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.

2004 Queensland Cup
DurationMarch 13 – September 18, 2004
Teams12
Premiers Burleigh Bears (2nd title)
Minor premiers Burleigh Bears (2nd title)
Matches played138
Points scored8,022
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)
← 2003
2005 →

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.[1]

Teams

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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 originally folded in 1995.[2][3]

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 GriffinMitch 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

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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

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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 FinalsMajor / Minor Semi-finalsPreliminary FinalGrand Final
1  Burleigh17  Burleigh22
  Easts16  Easts18
2  Norths18  Easts50
3  Easts35  Wynnum24
  Norths18
  Wynnum36
4  Toowoomba38
5  Wynnum42

Grand Final

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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).[4]

First half

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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

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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

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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.[5][6][7]

Player statistics

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End-of-season awards

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ Laughlin, Shaya (30 September 2016). "How Burleigh Bears clawed to the top". goldcoastbulletin. Retrieved 21 May 2023.
  2. ^ "Out with the old, in with the new » League Unlimited".
  3. ^ "Brothers Valleys Join Queensland Cup Competition » League Unlimited".
  4. ^ "Queensland Rugby League". queensland.rleague.com. Archived from the original on 2 February 2006. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
  5. ^ "2004 QLD Cup Grand Final Burleigh 22 v Easts 18". YouTube. Archived from the original on 5 December 2021.
  6. ^ "Grand Final Flashback: Epic in 04". 17 September 2014.
  7. ^ "Flashback: Renouf's last hurrah for Easts ends in 2004 agony". 23 September 2019.