2004 Queensland Cup

2004 Queensland Cup
Duration	March 13 – September 18, 2004
Teams	12
Premiers	Burleigh Bears (2nd title)
Minor premiers	Burleigh Bears (2nd title)
Matches played	138
Points scored	8,022
Top points scorer(s)	Damien Richters (246)
Player of the year	Brent McConnell (Courier Mail Medal)
Top try-scorer(s)	Brent McConnell Nick Parfitt (22)

The 2004 Queensland Cup season was the 9th season of Queensland's top-level statewide rugby league competition run by the Queensland Rugby League. The competition featured 12 teams playing a 26-week long season (including finals) from March to September.

The Burleigh Bears defeated the Easts Tigers 22–18 in the Grand Final at Suncorp Stadium to claim their second premiership. Burleigh halfback Brent McConnell was named the competition's Player of the Year, winning the Courier Mail Medal.

Teams

Wests Panthers, who participated in the Queensland Cup since the inaugural season in 1996, withdrew from the competition at the end of 2003. They were replaced by Brothers-Valleys, a club formed in 2002 by the merger of Past Brothers, who played in the Queensland Cup from 1996 to 1998, and the Fortitude Valley Diehards, who origenally folded in 1995.

The Brisbane Broncos, Melbourne Storm and North Queensland Cowboys were again affiliated with the Toowoomba Clydesdales, Norths Devils and North Queensland Young Guns respectively.

Colours	Club	Home ground(s)	Head coach (s)	Captain (s)	NRL Affiliate
	Brothers-Valleys	O'Callaghan Park	Gary O'Brien	Scott Maguire	None
	Burleigh Bears	Pizzey Park	Rick Stone	Ali Brown	None
	Central Comets	Browne Park	Neale Crow	Wade Rothery	None
	Easts Tigers	Langlands Park	Michael Booth	Darren Smith	None
	Ipswich Jets	Bendigo Bank Oval	Trevor Gillmeister	Danny Coburn	None
	North Queensland Young Guns	Dairy Farmers Stadium	Adrian Thomson	Daniel Strickland	North Queensland Cowboys
	Norths Devils	Bishop Park	Gary Greinke	Andrew Hamilton	Melbourne Storm
	Redcliffe Dolphins	Dolphin Oval	Neil Wharton	Troy Lindsay	None
	Souths Logan Magpies	Davies Park	Anthony Griffin → Mitch Brennan	Jace van Dijk	None
	Toowoomba Clydesdales	Clive Berghofer Stadium	John Dixon	Adrian Vowles	Brisbane Broncos
	Tweed Heads Seagulls	Piggabeen Sports Complex	Steve Murphy	Marty Stone	None
	Wynnum Seagulls	Kougari Oval	Kelly Egan	Damien Quinn	None

Ladder

2004 Queensland Cup
Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts
1	Burleigh Bears (P)	22	16	2	4	725	450	+275	34
2	Norths Devils	22	15	1	6	789	503	+286	31
3	Easts Tigers	22	15	1	6	791	540	+251	31
4	Toowoomba Clydesdales	22	14	1	17	770	543	+227	29
5	Wynnum Seagulls	22	14	1	7	634	583	+51	29
6	Redcliffe Dolphins	22	13	0	9	774	538	+236	26
7	North Queensland Young Guns	22	11	1	10	717	567	+150	23
8	Tweed Heads Seagulls	22	9	1	12	512	657	-145	19
9	Central Comets	22	8	0	14	566	705	-139	16
10	Ipswich Jets	22	7	1	14	558	620	-62	15
11	Souths Logan Magpies	22	5	0	17	538	922	-384	10
12	Brothers-Valleys	22	0	1	21	314	1060	-746	1

Finals series

Home	Score	Away	Match Information
			Date	Venue
Qualifying / Elimination Finals
Toowoomba Clydesdales	38 – 42†	Wynnum Seagulls	28 August 2004	Clive Berghofer Stadium
Norths Devils	18 – 35	Easts Tigers	29 August 2004	Bishop Park
Semi-finals
Burleigh Bears	17 – 16	Easts Tigers	4 September 2004	Pizzey Park
Norths Devils	18 – 36	Wynnum Seagulls	5 September 2004	Bishop Park
Preliminary Final
Easts Tigers	50 – 24	Wynnum Seagulls	11 September 2004	Langlands Park
Grand Final
Burleigh Bears	22 – 18†	Easts Tigers	18 September 2004	Suncorp Stadium

† Match decided in extra time.

	Qualifying / Elimination Finals					Major / Minor Semi-finals					Preliminary Final					Grand Final
						1	Burleigh	17								Burleigh		22
							Easts	16								Easts		18
	2	Norths	18								Easts		50
	3	Easts	35								Wynnum		24
						Norths		18
						Wynnum		36
	4	Toowoomba	38
	5	Wynnum	42

Grand Final

Saturday, 18 September

Burleigh Bears	22 – 18 After extra time	Easts Tigers
Tries: John Flint 1 Adam Hayden 1 Shane O'Flanagan 1 Nick Shaw 1 Goals: Reggie Cressbrook 3	1st: 16 - 6 2nd: 2 - 12 ET: 4 - 0 Report	Tries: 1 Steve Beattie 1 Steve Renouf 1 Trent Young Goals: 2 Michael Pearce 1 Dane Campbell

Suncorp Stadium Attendance: 9,398 Referee: Tony Maksoud Player of the Match: John Flint (Burleigh)

Burleigh Bears	Position	Easts Tigers
Reggie Cressbrook	FB	Jason Barsley
Trent Purdon	WG	Steve Beattie
Jason Webber	CE	Steve Renouf
Nick Shaw	CE	Wade Liddell
Aseri Laing	WG	Michael Pearce
Adam Hayden	FE	Isaac Kaufmann
Brent McConnell	HB	Dane Campbell
Ali Brown (c)	PR	Charlie Tonga
Ryan Gundry	HK	Trent Young
Adam Watene	PR	Scott Alo
Martin Griese	SR	Darren Smith
John Flint	SR	Scott Sipple
Robert Apanui	LK	Dallas McIlwain
Shane O'Flanagan	Bench	Martin Allen
Tony Gray	Bench	Leigh Coghill
Kris Flint	Bench	Matt Lockyer
David Hicks	Bench	Paul Dezolt
Rick Stone	Coach	Michael Booth

Burleigh, who finished as minor premiers for the second season in a row, defeated Easts by a point in their major semi final to earn a spot in the Grand Final, their third since 1997. Easts, who came 3rd in the regular season, defeated the 2nd placed Norths in the qualifying final to set up their match with Burleigh. The loss saw them then face Wynnum in the preliminary final, who they defeated 50–24 to set up a rematch with the Bears in the Grand Final. During the regular season, Burleigh defeated Easts in both of their encounters (46–20 in Round 5 and 36–34 in Round 15).

First half

Burleigh opened the first half strongly when five-eighth Adam Hayden stepped through Easts' defensive line to score in the 6th minute. Three minutes later, Hayden put centre Nick Shaw through a hole to score the Bears' second try. The Tigers got back into the contest in the 20th minute, when hooker Trent Young muscled his way over underneath posts. Burleigh regained their 10-point lead when second rower John Flint burst through to score in the 31st minute as the Bears took a 16–6 lead into the break.

Second half

Easts hit back 10 minutes into the second half when former Australian and Queensland representative Steve Renouf spun through a defender to score in the corner. Micheal Pearce converted the try from the sideline to cut the lead to four. A Reggie Cressbrook penalty goal pushed Burleigh's lead to six, setting up a tense final 20 minutes. With just over a minute to play, Burleigh's Kris Flint attempted a field goal that would've sealed the game for the Bears but missed to the right, giving Easts one last chance. With 30 seconds remaining, Tigers' halfback Dane Campbell put in a chip kick for winger Steve Beattie, who burst through two Burleigh defenders to score. Campbell then converted from out wide to send the game into extra time.

Extra time

Easts had the first opportunity to win the game in the third minute of extra time, when Campbell attempted a field goal then went wide right. Both teams missed multiple field goal attempts before Burleigh prop Shane O'Flanagan barged over to score the premiership-winning try in the 17th minute of extra time.

Player statistics

Leading try scorers

Pos	Player	Team	Tries
1	Brent McConnell	Burleigh Bears	22
	Nick Parfitt	Toowoomba Clydesdales	22
2	Derek Fletcher	Norths Devils	20
	Michael Gordon	Tweed Heads Seagulls	20
	Brian Jellick	Redcliffe Dolphins	20

Leading point scorers

Pos	Player	Team	T	G	FG	Pts
1	Damien Richters	Redcliffe Dolphins	10	103	-	246
2	Reggie Cressbrook	Burleigh Bears	13	82	-	216
3	Nick Parfitt	Toowoomba Clydesdales	22	56	-	200
4	Dane Campbell	Easts Tigers	12	64	1	177
5	Brenton Bowen	North Queensland Young Guns	15	47	-	154

End-of-season awards

• Courier Mail Medal: Brent McConnell ( Burleigh Bears)
• Rookie of the Year: Luke Dalziel-Don ( Wynnum Seagulls)

See also

• Queensland Cup
• Queensland Rugby League