Sydney Roosters 16–12 Brisbane Broncos — Preliminary Final, 2002 NRL Finals Series
28 Sep 2002 · Sydney Football Stadium, Moore Park, Sydney, NSW · Attendance: 28,251
Data last verified: 11 August 2026.
Preliminary Final, 2002 NRL finals series: Sydney Roosters 16–12 Brisbane Broncos, at Sydney Football Stadium, Moore Park, Sydney, NSW on 28 Sep 2002.
Sourcing caveat: No try-scoring minutes were found for this fixture. Sydney made a significant reshuffle from earlier rounds: Chris Flannery (starting fullback in Weeks 1 and 2) moved to the bench, with Luke Phillips (#19) starting fullback and Shannon Hegarty (#18) starting centre — reported exactly as sourced. Brisbane reverted closer to standard numbering versus Week 1 (Shaun Berrigan back at #6, Shane Walker at #9, Corey Parker at #12).
Scorers
| Sydney Roosters | Tries: Mullins; Minichiello Goals: Fitzgibbon (4/4 conversions) |
| Brisbane Broncos | Tries: Lockyer; Tate Goals: De Vere (2/2 conversions) |
Team sheets
| Sydney Roosters | Brisbane Broncos | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19 | Luke Phillips | Fullback | Darren Lockyer | 1 |
| 2 | Brett Mullins | Wing | Lote Tuqiri | 2 |
| 18 | Shannon Hegarty | Centre | Brent Tate | 3 |
| 4 | Justin Hodges | Centre | Michael De Vere | 4 |
| 5 | Anthony Minichiello | Wing | Chris Walker | 5 |
| 6 | Brad Fittler (c) | Five-Eighth | Shaun Berrigan | 6 |
| 7 | Craig Wing | Halfback | Allan Langer | 7 |
| 8 | Jason Cayless | Prop | Shane Webcke | 8 |
| 9 | Simon Bonetti | Hooker | Shane Walker | 9 |
| 10 | Peter Cusack | Prop | Petero Civoniceva | 10 |
| 14 | Adrian Morley | Second Row | Gorden Tallis (c) | 11 |
| 12 | Craig Fitzgibbon | Second Row | Corey Parker | 12 |
| 13 | Luke Ricketson | Lock | Dane Carlaw | 13 |
| Substitutes | ||||
| 1 | Chris Flannery | Brad Meyers | 14 | |
| 11 | Bryan Fletcher | Andrew Gee | 15 | |
| 15 | Andrew Lomu | Phillip Lee | 16 | |
| 20 | Michael Crocker | Casey McGuire | 18 | |
| Ricky Stuart | Coach | Wayne Bennett | ||
Match officials
| Referee | Bill Harrigan |
Match report
A tight arm-wrestle at Aussie Stadium, trailing 8-12 at halftime, the Roosters held their nerve to book a first Grand Final appearance since 1975 (as the Eastern Suburbs Roosters lineage), denying reigning back-to-back premiers Brisbane a fourth straight decider.