| New South Wales Rugby League season 1992 |
|
| Teams |
16 |
| Premiers |
 Brisbane (1st title) |
| Minor premiers |
Brisbane (1st title) |
| Matches played |
182 |
| Points scored |
5993 (average 32.929 per match) |
| Attendance |
2,282,194 (average 12,540 per match) |
| Top points scorer(s) |
 Daryl Halligan (168) |
| Top try scorer(s) |
 Mark Bell (16)
 Tim Brasher (16) |
The 1992 New South Wales Rugby League premiership was the eighty-fifth season of professional rugby league football in Australia. Sixteen teams competed for the J J Giltinan Shield and Winfield Cup during the season which culminated in a grand final between the Brisbane Broncos, making their grand final debut, and the St. George Dragons.
Season summary
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 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 playing field of future Immortal, Wally Lewis.
Teams
The lineup of teams remained unchanged from the previous season, with sixteen clubs contesting the 1992 premiership, including five Sydney-based foundation teams, another six from Sydney, two from greater New South Wales, two from Queensland, and one from the Australian Capital Territory.
Advertising
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. 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 as "Simply The Best" to co-incide 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.
Ladder
- Gold Coast Seagulls were deducted 2 points due to exceeding the replacement limit in one game.
Finals
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).
Grand Final
The Brisbane Broncos became the first team from outside of the boundaries of New South Wales (excluding the Australian Capital Territory) to win the premiership, defeating the St. George Dragons in their first ever Grand Final. In their fifth year in the NSWRL, Brisbane finally put together the right combination to eclipse all their New South Welsh club rivals. 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.
Brisbane tormented the Dragons in the 1st half of the decider, leading 6-4 at half time. In the 2nd half the Broncos ran away with the game. Langer got the first two tries for Brisbane and Cann got their third to take the score to 18-4. A scintillating 90-metre try to Steve Renouf was a defining moment in the game and the Broncos' season to make it 22-4. The final score was 28-8 and the win enabled 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 his two-try performance, Langer became the first Queenslander to be awarded the Clive Churchill Medal.
Brisbane 28 (Tries: Langer 2, Cann 2, Renouf; Goals: Matterson 4/5)
St George 8 (Tries: Walford, Gourley; Goals: Herron 0/2 )
Clive Churchill Medal: Allan Langer (Brisbane)
World Club Challenge
-
On the 31st of October the Broncos played in the World Club Challenge against British champions, Wigan at Central Park. 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 to 8 in front of 17,460 spectators.
References and links
See also
|
