Sourcing caveat: Rugby League Project lists attendance as 42,329, while Wikipedia and a contemporary NSWRL referees' association recap both state 42,239 (described as a Sydney Football Stadium ground record); this entry uses 42,239 based on the two agreeing sources. Separately, an earlier version of this page's prose credited St George with only 2 Ian Herron penalty goals; research for the Tier-1 scoring detail independently confirmed a third (per rugbyleagueproject.org and Wikipedia), which is required to reconcile the 14-6 final score.
Brisbane returned to defend their maiden premiership against St George in a rematch of the previous year's decider, this time in front of a record Sydney Football Stadium grand final crowd. The match was disrupted in its opening minute when St George prop Jason Stevens suffered a badly broken thumb and was forced from the field, a blow the Dragons never fully recovered from as Brisbane seized control of possession, finishing the first half with the lion's share of the ball and committing far fewer handling errors than St George. The Broncos capitalised with tries to Chris Johns and Terry Matterson inside the opening 40 minutes, with Julian O'Neill converting one to establish a 10-2 halftime lead. St George fought back to open the second half through two Ian Herron penalty goals, narrowing the margin to 10-6 and giving the Dragons faithful genuine hope of an upset, but Brisbane's class ultimately told. In the 68th minute, dashing winger Willie Carne finished off a sustained attacking raid near the St George line to restore Brisbane's buffer, and although O'Neill missed the conversion, the Broncos held on for a 14-6 victory that secured back-to-back premierships. Remarkably, Brisbane achieved the feat having finished the regular season in just fifth position, becoming one of the first clubs in the history of the Sydney premiership to win a title from outside the top four, a testament to finals-football pedigree under coach Wayne Bennett. Despite finishing on the losing side, St George lock Brad Mackay was awarded the Clive Churchill Medal for a tireless, high-work-rate performance that stood out even in defeat, one of only a handful of occasions in the medal's history that it went to a player from the beaten team. The result confirmed Brisbane's emergence as the new dominant force of the code, while for St George it was a second successive grand final loss and continued a title drought stretching back to their famous 1979 premiership.
We use cookies for analytics and, in future, to serve relevant advertising that keeps this site free and lets us keep building out full historical depth for every sport. You can accept or decline non-essential cookies.