The 2000 Queensland Cup season was the 5th season of Queensland's top-level statewide rugby league competition run by the Queensland Rugby League. The competition, known as the Bundy Gold Cup due to sponsorship from Bundaberg Rum, featured 12 teams playing a 26-week long season (including finals) from February to August.
The Redcliffe Dolphins defeated the Toowoomba Clydesdales 14–6 in the grand final at Suncorp Stadium to claim their second premiership. Wests Panthers Jason Bulgarelli was named the competition's Player of the Year.
Teams For the first time, the competition featured the same 12 teams that participated the year before. The Central Capras re-branded as the Central Comets and changed their colour scheme to avoid confusion with the region's representative side.
For the 2000 season, the Brisbane Broncos and Melbourne Storm were again affiliated with the Toowoomba Clydesdales and Norths Devils, respectively. After using Souths Magpies and Wynnum Seagulls as feeders clubs in 1999, the Auckland Warriors used Souths as their sole feeder. The North Queensland Cowboys did not use Cairns as their affiliate club, instead using their own team in the NSWRL's First Division competition.
Colours Club Home ground(s) Burleigh Bears Pizzey Park Cairns Cyclones Barlow Park Central Comets Browne Park Easts Tigers Langlands Park Ipswich Jets First Provincial Oval Logan Scorpions Meakin Park Norths Devils Bishop Park Redcliffe Dolphins Dolphin Oval Souths Magpies Davies Park Toowoomba Clydesdales Athletic Oval, ANZ Stadium Wests Panthers Purtell Park Wynnum Seagulls Kougari Oval
Ladder 2000 Queensland Cup Team 1 Redcliffe Dolphins (P)22 190 3 546 320 +226 382 Easts Tigers22 17 0 5 654 427 +227 343 Toowoomba Clydesdales22 16 0 6 747 409 +338 324 Burleigh Bears22 14 1 7 600 398 +202 295 Norths Devils22 13 1 8 589 484 +105 276 Ipswich Jets22 12 0 10 556 516 +24 247 Logan Scorpions22 10 1 11 494 488 +6 218 Central Comets22 10 1 11 529 550 -21 219 Souths Magpies22 8 2 12 472 624 -152 1810 Wests Panthers22 4 1 17 459 601 -142 911 Wynnum Seagulls22 3 1 18 386 649 -263 712 Cairns Cyclones22 2 0 20 288 854 -566 4
Finals series HomeScore AwayMatch InformationDateVenue Minor semi-finals Burleigh Bears 38 – 12 Norths Devils 29 July 2000 Pizzey Park Easts Tigers 20 – 36 Toowoomba Clydesdales 30 July 2000 Langlands Park Major semi-finals Redcliffe Dolphins 12 – 46 Toowoomba Clydesdales 5 August 2000 Dolphin Oval Easts Tigers 36 – 10 Burleigh Bears 6 August 2000 Langlands Park Preliminary final Redcliffe Dolphins 40 – 6 Easts Tigers 12 August 2000 Dolphin Oval Grand final Toowoomba Clydesdales 6 – 14 Redcliffe Dolphins 19 August 2000 Suncorp Stadium
Grand final
Toowoomba ClydesdalesPositionRedcliffe DolphinsJustin Hodges FB Adam MoggAdam Warwick WG George WilsonBrent Tate CE John OlzardAlex Wilson CE Damien RichtersChris Walker WG Trent LeisPaul Warwick FE Tony GouldJack van Dijk HB Barry DenduckCorey Parker PR Robert CampbellMichael Ryan HK Craig O'Dwyer (c)Damon Keating (c) PR Troy LindsayDarren Mapp SR Luke ScottNeale Wyatt SR James HincheyDarren Ingram LK Danny BurkeKerrod Walters Bench Troy MitchellNathan Friend Bench Grant FluggeCarl Webb Bench Russell LahiffDennis White Bench Adam StarrIvan Henjak Coach Neil Wharton
Toowoomba, who finished the regular season in third, qualified for their second grand final after defeating Redcliffe in their major semi-final. Redcliffe won their second straight minor premiership and once again earned a first week bye. After losing to Toowoomba they defeated Easts by 34 points in the preliminary final to set up a 1996 grand final rematch with the Clydesdales. In the regular season, the Dolphins defeated the Clydesdales in both of their meetings.
First half Redcliffe winger Trent Leis opened the scoring in the 16th minute when he crossed out wide. In doing so, he became the first player to score in back-to-back grand finals. Four minutes later, the Dolphins pushed their lead to eight when prop Troy Lindsay barged over the try line. Toowoomba would finally get on the board with one minute left to play in the first when Justin Hodges stepped through a number of defenders to score under the posts.
Second half The Dolphins regained an eight-point lead four minutes into the second half when their captain Craig O'Dwyer threw a dummy close to the line and darted over. The try would be the last points scored in the game as Redcliffe held on to become the first club to win two grand finals.
Redcliffe players Adam Mogg, George Wilson, Tony Gould, Troy Lindsay, James Hinchey and Russell Lahiff became the first players to win two grand finals with the same club, having all been involved in Redcliffe's 1997 triumph. Craig O'Dwyer became the second player (after Aaron Douglas a year earlier) to win two grand finals with two different clubs, winning his first with Norths in 1998.
Player statistics
Leading try scorers PosPlayerTeamTries1Aaron Douglas Burleigh Bears21Brook Martin Easts Tigers213Reggie Cressbrook Burleigh Bears204Justin Loomans Central Comets195Chris Walker Toowoomba Clydesdales20
Leading point scorers PosPlayerTeamTGFGPts1Jace van Dijk Toowoomba Clydesdales394-2002Reggie Cressbrook Burleigh Bears2059-1983Damien Richters Redcliffe Dolphins1665-1944John Wilshire Easts Tigers967-1705Chris Lawler Ipswich Jets868-168
End-of-season awards Courier Mail Medal: Jason Bulgarelli ( Wests Panthers) Rookie of the Year: Brook Martin ( Easts Tigers)
See also
Queensland Cup Queensland Rugby League
References