Grand Final, 1992: Brisbane 28 St George 8

The Grand Final Teams of '92:

Brisbane Broncos v St George Dragons.

Brisbane had been runaway Minor Premiers with an 18-4 record during the regular season and had held off a spirited Illawarra Steelers team 22-12 in the Major Semi Final to qualify for their first Grand Final.

St George had finished 2nd (15-7), but had to do it the hard way despite finishing in the Top 3. They lost the Major Preliminary Semi Final 18-16 to Illawarra, then eked out a 3-2 win over Newcastle in a try-less Minor Semi Final before playing in another classic semi – this time getting revenge on Illawarra – with a 4-0 win in the Preliminary Final thanks to Ricky Walford’s lone try and Greg McCallum’s line of sight.

In Team News – Brisbane went into the Grand Final with the same team that had defeated Illawarra two weeks earlier. Peter Ryan, Brett Plowman and Pat Savage had all appeared in at least 12 games during the season but all missed out on the Grand Final squad, and the first choice fullback at the start of the season Paul Hauff was injured. But this was a settled Brisbane outfit – and a healthy, well rested one.
For St George – Jeff Hardy continued to start at lock ahead of Australian and NSW representative Brad Mackay (a move Brian Smith had pulled after losing the Major Preliminary Semi Final to Illawarra), and veteran half Ivan Henjak was omitted from the reserves in favour of another outside back on the bench in Rex Terp. It’s remarkable the names (albeit they were pretty much rookies in ’92) that St George left out of their Grand Final squad on the day – Gorden Tallis, Jason Stevens, Nathan Brown and Andrew Walker. Former Australian and QLD backrower Wally Fullerton-Smith saw his First Grade career peter out in ’92 as he played in just 4 games for St George before leaving Sydney.

The ’92 Grand Final Teams:
Brisbane Broncos
J O’Neill, M Hancock, S Renouf, C Johns, W Carne, Kevin Walters, A Langer ©; G Lazarus, Kerrod Walters, G Allen, T Gillmeister, A Cann, T Matterson.
Bench: T Currie, M Hohn, J Plath, A Gee.
Coach: W Bennett.
St George Dragons
M Potter, R Walford, M Coyne, M Beattie ©, I Herron, P Coyne, N Goldthorpe; T Priddle, W Collins, N Tierney, D Barnhill, S Gourley, J Hardy.
Bench: B Mackay, T Smith, R Terp, M Elliott.
Coach: B Smith.
Played at the Sydney Football Stadium, Sunday 27th September 1992.
Referee: G McCallum. Crowd: 41,560.

Steve Renouf 90 metre try.