The 1990 Brisbane Broncos season was the third in the club's history. They competed in the

NSWRL The New South Wales Rugby League (NSWRL) is the governing body of rugby league in New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory and is a member of the Australian Rugby League Commission. It was formed in Sydney on 8 August 1907 and was ...

1990 Winfield Cup The 1990 New South Wales Rugby League season was the eighty-third season of professional rugby league football in Australia. Sixteen clubs competed for the J J Giltinan Shield and Winfield Cup during the premiership season, which culminated in a g ...

premiership and again improved on their previous year, finishing the regular season in second position before going on to come within one match of the

grand final Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final (sometimes colloquially abbreviated to "grannie") 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. Sy ...

, but losing to eventual premiers, the

Canberra Raiders The Canberra Raiders are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the national capital city of Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. They have competed in Australasia's elite rugby league competition, the National Rugby ...

. Broncos players Chris Johns and

Kevin Walters Kevin David Walters (born 20 October 1967) is an Australian professional rugby league football coach who is the Head Coach of the Brisbane Broncos in the NRL and a former professional rugby league footballer who played as a premiership-winning ...

were selected to make their international débuts for the

Australia national rugby league team The Australian National Rugby League Team, the Kangaroos, have represented Australia in senior men's rugby league football competition since the establishment of Rugby league in Australia, the 'Northern Union game' in Australia in 1908. Admin ...

in 1990.

Season summary

The Broncos had some new faces for 1990 season, including

who was lured home from Canberra. In order to increase the Broncos' success in the Winfield Cup, Wayne Bennett controversially sacked

Wally Lewis Walter James Lewis AM (born 1 December 1959) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, and coached in the 1980s and 1990s. He became a commentator for television coverage of the spo ...

as club captain and gave the role to centre

Gene Miles Gene Miles (born 21 July 1959) is an Australian former rugby league footballer who played in the 1980s and 1990s. An Australian international and Queensland State of Origin representative , he played his club football in the Brisbane Rugby Lea ...

. Miles had retired from representative football, and Bennett hoped he could remove the team's reliance on Lewis. The Balmian Tigers were the last team unbeaten by the Broncos until their victory in Round 18 of the 1990 season. Brisbane finished the regular season in second position, qualifying for their first finals campaign. In the Preliminary Final against the Canberra Raiders the Broncos were knocked out 30-2 so finished the 1990 season in third place. Canberra then went on to win the competition. At the end of the season, Wally Lewis parted company with the Broncos, moving to the

Gold Coast Seagulls The Gold Coast Chargers were a professional rugby league club which played in the New South Wales Rugby League premiership from 1988 to 1994, the Australian Rugby League premiership from 1995 to 1997, and the National Rugby League premiership ...

Match results

* Game following a

State of Origin A State of Origin competition is a type of sporting event between players representing their state or territory. State of Origin began in Australian rules football on 8 October 1977 between Western Australia (WA) and Victoria, at Subiaco Oval ...

match

Ladder

Scorers

Honours

* Nil

League

* Player of the year:

* Rookie of the year:

Paul Hauff Paul Hauff (born 9 May 1970) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1990s. A Queensland State of Origin and Australian international representative , he played his whole top-level career in Australia for ...

Willie Carne William Carne (born 23 January 1969) is an Australian former rugby footballer who played rugby league for the Brisbane Broncos from 1990 to 1996, as well as representing both Queensland and Australia and rugby union for the Queensland Reds. An a ...

* Best back:

* Best forward:

* Clubman of the year:

Ray Herring Ray Herring (born 24 September 1967) is an Australian rugby league former professional rugby league footballer who played professionally for three Queensland clubs in Australia during the 1980s and 1990s. Herring was the player who threw the p ...

References

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