2016 Queensland Cup

The 2016 Queensland Cup season was the 21st season of Queensland's top-level statewide rugby league competition run by the Queensland Rugby League. The competition, known as the Intrust Super Cup due to sponsorship from Intrust Super, featured 14 teams playing a 29-week long season (including finals) from March to September.

2016 Queensland Cup
Duration	March 5 – September 25, 2016
Teams	14
Premiers	Burleigh Bears (3rd title)
Minor premiers	Redcliffe Dolphins (5th title)
Matches played	167
Points scored	8,020
Top points scorer(s)	Darren Nicholls (258)
Player of the year	Josh Chudleigh (Courier Mail Medal)
Top try-scorer(s)	Jonathon Reuben (18)

The Burleigh Bears won their third premiership after defeating the Burleigh Bears 26–16 in the Grand Final at Suncorp Stadium. Mackay Cutters' hooker Josh Chudleigh was named the competition's Player of the Year, winning the Courier Mail Medal.

Teams

In 2016, the lineup of teams remained unchanged for the second consecutive year.

Colours	Club	Home ground(s)	Head coach(s)	Captain(s)	NRL Affiliate
	Burleigh Bears	Pizzey Park	Jim Lenihan	Jamal Fogarty	Gold Coast Titans
	Central Queensland Capras	Browne Park	Kim Williams	Gavin Hiscox	None
	Easts Tigers	Suzuki Stadium	Scott Sipple	Dane Hogan	Melbourne Storm
	Ipswich Jets	North Ipswich Reserve	Ben & Shane Walker	Dane Phillips	Brisbane Broncos
	Mackay Cutters	Virgin Australia Stadium	David Simpson → Jim Wilson	Brenden Treston	North Queensland Cowboys
	Northern Pride	Barlow Park	Joe O'Callaghan	Ryan Ghietti	North Queensland Cowboys
	Norths Devils	Bishop Park	Mark Gliddon	Billy Brittain	Brisbane Broncos
	Papua New Guinea Hunters	National Football Stadium	Michael Marum	Noel Zeming	None
	Redcliffe Dolphins	Dolphin Oval	Adam Mogg	Sam Anderson	Brisbane Broncos
	Souths Logan Magpies	Davies Park	Josh Hannay	Phil Dennis	Brisbane Broncos
	Sunshine Coast Falcons	Sunshine Coast Stadium	Craig Ingebrigtsen	Troy Giess	Melbourne Storm
	Townsville Blackhawks	Jack Manski Oval	Kristian Woolf	Glenn Hall & Anthony Mitchell	North Queensland Cowboys
	Tweed Heads Seagulls	Piggabeen Sports Complex	Aaron Zimmerle	James Wood	Gold Coast Titans
	Wynnum Manly Seagulls	BMD Kougari Oval	Jon Buchanan	Patrick Templeman	Brisbane Broncos

Ladder

2016 Queensland Cup
Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	B	PF	PA	PD	Pts
1	Redcliffe Dolphins	23	18	0	5	2	728	345	+383	40
2	Burleigh Bears (P)	23	17	1	5	2	680	497	+183	39
3	Townsville Blackhawks	23	16	1	6	2	694	403	+291	37
4	Papua New Guinea Hunters	23	15	0	8	2	541	421	+120	34
5	Sunshine Coast Falcons	23	12	1	10	2	501	462	+39	29
6	Easts Tigers	23	11	2	10	2	563	520	+43	28
7	Souths Logan Magpies	23	11	2	10	2	587	590	-3	28
8	Northern Pride	23	11	0	12	2	516	495	+21	26
9	Ipswich Jets	23	11	0	12	2	562	555	+7	26
10	Wynnum Manly Seagulls	23	10	0	13	2	547	561	-14	24
11	Norths Devils	23	8	1	14	2	532	686	-154	21
12	Central Queensland Capras	23	6	1	16	2	440	756	-316	17
13	Tweed Heads Seagulls	23	6	0	17	2	393	728	-335	16
14	Mackay Cutters	23	4	1	18	2	468	733	-265	13

Final series

Home	Score	Away	Match Information
			Date and Time (Local)	Venue
Elimination Finals
Townsville Blackhawks	46 – 4	Easts Tigers	4 September 2016, 1:40 pm	Jack Manski Oval
PNG Hunters	12 – 18	Sunshine Coast Falcons	4 September 2016, 3:00 pm	National Football Stadium
Major / Minor Semi-final
Townsville Blackhawks	10 – 18	Sunshine Coast Falcons	10 September 2016, 4:00 pm	Jack Manski Oval
Redcliffe Dolphins	24 – 40	Burleigh Bears	11 September 2016, 1:40 pm	Dolphin Oval
Preliminary Final
Redcliffe Dolphins	38 – 16	Sunshine Coast Falcons	18 September 2016, 2:30 pm	Dolphin Oval
Grand Final
Burleigh Bears	26 – 16	Redcliffe Dolphins	25 September 2016, 3:55 pm	Suncorp Stadium

	Qualifying / Elimination Finals					Major / Minor Semi-finals					Preliminary Final					Grand Final
						1	Redcliffe	24								2	Burleigh	26
						2	Burleigh	40								1	Redcliffe	16
	3	Townsville	46								1	Redcliffe	38
	6	Easts	4								5	Sunshine Coast	16
						3	Townsville	10
						5	Sunshine Coast	18
	4	PNG Hunters	12
	5	Sunshine Coast	18

Grand Final

Sunday, 25 September 3:55pm (AEST)

Burleigh Bears	26 – 16	Redcliffe Dolphins
Tries: Kurtis Rowe 2 Cameron Cullen 1 Sami Sauiluma 1 Goals: Jamal Fogarty 5	1st: 14 - 10 2nd: 12 - 6 Report	Tries: 1 Tyson Cleal 1 Darren Nicholls 1 Jonus Pearson Goals: 2 Darren Nicholls

Suncorp Stadium Attendance: 6,611 Referee: Peter Gough, Jarrod Cole Player of the Match: Cameron Cullen (Burleigh)

Burleigh Bears	Position	Redcliffe Dolphins
Kurtis Rowe	FB	Jack Ahearn
2. Waka Wanahi	WG	24. Jonus Pearson
15. Sami Sauiluma	CE	3. Daniel Randall
4. Connor Broadhurst	CE	4. Joseph Bradley
5. Oliver Regan	WG	5. Curtis Johnston
6. Cameron Cullen	FE	6. Zach Strasser
7. Jamal Fogarty (c)	HB	7. Darren Nicholls
8. Luke Page	PR	8. Sam Anderson (c)
9. Pat Politoni	HK	9. Shane Pumipi
10. Paterika Vaivai	PR	10. Charlie Fainga'a
21. Jamie Dowling	SR	11. Aaron Whitchurch
12. Hayden Schwass	SR	12. Daniel Bridge
13. Lachlan Burr	LK	13. Chris Gesch
17. Louis Fanene	Bench	15. Brandon Lee
20. Josh Ailaomai	Bench	20. Taylor Brown
22. Nathaniel Peteru	Bench	23. Tyson Cleal
24. Jeff Lynch	Bench	25. Christian Hazard
Jim Lenihan	Coach	Adam Mogg

Burleigh returned to the finals for the first time in 11 years after finishing the regular season in 2nd. After their first week bye, they defeated Redcliffe 40–24 in the major semi final to qualify for their fifth Grand Final, their first since 2005. Redcliffe finished the regular season as minor premiers and qualified for the finals for the first time since 2012. After losing to Burleigh in the major semi final, they defeated the Sunshine Coast in the preliminary final and booked a spot in their 10th Grand Final, their third against Burleigh.

First half

Burleigh got the scoring underway in the 12th minute when fullback Kurtis Rowe sliced through the Dolphins' defence and ran 35 metres to score. It took just four minutes for Redcliffe to hit back when winger Jonus Pearson scored following some slick offloading close to the line. In the 23rd minute, Rowe recorded his second try of the contest when he muscled his way over to extended Burleigh's lead to eight. A penalty goal converted from right in front pushed the Bears' lead to 10 before Redcliffe scored through Tyson Cleal to cut margin to four in the 33rd minute.

Second half

The Bears again scored the first points of the half, this time through centre Sami Sauiluma in the 49th minute. Halfback Jamal Fogarty converted the try from out wide to give Burleigh a 10-point lead. The Dolphins got back into the game in the 57th minute thanks to a try to halfback Darren Nicholls, as they trailed by just four points. In the 71st minute, the Bears sealed the win when five-eighth Cameron Cullen scored and gave his side an unassailable 10-point lead. The victory was Burleigh's third Grand Final triumph, making them the second most successful club in the competition. Cullen was awarded the Duncan Hall Medal for man of the match for his performance.

NRL State Championship

See also: 2016 NRL State Championship

After winning the Grand Final, the Burleigh Bears qualified for the NRL State Championship on NRL Grand Final day. They were defeated by the Illawarra Cutters, the New South Wales Cup premiers, 54–12.

Sunday, 2 October 3:40pm (AEDT)

Illawarra Cutters	54 – 12	Burleigh Bears
Tries: Shannon Wakeman (7') 1 Damian Sironen (23') 1 Adam Quinlan (26') 1 Jacob Host (32') 1 Chris Lewis (37') 1 Drew Hutchison (45') 1 Siliva Havili (53') 1 Kurt Mann (57') 1 Taane Milne (63') 1 Goals: Shaun Nona 9/9 (8', 24', 27', 34', 39', 47', 55', 58', 65')	1st: 30 - 0 2nd: 24 - 12	Tries: 1 (61') Josh Ailaomai 1 (80') Kurtis Rowe Goals: 1/1 Darren Nicholls (61') 1/1 Luke Page (80')

ANZ Stadium, Sydney Referee: Peter Gough, Jon Stone Player of the Match: Drew Hutchison

Player statistics

The following statistics are as of the conclusion of the season (including finals).

Leading try scorers

Pos	Player	Team	Tries
1	Jonathon Reuben	Townsville Blackhawks	20
	Kurtis Rowe	Burleigh Bears	20
3	Ryley Jacks	Sunshine Coast Falcons	19
4	Jonus Pearson	Redcliffe Dolphins	16
	Daniel Ogden	Wynnum Manly Seagulls	16
6	Zach Strasser	Redcliffe Dolphins	15
	Mosese Pangai	Townsville Blackhawks	15
	Delouise Hoeter	Townsville Blackhawks	15
9	Patrick Templeman	Wynnum Manly Seagulls	14
	Justin Olam	PNG Hunters	14

Leading point scorers

Pos	Player	Team	T	G	FG	Pts
1	Darren Nicholls	Redcliffe Dolphins	11	115	-	274
2	Jamal Fogarty	Burleigh Bears	12	111	-	270
3	Khan Ahwang	Northern Pride	13	77	-	206
4	Todd Murphy	Norths Devils	12	69	-	186
5	Liam Taylor	Mackay Cutters	12	58	-	164
6	Billy Walters	Easts Tigers	8	58	-	148
7	Matt Seamark	Wynnum Manly Seagulls	0	63	1	127
8	Noel Zeming	PNG Hunters	6	50	-	124
9	Kyle Laybutt	Townsville Blackhawks	7	47	-	122
10	Joe Stimson	Sunshine Coast Falcons	5	39	-	98

QRL awards

• Courier Mail Medal (Best and Fairest): Josh Chudleigh ( Mackay Cutters)
• Coach of the Year: Jim Lenihan ( Burleigh Bears)
• Rookie of the Year: Jonus Pearson ( Redcliffe Dolphins)
• Representative Player of the Year: Jai Arrow ( Queensland Residents, Norths Devils)
• XXXX People's Choice Award: Justin Olam ( PNG Hunters)

Team of the Year

Position	Nat	Winner	Club
Fullback		Jahrome Hughes	Townsville Blackhawks
Wing		Jonus Pearson	Redcliffe Dolphins
Centre		Mosese Pangai	Townsville Blackhawks
Five-eighth		Cameron Cullen	Burleigh Bears
Halfback		Jamal Fogarty	Burleigh Bears
Prop		Sam Anderson	Redcliffe Dolphins
Hooker		Josh Chudleigh	Mackay Cutters
Second-row		Rhyse Martin	Townsville Blackhawks
Lock		Jai Arrow	Norths Devils

See also

• Queensland Cup
• Queensland Rugby League