inaugural Queensland Cup Grand Final featured minor premiers, the Toowoomba Clydesdales, and the second placed Redcliffe Dolphins, in what would be the fourth meeting between the two sides in 1996. The first encounter was in Round 13, with Redcliffe defeating Toowoomba 18-8 to secure the two competition points. The sides then met twice in the final series, with both matches being low-scoring, defensive battles. In the qualifying final, the Clydesdales recorded a narrow 12-10 win over the Dolphins, while two weeks later Redcliffe held on for a 6-0 victory to progress to the Grand Final.

First half

edit

Toowoomba second-rower Scott Kuhnemann recorded the only points in the first half, kicking a penalty goal in the 21st minute. This came after Redcliffe captain Ian Graham and Toowoomba's Paul Sutton were both sin binned for fighting.

Second half

edit

The first try of the final was eventually scored by Clydesdales' interchange player Shaun Lawson, who dummied and stepped through the Dolphins' defence to score under the posts. Redcliffe then hit back through centre Mark Shipway, who received the ball 35 metres out from the try line and sprinted around the Toowoomba defence to get his side back into the contest.

Redcliffe were then denied twice in the dying minutes by the Clydesdales' defence. Halfback Peter Robinson was stopped just before the line by Toowoomba fullback Kyle Warren, who knocked himself unconscious in the process, while Cameron Hurren had the ball knocked out of his arms, just moments later, as he went over the try line. As of 2019, the 8–6 scoreline is still the lowest ever in a Queensland Cup Grand Final.

Player statistics

edit

The following statistics are correct as of the conclusion of Round 15.

End-of-season awards

edit

Brisbane Rugby League

edit

The Queensland Rugby League also decided to continue the tradition of crowning a Brisbane club premier as was tradition since 1922. The competition, which was run as a second-tier title, started with the Brisbane teams who missed the finals, with the finalists filtering in upon their elimination from the Queensland Cup finals.

Home Score Away Match Information
Date Venue
Week 1 Qualifying Finals
  Wynnum Seagulls 28 – 22   Ipswich Jets
  Norths Devils 28 – 20   Logan City Scorpions
Week 2 Qualifying Finals
  Pine Rivers Brothers 28 – 4   Wynnum Seagulls
  Easts Tigers1 20 – 14   Norths Devils
Minor Semi Final
  Pine Rivers Brothers 19 – 18   Easts Tigers1
Major Semi Final
  Souths Magpies 24 – 16   Pine Rivers Brothers
Preliminary Final
  Souths Magpies 22 – 16   Wests Panthers
Grand Final
  Redcliffe Dolphins 16 – 12   Souths Magpies Suncorp Stadium

Source:[5]

See also

edit

References

edit
  1. ^ Queensland R.LEAGUE 1996 Season Page Archived 18 March 2013 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved 17 Dec 2007
  2. ^ Wikipedia Winfield State League Retrieved 17 Dec 2007
  3. ^ Queensland R.LEAGUE 1996 Table Archived 8 February 2012 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved 17 Dec 2007
  4. ^ Queensland R.LEAGUE 1996 Results Archived 18 March 2013 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved 17 Dec 2007
  5. ^ "Rugby League – Welcome to Roger's Website". Retrieved 15 August 2023.