BRISBANE BRONCOS 2006

This article details the 2006 season of the Brisbane Broncos. It was the Broncos' 19th season since their inception in 1988. They competed in the National Rugby League season 2006 and won their 6th Premiership.

Contents

Season Summary

Season Results

Season Ladder

Grand Final

Crowds

Season Players

Scorers

2006/2007 Player Signings/Transfers

Gains

Losses

Re-Signings

See also

References

Season Summary

The Brisbane Broncos did not start the season well with a 36-4 loss to the 2005 Runners-up North Queensland Cowboys in round 1. Round 2 saw the Broncos get their first win for the season and their first win since round 21, 2005 with a 16-12 victory over the Cronulla Sharks (This game is the third game in a row that the Brisbane Broncos beat Cronulla Sharks 16-12 at Toyota Park). Round 8 saw Brisbane produce their biggest comeback in the club's history when they came from 18-0 down at halftime to win 30-28 over the Canberra Raiders. The biggest upset of the year for the Broncos then came against the then win-less South Sydney Rabbitohs side with a 34-14 loss.
After State Of Origin III, Brisbane once again entered the "Post-Origin Slump". They lost 5 games straight from Round 18 - Round 23. Then, the following week something seemed to change. In Round 23 the Broncos suffered a narrow 18-12 loss to competition leaders Melbourne Storm who had only lost 5 games all year. They went on in round 24 to beat the Canterbury Bulldogs 30-0, in round 25 the Parramatta Eels 23-0 and in round 26 the New Zealand Warriors 36-12.
There was a slight hiccup when the Broncos lost the Qualifying Final to St George Illawarra Dragons 20-4. Then they got their rhythm back with a 50-6 win over the Newcastle Knights in the Semi Final and that game saw Darren Lockyer become the Brisbane Broncos' highest ever point scorer (beating Michael De Vere's record of 1,062 points). The Prelimanary Final saw the Brisbane Broncos play the Canterbury Bulldogs. The Broncos came from 20-6 down at halftime to earn a spot in the Grand Final with a 37-20 win.

Season Results

Round	Opponent	Result	Bro.	Opp.	Date	Venue	Crowd	Position
Trial Match	Canberra Raiders	Win	28	20	18 Feb	Port Macquarie Sports Stadium
Trial Match	Melbourne Storm	Loss	10	58	25 Feb	Stadium Toowoomba
1	North Queensland Cowboys	Loss	4	36	12 Mar	Suncorp Stadium	46,229	14/15
2	Cronulla Sharks	Win	16	12	18 Mar	Toyota Park	14,221	12/15
3	Parramatta Eels	Win	30	10	26 Mar	Suncorp Stadium	25,525	5/15
4	St George Illawarra Dragons	Loss	12	26	2 Apr	WIN Stadium	13,708	9/15
5	South Sydney Rabbitohs	Win	30	12	8 Apr	Suncorp Stadium	20,816	7/15
6	Sydney Roosters	Win	24	6	14 Apr	Aussie Stadium	21,246	4/15
7	Penrith Panthers	Win	30	6	23 Apr	Suncorp Stadium	25,133	3/15
8	Canberra Raiders	Win	30	28	29 Apr	Suncorp Stadium	23,582	3/15
9	Newcastle Knights	Loss	30	32	7 May	EnergyAustralia Stadium	21,252	5/15
10	Manly Sea Eagles	Win	32	10	13 May	Suncorp Stadium	24,991	4/15
11	Bye							4/15
12 ★	Canterbury Bulldogs	Win	25	6	27 May	Suncorp Stadium	30,589	1/15
13	New Zealand Warriors	Win	23	18	4 Jun	Mt Smart Stadium	7,746	1/15
14	South Sydney Rabbitohs	Loss	14	34	10 Jun	Telstra Stadium	6,537	2/15
15 ★	St George Illawarra Dragons	Loss	16	18	16 Jun	Suncorp Stadium	32,914	2/15
16	Manly Sea Eagles	Win	16	10	25 Jun	Brookvale Oval	16,084	2/15
17	Cronulla Sharks	Win	26	12	2 Jul	Suncorp Stadium	25,863	2/15
18 ★	Melbourne Storm	Loss	4	10	7 Jul	Olympic Park	15,479	3/15
19	Bye							3/15
20	North Queensland Cowboys	Loss	10	26	22 Jul	Dairy Farmers Stadium	24,658	3/15
21	West Tigers	Loss	6	20	30 Jul	Suncorp Stadium	31,500	3/15
22	Canberra Raiders	Loss	18	30	6 Aug	Canberra Stadium	13,137	3/15
23	Melbourne Storm	Loss	12	18	13 Aug	Suncorp Stadium	40,195	5/15
24	Canterbury Bulldogs	Win	30	0	18 Aug	Telstra Stadium	26,111	5/15
25	Parramatta Eels	Win	23	0	27 Aug	Parramatta Stadium	20,253	4/15
26	New Zealand Warriors	Win	36	12	3 Sep	Suncorp Stadium	47,193	3/15
Qualif. Final	St George Illawarra Dragons	Loss	4	20	9 Sep	Suncorp Stadium	50,387
Semi Final	Newcastle Knights	Win	50	6	16 Sep	Aussie Stadium	20,081
Prelim. Final	Canterbury Bulldogs	Win	37	20	22 Sep	Aussie Stadium	29,511
GRAND FINAL	Melbourne Storm	Win	15	8	1 Oct	Telstra Stadium	79,609

★ Game following a State of Origin match

Season Ladder

''
★ Warriors deducted 4 points for salary cap breaches''

	Team	Pld	W	D	L	B	F	A	P/D	Pts
'1'	Melbourne Storm	24	20	0	4	2	605	404	+201	'44'
'2'	Canterbury Bulldogs	24	16	0	8	2	608	468	+140	'36'
'3'	'Brisbane Broncos'	'24'	'14'	'0'	'10'	'2'	'497'	'392'	'+105'	'32'
'4'	Newcastle Knights	24	14	0	10	2	608	538	+70	'32'
'5'	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	24	14	0	10	2	534	493	+41	'32'
'6'	St George Illawarra Dragons	24	14	0	10	2	519	481	+38	'32'
'7'	Canberra Raiders	24	13	0	11	2	525	573	-48	'30'
'8'	Parramatta Eels	24	12	0	12	2	506	483	+23	'28'
'9'	North Queensland Cowboys	24	11	0	13	2	450	463	-13	'26'
'10'	New Zealand Warriors	24	12	0	12	2	552	463	+89	'24 ★ '
'11'	Wests Tigers	24	10	0	14	2	490	565	-75	'24'
'12'	Penrith Panthers	24	10	0	14	2	510	587	-77	'24'
'13'	Cronulla Sharks	24	9	0	15	2	515	544	-29	'22'
'14'	Sydney Roosters	24	8	0	16	1	528	650	-122	'20'
'15'	South Sydney Rabbitohs	24	3	0	21	2	429	772	-343	'10'

Grand Final

Brisbane played against minor premiers the Melbourne Storm in the Grand Final and came out 15-8 winners. It was a perfect farewell for retiring prop Shane Webcke. The Broncos maintained their 100% win record in Grand Finals (1992, 1993, 1997, 1998, 2000 and 2006). The six Premierships make Wayne Bennett the most successful club coach in Australian club football history.
'Brisbane Broncos vs. Melbourne Storm'

Player	Position	Player
Justin Hodges	Fullback	Billy Slater
Darius Boyd	Wing	Matt Geyer
Brent Tate	Centre	Matt King
David Stagg	Centre	Greg Inglis
Karmichael Hunt	Wing	Steve Turner
Darren Lockyer (C)	Five-eighth	Scott Hill
Shane Perry	Halfback	Cooper Cronk
Shane Webcke	Prop	Antonio Kaufusi
Shaun Berrigan	Hooker	Cameron Smith (C)
Petero Civoniceva	Prop	Brett White
Sam Thaiday	Second Row	David Kidwell
Brad Thorn	Second Row	Ryan Hoffman
Tonie Carroll	Lock	Dallas Johnson
Corey Parker	Interchange	Adam Blair
Dane Carlaw	Interchange	Jeremy Smith
Ben Hannant	Interchange	Ben Cross
Casey McGuire	Interchange	Nathan Friend
Wayne Bennett	COACH	Craig Bellamy

'Brisbane 15' (TRIES: Hodges, Tate; GOALS: Lockyer 2/2, Parker 1/2;FIELD GOALS: Lockyer)
defeated
'Melbourne 8' (TRIES: Turner, King; GOALS: Smith 0/1, Geyer 0/1)
'Halftime:' Brisbane 8-4
'Referee:' Paul Simpkins
'Stadium:' Telstra Stadium (Sydney)
'Crowd:' 79,609
'Clive Churchill Medal:' Shaun Berrigan (Brisbane)

Crowds

The Brisbane Broncos had the biggest NRL season crowd average for 2006. The average crowd (including the Qualifying Final) for 2006 was 32,681

★ =includes finals matches played at home or away

Games	Played	Crowd Total	Average
All Games	28	754,550	26,948
Home Games ★	13	424,917	32,685
Away Games ★	15	329,633	21,976
Finals	4	179,588	44,897

All Games
★ : Played:28 Total: 754,550 Average: 26,948
Home Games: Played: 13 Total: 424,917 Average: 32,685
Away Games: Played:15 Total: 329,633 Average: 21,976
Finals
★ : Played: 4 Total: 179,588 Average: 44,897

Season Players

'Bold Players' Reperesentive Players for International or State in any year.
''Full Backs''

'Karmichael Hunt' (also played wing)

''Wingers''

Frazer Anderson

Scott Minto

'Tame Tupou'

Darius Boyd (also played fullback)

''Centres''

'Shaun Berrigan' (also played hooker)

'Justin Hodges' (also played fullback)

Stephen Michaels

'Brent Tate' (also played wing)

''Halves''

'Darren Lockyer (c)'

'Casey McGuire'

Shane Perry

Brett Seymour (contract terminated after Round 22)

''Hookers''

Barry Berrigan

Michael Ennis

''Props''

'Petero Civoniceva'

Ben Hannant

Nick Kenny

'Corey Parker'

'Sam Thaiday'

'Shane Webcke'

''Second Rowers''

'Dane Carlaw'

'David Stagg'

'Brad Thorn'

'Neville Costigan' (contract terminated after Round 22)

''Locks''

'Tonie Carroll'

'Greg Eastwood'

Scorers

Player	Tries	Goals	FG	Points
Corey Parker	4	63/89	0	142
Darren Lockyer	13	19/24	5	95
Tame Tupou	13	0	0	52
Darius Boyd	11	0	0	44
Justin Hodges	10	1/1	0	42
Shaun Berrigan	9	0	0	36
Karmichael Hunt	7	0	0	28
Greg Eastwood	6	0	0	24
Brent Tate	5	0	0	20
Shane Webcke	4	0	0	16
Brad Thorn	4	0	0	16
Michael Ennis	0	6/11	0	12
Brett Seymour	3	0/3	0	12
Petero Civoniceva	3	0	0	12
David Stagg	3	0	0	12
Sam Thaiday	2	0	0	8
Dane Carlaw	2	0	0	8
Frazer Anderson	1	0	0	4
Leon Bott	1	0	0	4
Casey McGuire	1	0	0	4
Tonie Carroll	1	0	0	4
Stephen Michaels	1	0	0	4
Shane Perry	1	0	0	4
TOTAL	104			603

2006/2007 Player Signings/Transfers

Gains

Player	Notes
Brent McConnell	from North Queensland Cowboys
Nathan Strudwick	from John Paul College, Brisbane
Thomas Bradford

Losses

Player	Notes
Casey McGuire	Contract with Catalans Dragons (Super League (Europe))
Shane Webcke	Retired at end of season
Leon Bott	Contract with Cronulla Sharks
Neville Costigan	Contract Terminated for player misconduct, contract with Canberra Raiders
Brett Seymour	Contract Terminated for player misconduct, contract with Cronulla Sharks
Frazer Anderson	Contract with Cronulla Sharks
Scott Minto	Contract with North Queensland Cowboys
Ben Vaeau	Contract with North Queensland Cowboys
Joe Clarke	Contract with North Queensland Cowboys

Re-Signings

Player	Years Signed	Until the End of
Karmichael Hunt	3 Years	2009
Michael Ennis	1 Year	2007
Ben Hannant	2 Years	2008
David Stagg	3 Years	2009
Ian Lacey	2 Years	2008
Joel Moon	2 Years	2008

See also

★ National Rugby League season 2006

★ 2006 Rugby League State of Origin series

References

★ Rugby League Tables and Statistics

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