Brisbane Broncos 34–20 Cronulla-Sutherland — Qualifying Final, 2000 NRL Finals Series
6 Aug 2000 · Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane, QLD · Attendance: 25,831
Data last verified: 11 August 2026.
Qualifying Final, 2000 NRL finals series: Brisbane Broncos 34–20 Cronulla-Sutherland, at Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane, QLD on 6 Aug 2000.
Sourcing caveat: No try-scoring minutes were found for this fixture. All 6 of Brisbane's tries are now confirmed via the official box score: Ikin and Tallis each scored twice, with Shaun Berrigan and Lote Tuqiri completing the total. Brisbane's bench has a genuine sourced jersey-number duplicate: #8 appears on both starting prop Brad Thorn and interchange player Harvey Howard — reported exactly as sourced, not corrected.
Scorers
| Brisbane Broncos | Tries: Ikin; Ikin; Tallis; Tallis; Berrigan; Tuqiri Goals: Lockyer (5/6 conversions) |
| Cronulla-Sutherland | Tries: Donato; Dykes; Howland; Mellor Goals: Rogers (2/4 conversions) |
Team sheets
| Brisbane Broncos | Cronulla-Sutherland | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Darren Lockyer | Fullback | David Peachey (c) | 1 |
| 2 | Lote Tuqiri | Wing | Mat Rogers | 2 |
| 3 | Shaun Berrigan | Centre | Colin Best | 3 |
| 4 | Michael De Vere | Centre | Russell Richardson | 4 |
| 5 | Wendell Sailor | Wing | Brett Howland | 5 |
| 6 | Ben Ikin | Five-Eighth | Adam Dykes | 6 |
| 7 | Kevin Walters (c) | Halfback | Jason Ferris | 7 |
| 8 | Brad Thorn | Prop | Jason Stevens | 8 |
| 9 | Luke Priddis | Hooker | Shannon Donato | 9 |
| 10 | Dane Carlaw | Prop | Martin Lang | 10 |
| 11 | Gorden Tallis | Second Row | Nathan Long | 11 |
| 12 | Tonie Carroll | Second Row | Chris McKenna | 12 |
| 13 | Kevin Campion | Lock | Nick Graham | 13 |
| Substitutes | ||||
| 14 | Shane Walker | Chris Beattie | 14 | |
| 15 | Ashley Harrison | Andrew Pierce | 15 | |
| 16 | Michael Hancock | Paul Mellor | 18 | |
| 8 | Harvey Howard | Dean Treister | 19 | |
| Wayne Bennett | Coach | John Lang | ||
Match officials
| Referee | Paul Simpkins |
Match report
Minor premiers Brisbane produced arguably the greatest comeback of the 2000 finals, trailing 20-6 at the break to David Peachey's rampant Cronulla side before running away with it after halftime — a preview of the dominant finals run to come. Gorden Tallis and Ben Ikin's double-try efforts were pivotal.