2002 Brisbane Broncos Season
Season summary
The 2002 NRL season saw the return of club legend Allan Langer to the Brisbane Broncos, following his successful comeback to Australian rugby league in the previous year's State of Origin decider. In 2002 he was the NRL's oldest player at 36 years and 60 days.
2002 was also the beginning of Brisbane's recurring "post origin slump", which was to haunt the club for the next four years. As most of the Queensland Maroons who compete in the mid-week State of Origin matches are Broncos' players, this extra workload often results in a loss of form for the club around and after the time of the Origin series. The Broncos finished the regular season in 3rd position, with the second-highest points differential in the league, but were knocked out in the Preliminary Final by the eventual premiers, the Sydney Roosters, in a rematch of the 2000 Grand Final.
One season highlight was the week 12 upset of Wests Tigers. Despite finishing the season down the ladder the Tigers were in a finals spot at the time. With nine players selected for Origin, Brisbane played six debutants, including Corey Parker, Scott Prince and Shaun Berrigan, ultimately defeating the Tigers 28–14.
Match results
Round | Opponent | Result | Bro. | Opp. | Date | Venue | Crowd | Position |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | North Queensland Cowboys | Win | 42 | 6 | 16 Mar | Dairy Farmers Stadium | 24,212 | 2/15 |
2 | Canterbury Bulldogs | Draw | 20 | 20 | 22 Mar | ANZ Stadium | 22,300 | 5/15 |
3 | Sydney Roosters | Win | 22 | 8 | 29 Mar | Sydney Football Stadium | 15,614 | 3/15 |
4 | Cronulla Sharks | Win | 18 | 16 | 7 Apr | ANZ Stadium | 22,005 | 2/15 |
5 | Canberra Raiders | Win | 18 | 16 | 13 Apr | Bruce Stadium | 12,029 | 2/15 |
6 | Penrith Panthers | Win | 30 | 26 | 21 Apr | ANZ Stadium | 13,613 | 2/15 |
7 | Newcastle Knights | Win | 18 | 12 | 26 Apr | ANZ Stadium | 37,166 | 1/15 |
8 | South Sydney Rabbitohs | Win | 42 | 16 | 3 May | Sydney Football Stadium | 14,874 | 1/15 |
9 | Northern Eagles | Win | 50 | 12 | 11 May | ANZ Stadium | 14,202 | 1/15 |
10 | BYE | 1/15 | ||||||
11* | St George Illawarra Dragons | Loss | 20 | 28 | 26 May | Sydney Football Stadium | 9,051 | 2/15 |
12 | Wests Tigers | Win | 28 | 14 | 31 May | Campbelltown Stadium | 9,540 | 2/15 |
13* | Parramatta Eels | Loss | 18 | 22 | 7 Jun | ANZ Stadium | 17,667 | 4/15 |
14 | North Queensland Cowboys | Win | 52 | 8 | 16 Jun | ANZ Stadium | 10,215 | 4/15 |
15 | BYE | 2/15 | ||||||
16* | New Zealand Warriors | Loss | 16 | 26 | 30 Jun | ANZ Stadium | 24,907 | 4/15 |
17 | St George Illawarra Dragons | Win | 34 | 22 | 7 Jul | ANZ Stadium | 19,998 | 3/15 |
18 | Penrith Panthers | Win | 38 | 20 | 13 Jul | Penrith Football Stadium | 10,099 | 2/15 |
19 | Wests Tigers | Win | 46 | 14 | 20 Jul | ANZ Stadium | 13,009 | 2/15 |
20 | Parramatta Eels | Win | 26 | 6 | 26 Jul | Parramatta Stadium | 15,525 | 2/15 |
21 | Melbourne Storm | Win | 48 | 20 | 3 Aug | Olympic Park Stadium | 10,308 | 2/15 |
22 | Sydney Roosters | Loss | 18 | 28 | 9 Aug | ANZ Stadium | 23,991 | 2/15 |
23 | New Zealand Warriors | Loss | 4 | 18 | 18 Aug | Mt Smart Stadium | 22,125 | 3/15 |
24 | Newcastle Knights | Loss | 10 | 40 | 23 Aug | EnergyAustralia Stadium | 18,601 | 3/15 |
25 | Canberra Raiders | Win | 36 | 2 | 31 Aug | ANZ Stadium | 22,502 | 2/15 |
26 | Canterbury Bulldogs | Loss | 18 | 25 | 6 Sep | Sydney Showground Stadium | 16,492 | 3/15 |
Qualif. Final | Parramatta Eels | Win | 24 | 14 | 14 Sep | ANZ Stadium | 19,115 | |
Prelim. Final | Sydney Roosters | Loss | 12 | 16 | 28 Sep | Sydney Football Stadium | 28,251 |
*Game following a State of Origin match
Ladder
Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | B | PF | PA | PD | Pts |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | New Zealand Warriors | 24 | 17 | 0 | 7 | 2 | 688 | 454 | +234 | 38 |
2 | Newcastle Knights | 24 | 17 | 0 | 7 | 2 | 724 | 498 | +226 | 38 |
3 | Brisbane Broncos | 24 | 16 | 1 | 7 | 2 | 672 | 425 | +247 | 37 |
4 | Sydney Roosters (P) | 24 | 15 | 1 | 8 | 2 | 621 | 405 | +216 | 35 |
5 | Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks | 24 | 15 | 0 | 9 | 2 | 653 | 597 | +56 | 34 |
6 | Parramatta Eels | 24 | 10 | 2 | 12 | 2 | 531 | 440 | +91 | 26 |
7 | St George Illawarra Dragons | 24 | 9 | 3 | 12 | 2 | 632 | 546 | +86 | 25 |
8 | Canberra Raiders | 24 | 10 | 1 | 13 | 2 | 471 | 641 | -170 | 25 |
9 | Northern Eagles | 24 | 10 | 0 | 14 | 2 | 503 | 740 | -237 | 24 |
10 | Melbourne Storm | 24 | 9 | 1 | 14 | 2 | 556 | 586 | -30 | 23 |
11 | North Queensland Cowboys | 24 | 8 | 0 | 16 | 2 | 496 | 803 | -307 | 20 |
12 | Penrith Panthers | 24 | 7 | 0 | 17 | 2 | 546 | 654 | -108 | 18 |
13 | Wests Tigers | 24 | 7 | 0 | 17 | 2 | 498 | 642 | -144 | 18 |
14 | South Sydney Rabbitohs | 24 | 5 | 0 | 19 | 2 | 385 | 817 | -432 | 14 |
15 | Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs | 24 | 20 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 707 | 435 | +272 | 8 |
The Bulldogs were deducted 37 premiership points due to gross salary cap breaches.
Scorers
Player | Tries | Goals | FG | Points |
---|---|---|---|---|
Michael De Vere | 6 | 81/102 | 0 | 186 |
Lote Tuqiri | 15 | 17/25 | 0 | 94 |
Darren Lockyer | 15 | 1/1 | 0 | 62 |
Chris Walker | 15 | 0 | 0 | 60 |
Shaun Berrigan | 10 | 0 | 0 | 40 |
Brent Tate | 10 | 0 | 0 | 40 |
Gorden Tallis | 10 | 0 | 0 | 40 |
Casey McGuire | 7 | 0 | 0 | 28 |
Carl Webb | 7 | 0 | 0 | 28 |
Allan Langer | 5 | 0 | 0 | 20 |
Steve Irwin | 4 | 0 | 0 | 16 |
Stuart Kelly | 4 | 0 | 0 | 16 |
Brad Meyers | 3 | 0 | 0 | 12 |
Scott Prince | 0 | 5/6 | 0 | 10 |
Andrew Gee | 2 | 0 | 0 | 8 |
Phillip Lee | 2 | 0 | 0 | 8 |
Corey Parker | 2 | 0 | 0 | 8 |
Brett Seymour | 2 | 0 | 0 | 8 |
Shane Webcke | 2 | 0 | 0 | 8 |
Petero Civoniceva | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
Dane Carlaw | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
Ashley Harrison | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
Robert Tanielu | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
Honours
League
- Nil
Club
- Player of the year: Darren Lockyer
- Rookie of the year: Brent Tate
- Back of the year: Darren Lockyer
- Forward of the year: Shane Webcke
- Club man of the year: Scott Prince
References
- ^ Toohey, Barry (2 February 2011). "Still some bite in old Mad Dog". The Daily Telegraph. Australia: News Limited. Retrieved 2 February 2011.
- ^ Gould, Joel (22 March 2018). "Flashback: Brisbane Broncos most famous Campbelltown win". NRL.com.
- ^ "How the Baby Broncos stunned the Wests Tigers in 2002". The Courier-Mail. 16 July 2015.
- ^ "Honour Board". broncos.com.au. Brisbane Broncos. Archived from the original on 26 January 2014. Retrieved 22 December 2013.