Queensland Cup

Origin and establishment

Since it's inaugural season in 1922, the Brisbane Rugby League (BRL) was the premier competition in the state of Queensland. Like its Sydney counterpart, the New South Wales Rugby Football League (NSWRFL), the BRL was thriving, boasting big crowds and large, loyal supporter bases with their respective clubs. The clubs were constant, with new teams rarely entering the competition. However, in 1956, when poker machines ("pokies") were introduced in New South Wales but not in Queensland, the NSWRFL's clubs were able to recruit the best players from the BRL, rugby union and overseas. Within the space of several years, the Sydney-based league had come to dominate the code within Australia.

In the 1980s, the NSWRFL began to further expand and supersede the Brisbane competition in popularity and media coverage. In 1982, the first clubs based outside of Sydney, the Canberra Raiders and Illawarra Steelers, were admitted. In 1988, two Queensland-based sides, the Brisbane Broncos and Gold Coast Giants, were formed and gained entry into the competition. The Broncos would sign BRL stars like Wally Lewis, Gene Miles and Allan Langer. In the space of one season, media coverage and match attendance for the BRL dropped significantly.

1996–1997: The beginning

In 1996, the Queensland Cup was formed, replacing the Winfield State League, as new federal government laws banned cigarette companies from sponsoring sport. Originally branded the Channel Nine Cup, the 15 round regular season competition featured sixteen teams, fifteen from Queensland and one from Papua New Guinea. At this time it was still considered as the second highest competition in the state, under the BRL. The Toowoomba Clydesdales were crowned the inaugural premiers, defeating the Redcliffe Dolphins in the Grand Final. In 1997, three teams withdrew from the competition and the Burleigh Bears joined, becoming the first Gold Coast-based side.

1998–2002: Premier competition

In 1998, the competition became the top level of rugby league in the state, following the end of the BRL. Channel Nine also ended their sponsorship for the 1998 season, with competition going under name, the Queensland Cup. A sixteen-team competition returned in 1998, with the Bundaberg Grizzlies rejoining and the Gold Coast Vikings being formed.

In 1999, the Grizzlies and Vikings both left the competition, as well as inaugural club Brisbane Brothers and the Townsville Stingers, who played just one season.

In 2000, Bundaberg Rum began a two-year sponsorship of the competition and it was known as the Bundy Gold Cup. The 2000 season was also the first in which all twelve teams remained from the season prior. It would not last long though, as the Cairns Cyclones folded after the 2000 season, leaving no north Queensland representation in the competition. In 2002, the North Queensland Young Guns, a Townsville-based North Queensland Cowboys feeder club, were admitted into the competition. At the end of the 2002 season, the Logan Scorpions, an inaugural club, left the competition.

2003–2006: Interstate expansion

Logo of the Queensland Wizard Cup

In 2003, the Tweed Heads Seagulls joined the competition, becoming the first New South Wales-based side. The club had originally applied for the 2002 season but were unsuccessful. However, following a merger of the Logan Scorpions and Souths Magpies to form the Souths Logan Magpies, a spot was opened up and Tweed Heads were admitted.^[1] Another inaugural club would leave the competition in 2004, with the Wests Panthers exiting, and Brothers-Valleys, a merger of Past Brothers and the Fortitude Valley Diehards, joining for a single season.

In 2005, the competition became known as the Queensland Wizard Cup, after Wizard Home Loans became the major sponsor.

2007: Loss of the Clydesdales

Although the Queensland Rugby League had anticipated that the same teams from 2006 would participate in the 2007 competition, it was announced on 5 December 2006 that inaugural club, the Toowoomba Clydesdales, who were the reigning minor premiers, would be withdrawing from the competition for financial reasons. Brisbane Broncos chairman Bruno Cullen said that "It didn't make sense to have this club up there running at what was looking like a $250,000 loss for the year."^[2] The following day it was announced that the Aspley Broncos would be replacing the Clydesdales, and acting as the Brisbane Broncos feeder club.^[3] The Aspley Broncos would play just a single season in the competition.

The 2007 season marked the first time a team outside of Queensland would win the competition, with the Tweed Heads Seagulls defeating the Redcliffe Dolphins in the Grand Final.^[4]

2008–2013: Further expansion

Intrust Super Cup Logo 2013-2017

2008 saw the Queensland Cup once again have teams based in the northern cities of Cairns and Mackay after absences of seven and twelve years, respectively. These new teams replaced Aspley and North Queensland as part of the rationalisation of rugby league below the NRL level caused by the introduction of the NRL under 20s competition.

In 2009, the Sunshine Coast Falcons rejoined the competition after thirteen-year absence, after signing a partnership with the Manly Sea Eagles to develop rugby league on the Sunshine Coast.^[5][6] The side played as the Sea Eagles and won the premiership in their first year.

In 2010, Intrust Super was announced as the new major sponsor, with the competition becoming known as the Intrust Super Cup.^[7] From 2009 to 2013, the competition featured the same twelve teams for five straight seasons.

2014–present: Papua New Guinea and Townsville return

In 2014, the PNG Hunters entered the competition, becoming the first Papua New Guinea based side in the competition since the Port Moresby Vipers in 1997. In their inaugural season, the side was based out of the East New Britain town of Kokopo. On 10 September 2014, QRL chairman Peter Betros announced that the Brothers Townsville-led Townsville Blackhawks bid had been successful and the side would compete in the 2015 season.

On 5 October 2014, the Northern Pride became the first Queensland Cup side to win the NRL State Championship, defeating the heavily favoured Penrith Panthers New South Wales Cup side in the inaugural final.^[8]

In 2017, the Hunters won their first Queensland Cup premiership, defeating the Sunshine Coast Falcons in the Grand Final and becoming the first team outside of Australia to win the competition.^[9]

Previous teams

As the Queensland Cup initially began as a representative competition that took over the old Winfield State League before becoming a proper club competition, many of the following clubs were "representative" sides that either withdrew (in the case of Mackay and Bundaberg) or folded (Cairns Cyclones and Port Moresby Vipers).

Queensland Cup
Club	Est.	City	Stadium	Premierships	Last	First Season	Last Season
Aspley Broncos	1967	Brisbane	Bishop Park	0	-	2007	2007
Brothers-Valleys	2002	Brisbane	O'Callaghan Park	0	-	2004	2004
Bundaberg Grizzlies	1996	Bundaberg	Salter Oval	0	-	1996	1998
Cairns Cyclones	1996	Cairns	Barlow Park	0	-	1996	2000
Gold Coast Vikings	1982	Gold Coast	Carrara Stadium	0	-	1998	1998
Logan Scorpions	1987	Logan	Meakin Park	0	-	1996	2002
Mackay Sea Eagles	1996	Mackay	Mackay JRL Ground	0	-	1996	1996
North Queensland Young Guns	2002	Townsville	Dairy Farmers Stadium	1	2005	2002	2007
Past Brothers	1929	Brisbane	Corbett Park	0	-	1996	1998
Port Moresby Vipers	1986	Port Moresby	Lloyd Robson Oval	0	-	1996	1997
Townsville Stingers	1998	Townsville	Townsville Sports Reserve	0	-	1998	1998
Toowoomba Clydesdales	1996	Toowoomba	Clive Berghofer Stadium	2	2001	1996	2006
Wests Panthers	1915	Brisbane	Purtell Park	0	-	1996	2003

Pre-season

The Queensland Cup pre-season typically begins in February and ends in early March. Clubs generally use this time to organise trial matches to test playing combinations. Usually, Queensland Cup teams will play each other in trials, while some face National Rugby League (NRL) sides. For example, in 2018, the Brisbane Broncos played trial matches against the Central Queensland Capras and PNG Hunters.^[10][11]

Regular season

The Queensland Cup regular season usually begins in early March and runs until late August. A round of regular season games is played every weekend for twenty-four weeks. In most rounds, matches are played on Saturday nights/afternoons and Sunday afternoons. Each team receives one bye during the regular season.

The regular season also features a number of themed rounds, where proceeds from the games go to various charities. In 2018, these rounds included ANZAC Round, Indigenous Round, Men of League Round, Women in League Round, "Turn to Me" Round and the annual Country Week.^[12] Country Week began in 2012 in partnership with the Queensland Government and features matches played in the country towns and cities of regional Queensland, to engage fans at a grassroots level. In 2018, the Country Week locations were Maryborough, Cooktown, Goondiwindi, Normanton, Bowen, Hughenden and Lae in Papua New Guinea.^[13]

Finals Series

The six highest placed teams at the end of the regular season compete in the finals series. The system consists of a number of games between the top six teams over four weeks in September, until only two teams remain. These two teams then contest the Grand Final, which is usually played in late September. Over the years, the Queensland Cup has used a number of different finals series systems, usually involving five to six teams. In 2015, the current six team final series system was adopted.^[14]

20th Year Anniversary Team

On 21 September 2015, the Queensland Rugby League announced their Queensland Cup 20th Year Anniversary team. The 17-man team was chosen by a selection panel consisting of Brad Tallon (Queensland Rugby League statistician), Steve Ricketts (rugby league journalist), David Wright (former ABC commentator) and Mike Higgison (rugby league historian). To be eligible for selection, a player must've played a minimum of 75 games in the competition. Rick Stone, who coached the Burleigh Bears from 1997 to 2005 (winning two premierships), was named coach of the side, while longtime referee Tony Maksoud was included as referee of the team.^[20]

Team

• Most premierships – 6 Redcliffe Dolphins
• Most minor premierships – 6 Redcliffe Dolphins
• Most wooden spoons – 4 Central Queensland Capras
• Highest score in a game – 98, Toowoomba against Wests Panthers (2003)
• Longest winning streak – 17 matches, Northern Pride (2010-2011)
• Longest undefeated streak – 22 matches, Tweed Heads Seagulls (2010-2011)
• Longest losing streak- 36 matches, Sunshine Coast Falcons (2013-2014)

Individual

• Most games played – Phil Dennis, 271 games
• Leading pointscorer – Nick Parfitt 1,421 points (113 tries, 483 goals)
• Leading tryscorer – Daniel Ogden, 136 tries
• Most points in a season 318, Liam Georgetown (2013)
• Most tries in a season 34, Daniel Kennedy 2004
• Most points in a game 40, Damien Richter 2002/Greg Bourke 2002
• Most tries in a game 7, Chris Walker 2000/Anthony Zipf 2004

Television

In 2018, the match of the round is televised live on the Nine Network in Queensland at 1:00pm (AEST) on Saturdays. Previously, the match of the round had been broadcast by Nine on Sunday afternoons and before that, on ABC Television on Saturday afternoons. The match is later replayed during the week on Foxtel's Fox League channel.

The non-broadcast games are recorded for highlights and judiciary and coaching purposes.

Radio

From 2006 to 2013, community broadcaster Bay FM began broadcasting Wynnum Manly matches with commentators Mike Higgison and Troy Robbins.

In 2015, a group of community broadcasters including Switch 1197, Valley FM Esk and Phoenix Radio Ipswich began broadcasting matches featuring Ipswich Jets.

Sponsorship

The competition has previously been named the Channel Nine Cup, Bundy Gold Cup and Queensland Wizard Cup, and is now known as the Intrust Super Cup.

Queensland Cup News

• Queensland Rugby League
• Queensland Rugby League Queensland Cup Page
• Rleague.com's Queensland page
• League Unlimited's Queensland Page

Queensland Rugby League forums

• Rleague's Queensland Forum
• League Unlimited's Queensland Forum