1997 Brisbane Broncos season

The 1997 Brisbane Broncos season was the tenth in the history of the Brisbane Broncos club. This season was unique in that they participated in the Australian Super League's 1997 Telstra Cup premiership and 1997 World Club Championship, winning both competitions.

The Broncos again won their first seven matches, before finally losing to the Penrith Panthers in round 8. Brisbane won their final three regular season games to capture their second minor premiership. In the major semi-final against Cronulla the Broncos thrashed the Sharks to move into the Super League Grand Final to be played at their home venue, ANZ Stadium. The Sharks recovered to make the big one, but they were no match for the Broncos. Despite being without key forward Glenn Lazarus and hampered by a troublesome groin injury, Allan Langer led his side to victory 26–8 for their third premiership in front of almost 60,000 home fans. Steve Renouf scored a hat-trick in the match.^[1]

Following the premiership win, the Broncos also won the 1997 World Club Championship which involved clubs from the Super League as well.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts
1	Brisbane (P)	18	14	1	3	481	283	+198	29
2	Cronulla	18	12	0	6	403	230	+173	24
3	Canberra	18	11	0	7	436	337	+99	22
4	Canterbury	18	10	0	8	453	447	+6	20
5	Penrith	18	9	0	9	431	462	-31	18
6	Hunter	18	7	0	11	350	363	-13	14
7	Auckland	18	7	0	11	332	406	-74	14
8	Perth	18	7	0	11	321	456	-135	14
9	Adelaide	18	6	1	11	303	402	-99	13
10	North Queensland	18	5	2	11	328	452	-124	12

• (P) - Premiers

	Team	Pld	W	L	D	PF	PA	PD	Pts
1	Brisbane	6	6	0	0	270	52	+218	12
2	Auckland	6	6	0	0	268	82	+186	12
3	Cronulla	6	6	0	0	230	54	+176	12
4	Penrith	6	6	0	0	256	120	+136	12
5	Canberra	6	5	1	0	302	108	+194	10
6	Canterbury	6	4	2	0	218	121	+97	8

1997 Super League Telstra Cup Grand Final

Saturday, 20 September 20:00 AEST (UTC+10)

Brisbane	26 – 8	Cronulla
Tries: 4 Renouf  34', 55', 65' Hancock  79' Goals: 5 Lockyer  pen 8', pen 25', 35', 56', 80' (5/6)	1st: 10–2 2nd: 16–6 Report	Tries: 1 Richardson  45' Goals: 2 Rogers  pen 22', 46' (2/2)

ANZ Stadium, Brisbane Attendance: 58,912 Referee: Bill Harrigan Player of the Match: Steve Renouf (Brisbane)[5]

|+ class="nowrap" | Team details

!colspan=2

|Brisbane Broncos!! rowspan=2

|Cronulla Sharks

|-

!Name !! Number !! Number !! Name |-

|Darren Lockyer||1||

||21||David Peachey

|-

|Michael De Vere||18||

||45||Mat Rogers

|-

|Steve Renouf||3||

||3||Andrew Ettingshausen (c)

|-

|Anthony Mundine||4||

||33||Russell Richardson

|-

|Wendell Sailor||5||

||17||Geoff Bell

|-

|Kevin Walters||6||

||6||Mitch Healey

|-

|Allan Langer (c)||7||

||7||Paul Green

|-

|Brad Thorn||10||

||8||Danny Lee

|-

|Andrew Gee||23||

||9||Dean Treister

|-

|Shane Webcke||21||

||40||Jason Stevens

|-

|Gorden Tallis||11||

||11||Craig Greenhill

|-

|Peter Ryan||12||

||31||Chris McKenna

|-

|Darren Smith||13||

||13||Tawera Nikau

|-

|Tonie Carroll||15||

||18||Adam Dykes

|-

|John Plath||9||

||24||Sean Ryan

|-

|Michael Hancock||2||

||38||Les Davidson

|-

|Ben Walker||16||

||12||Nathan Long

|-

|Wayne Bennett||||

||||John Lang

|-

|colspan=5 |

|}

• Nil

• Player of the year: Peter Ryan^[6]
• Rookie of the year: Michael De Vere
• Back of the year: Kevin Walters
• Forward of the year: Brad Thorn
• Club man of the year: Tony Spencer

• Brisbane Broncos 1997 at bronconet.org
• Superleague 1997 Brisbane Broncos Statistics – Summary at rugbyleagueproject.com

27°33′30″S 153°03′44″E / 27.558333°S 153.062222°E / -27.558333; 153.062222 (ANZ Stadium)