2004 Queensland Cup

The 2004 Queensland Cup season was the 9th season of Queensland's top-level statewide rugby league competition run by the Queensland Rugby League in Queensland, Australia. The competition featured 12 teams playing a 26-week long season (including finals) from March to September.

The Burleigh Bears defeated the Easts Tigers 22–18 in the Grand Final at Suncorp Stadium to claim their second premiership. Burleigh Brent McConnell was named the competition's Player of the Year, winning the Courier Mail Medal.

Teams Wests Panthers, who participated in the Queensland Cup since the inaugural season in 1996, withdrew from the competition at the end of 2003. They were replaced by Brothers-Valleys, a club formed in 2002 by the merger of Past Brothers, who played in the Queensland Cup from 1996 to 1998, and the Fortitude Valley Diehards, who originally folded in 1995.

The Brisbane Broncos, Melbourne Storm and North Queensland Cowboys were again affiliated with the Toowoomba Clydesdales, Norths Devils and North Queensland Young Guns respectively.

Colours Club Home ground(s) Head coach (s) Captain (s) NRL Affiliate Brothers-Valleys O'Callaghan Park Gary O'Brien Scott Maguire None Burleigh Bears Pizzey Park Rick Stone Ali Brown None Central Comets Browne Park Neale Crow Wade Rothery None Easts Tigers Langlands Park Michael Booth Darren Smith None Ipswich Jets Bendigo Bank Oval Trevor Gillmeister Danny Coburn None North Queensland Young Guns Dairy Farmers Stadium Adrian Thomson Daniel Strickland North Queensland Cowboys Norths Devils Bishop Park Gary Greinke Andrew Hamilton Melbourne Storm Redcliffe Dolphins Dolphin Oval Neil Wharton Troy Lindsay None Souths Logan Magpies Davies Park Anthony Griffin → Mitch Brennan Jace van Dijk None Toowoomba Clydesdales Clive Berghofer Stadium John Dixon Adrian Vowles Brisbane Broncos Tweed Heads Seagulls Piggabeen Sports Complex Steve Murphy Marty Stone None Wynnum Seagulls Kougari Oval Kelly Egan Damien Quinn None

Ladder 2004 Queensland Cup Team 1 Burleigh Bears (P)22 16 2 4 725 450 +275 34 2 Norths Devils22 15 1 6 789 503 +286 31 3 Easts Tigers22 15 1 6 791 540 +251 31 4 Toowoomba Clydesdales22 14 1 17 770 543 +227 29 5 Wynnum Seagulls22 14 1 7 634 583 +51 29 6 Redcliffe Dolphins22 13 0 9 774 538 +236 26 7 North Queensland Young Guns22 11 1 10 717 567 +150 23 8 Tweed Heads Seagulls22 9 1 12 512 657 -145 19 9 Central Comets22 8 0 14 566 705 -139 16 10 Ipswich Jets22 7 1 14 558 620 -62 15 11 Souths Logan Magpies22 5 0 17 538 922 -384 10 12 Brothers-Valleys22 0 1 21 314 1060 -746 1

Finals series HomeScore AwayMatch InformationDateVenue Qualifying / Elimination Finals Toowoomba Clydesdales 38 – 42† Wynnum Seagulls 28 August 2004 Clive Berghofer Stadium Norths Devils 18 – 35 Easts Tigers 29 August 2004 Bishop Park Semi-finals Burleigh Bears 17 – 16 Easts Tigers 4 September 2004 Pizzey Park Norths Devils 18 – 36 Wynnum Seagulls 5 September 2004 Bishop Park Preliminary Final Easts Tigers 50 – 24 Wynnum Seagulls 11 September 2004 Langlands Park Grand Final Burleigh Bears 22 – 18† Easts Tigers 18 September 2004 Suncorp Stadium † Match decided in extra time.

Grand Final

Burleigh BearsPositionEasts TigersReggie Cressbrook FB Jason BarsleyTrent Purdon WG Steve BeattieJason Webber CE Steve RenoufNick Shaw CE Wade LiddellAseri Laing WG Michael PearceAdam Hayden FE Isaac KaufmannBrent McConnell HB Dane CampbellAli Brown (c) PR Charlie TongaRyan Gundry HK Trent YoungAdam Watene PR Scott AloMartin Griese SR Darren SmithJohn Flint SR Scott SippleRobert Apanui LK Dallas McIlwainShane O'Flanagan Bench Martin AllenTony Gray Bench Leigh CoghillKris Flint Bench Matt LockyerDavid Hicks Bench Paul DezoltRick Stone Coach Michael Booth

Burleigh, who finished as minor premiers for the second season in a row, defeated Easts by a point in their major semi final to earn a spot in the Grand Final, their third since 1997. Easts, who came 3rd in the regular season, defeated the 2nd placed Norths in the qualifying final to set up their match with Burleigh. The loss saw them then face Wynnum in the preliminary final, who they defeated 50–24 to set up a rematch with the Bears in the Grand Final. During the regular season, Burleigh defeated Easts in both of their encounters (46–20 in Round 5 and 36–34 in Round 15).

First half Burleigh opened the first half strongly when five-eighth Adam Hayden stepped through Easts' defensive line to score in the 6th minute. Three minutes later, Hayden put centre Nick Shaw through a hole to score the Bears' second try. The Tigers got back into the contest in the 20th minute, when hooker Trent Young muscled his way over underneath posts. Burleigh regained their 10-point lead when second rower John Flint burst through to score in the 31st minute as the Bears took a 16–6 lead into the break.

Second half Easts hit back 10 minutes into the second half when former Australian and Queensland representative Steve Renouf spun through a defender to score in the corner. Micheal Pearce converted the try from the sideline to cut the lead to four. A Reggie Cressbrook penalty goal pushed Burleigh's lead to six, setting up a tense final 20 minutes. With just over a minute to play, Burleigh's Kris Flint attempted a field goal that would've sealed the game for the Bears but missed to the right, giving Easts one last chance. With 30 seconds remaining, Tigers' halfback Dane Campbell put in a chip kick for winger Steve Beattie, who burst through two Burleigh defenders to score. Campbell then converted from out wide to send the game into extra time.

Extra time Easts had the first opportunity to win the game in the third minute of extra time, when Campbell attempted a field goal then went wide right. Both teams missed multiple field goal attempts before Burleigh prop Shane O'Flanagan barged over to score the premiership-winning try in the 17th minute of extra time.

Player statistics

Leading try scorers PosPlayerTeamTries1Brent McConnell Burleigh Bears22Nick Parfitt Toowoomba Clydesdales222Derek Fletcher Norths Devils20Michael Gordon Tweed Heads Seagulls20Brian Jellick Redcliffe Dolphins20

Leading point scorers PosPlayerTeamTGFGPts1Damien Richters Redcliffe Dolphins10103-2462Reggie Cressbrook Burleigh Bears1382-2163Nick Parfitt Toowoomba Clydesdales2256-2004Dane Campbell Easts Tigers126411775Brenton Bowen North Queensland Young Guns1547-154

End-of-season awards Courier Mail Medal: Brent McConnell ( Burleigh Bears) Rookie of the Year: Luke Dalziel-Don ( Wynnum Seagulls)

See also

Queensland Cup Queensland Rugby League

References