The 2002

Brisbane Broncos The Brisbane Broncos are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Red Hill, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland. Founded in April 1987, the Broncos compete in the National Rugby League (NRL) and play their home games at ...

season was the fifteenth in the club's history. They competed in the

NRL The National Rugby League (also known as the NRL Telstra Premiership for sponsorship reasons) is a professional rugby league competition in Oceania which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria (state), Victoria, the Austral ...

's 2002 Telstra Premiership and finished the regular season in third position before going on to again come within one match of the

grand final Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final is a game that decides a sports league's premiership (or championship) winning team, i.e. the conclusive game of a finals (or play-off) series. Synonymous with a championship game in North Ameri ...

for the second consecutive year.

Season summary

The

2002 NRL season The 2002 NRL season was the 95th season of professional rugby league football in Australia and the fifth to be run by the National Rugby League. The season was affected by the competition-leading Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs' salary cap breach f ...

saw the return of club legend

Allan Langer Allan Jeffrey "Alfie" Langer AM (born 30 July 1966) is an Australian former multi-award-winning rugby league footballer who played in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s and worked as an assistant coach for the Australian national team, the Queenslan ...

to the Brisbane Broncos, following his successful comeback to Australian rugby league in the previous year's State of Origin decider. In 2002 he was the NRL's oldest player at 36 years and 60 days. 2002 was also the beginning of Brisbane's recurring "post

origin Origin(s) or The Origin may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Comics and manga * ''Origin'' (comics), a Wolverine comic book mini-series published by Marvel Comics in 2002 * ''The Origin'' (Buffy comic), a 1999 ''Buffy the Vampire Sl ...

slump", which was to haunt the club for the next four years. As most of the

Queensland Maroons The Queensland rugby league team represents the Australian state of Queensland in rugby league football. Nicknamed the "Maroons" after the colour of their jersey, they play three times a year against arch-rivals New South Wales rugby league tea ...

who compete in the mid-week State of Origin matches are Broncos' players, this extra workload often results in a loss of form for the club around and after the time of the Origin series. The Broncos finished the regular season in 3rd position, with the second-highest points differential in the league, but were knocked out in the Preliminary Final by the eventual premiers, the Sydney Roosters, in a rematch of the 2000 Grand Final. One season highlight was the week 12 upset of

Wests Tigers The Wests Tigers is an Australian professional rugby league football team, based in the Inner West of Sydney and South Western Sydney. The Tigers have competed in the National Rugby League (NRL) since being formed at the end of the 1999 N ...

. Despite finishing the season down the ladder the Tigers were in a finals spot at the time. With nine players selected for Origin, Brisbane played six debutants, including Corey Parker,

Scott Prince Scott Prince (born 27 February 1980) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played as a in the 1990s, 2000s and 2010s. An Australian international and Queensland State of Origin representative, he played club footba ...

and

Shaun Berrigan Shaun Berrigan (born 4 November 1978) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played as a and in the 1990s, 2000s, and 2010s. He played for the Brisbane Broncos, with whom he won the 2000 and 2006 NRL Grand Final, an ...

, ultimately defeating the Tigers 28–14.

Match results

Game following a State of Origin match

Ladder

Scorers

Honours

League

* Nil

Club

* Player of the year:

Darren Lockyer Darren James Lockyer (born 24 March 1977) is an Australian television commentator and former professional rugby league footballer. Lockyer was an Australian international and Queensland State representative captain, who played his entire profe ...

* Rookie of the year:

Brent Tate Brent Tate (born 3 March 1982) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played as a or er in the 2000s and 2010s. An Australia international and Queensland State of Origin representative, he played his club football i ...

* Back of the year:

* Forward of the year:

Shane Webcke Shane Webcke (born 28 September 1974) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer, who spent his entire club career playing for the Brisbane Broncos. Webcke represented Queensland in the State of Origin 21 times and also capta ...

* Club man of the year:

References

External links

Brisbane Broncos 2002 at sportsphotography.net
{{coord, -27.558333, 153.062222, name=ANZ Stadium, display=title Brisbane Broncos seasons Brisbane Broncos season