1986 Brisbane Rugby League Season

The 1986 Brisbane Rugby League premiership was the 77th season of Brisbane's professional rugby league football competition. Nine teams from across Brisbane competed for the premiership, which culminated in a grand final match between the Wynnum-Manly and Past Brothers clubs. The season was notable as premiers Wynnum-Manly became the first club to complete a "grand slam" of all four major titles in a single BRL season, winning the pre-season competition, the Winfield State League, the Woolies Trophy (contested between the two sides leading the Winfield premiership at the end of the first round-robin), and the Winfield Cup premiership itself.

Season summary

The format of the Winfield Cup was changed for the 1986 season, with the pre-season games no longer awarding competition points. The first round of the regular season was played on March 30, after the pre-season but before the Winfield State League. Each club then played either 3 or 4 games against another Brisbane side during the State League, followed by the remaining 13 games of the regular season. This resulted in each team playing 16 first-grade games over 18 rounds. The inclusion of the Ipswich Jets, the first team to join the BRL since Wynnum-Manly rejoined in 1951, resulted in the reintroduction of the bye. Teams that played three first-grade games during the State League received one bye in the regular season, while those that played four times received two (excluding byes for the Woolies Trophy contested between Valleys and Wynnum-Manly). The season resulted in a top four of Wynnum-Manly, Redcliffe, Past Brothers and Fortitude Valley.

Teams

Pre-Season

The 1986 Woolies pre-season competition took place over 5 rounds, from February 14 to March 16. Four pre-season competition points were available in each match, with one point going to the side that scored the most points in each half and two points to the winning side. Unlike previous years, no points for the regular season were awarded for wins in the pre-season competition. The pre-season final was held on March 23, between Wynnum-Manly and Brothers. The Brethren were without captain Trevor Bailey, who would also miss the Winfield State League and five rounds of the regular season. Centre Robert Grogan captained Brothers in Bailey's absence against a Wally Lewis captain-coached Wynnum-Manly side, scoring the first try of the match to give the Brethen a 4-2 lead at halftime. Wynnum-Manly would ultimately win the final 10-8 after tries from Scott Lewis and Craig Farrugia.

Results

Ladder

Regular Season Results

*X - Bye
*Y - Team played a non-first grade State League match
*Opponent for round listed above margin

Ladder

Source:

Woolies Trophy

The 1986 Woolies Trophy match was held on July 13, between rounds 12 and 13 of the regular season. The Trophy was contested by Wynnum-Manly and Fortitude Valley, the teams that led the competition after the end of round 9, with the other sides having an extra bye.

Match details

Finals

Grand Final

1986 Brisbane Rugby League Grand Final https://web.archive.org/web/20041225094700/http://queensland.rleague.com/flashback/1986gf.php

Winfield State League

The 1986 Winfield State League was the inaugural season of the Queensland Rugby League's statewide competition. A total of 14 teams competed in the season, 8 of which were BRL Premiership clubs. The remaining six were regional teams from across the state, hence the ''State League'' name. The Seagulls would pull off a massive victory in the semi-finals against Ipswich, before defeating Redcliffe by a large margin in the Grand Final to win their third consecutive Winfield State League title.

References

{{Rugby League in Queensland

Rugby league in Brisbane
Brisbane Rugby League season