Broncos most influential figures in club history: 6-1
AS THE Brisbane Broncos celebrate their 30-year anniversary, The Courier-Mail has compiled a list of the 30 most influential figures in the club’s history. The countdown culminates today as Paul Malone reveals the top six.
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AS THE Brisbane Broncos celebrate their 30-year anniversary, The Courier-Mail has compiled a list of the 30 most influential figures in the club’s history. Paul Malone continues the countdown today as we move towards revealing the top six tomorrow.
6-3 BARRY MARANTA, PAUL MORGAN, GARY BALKIN, STEVE WILLIAMS
IN EARLY 1987, the four Brisbane businessmen convinced Brisbane clubs they should be granted the licence as the NSWRL’s first privately owned team.
Former Redcliffe coach Darryl van de Velde had won the argument previously that there should be a Brisbane entry into the NSWRL, but had been unable to get the licence for himself when there was an abstention on a committee casting vote.
The consortium set the club up to be successful and profitable – and needed it to be because otherwise they would bear the losses.
Their more incendiary arguments with the NSWRL, the QRL and the Lang Park Trust can be viewed through this prism.
The 30 most influential Broncos: 12-7
The 30 most influential Broncos: 18-13
The 30 most influential Broncos: 24-19
The 30 most influential Broncos
Their varied business backgrounds in Brisbane positioned the board well – Morgan as a stockbroker, Maranta in sports business, business investments and academia, Balkin in hospitality and sports sponsorships, and Williams as a recent first-grade player with a marketing career.
“We did a lot of things for the first time in rugby league,’’ Maranta said.
“One was to see that we needed to make the game more accessible for women and welcome them at the grounds. Back then, we were told repeatedly it was a man’s game, a working man’s game.
“Quickly we came to realise some of them at the NSWRL weren’t happy we won the franchise. Every week in the paper were (stories suggesting) we would be kicked out for this and that.
“Mind you, we did some cheeky things.’’
One initiative by the owners was the Broncos Thoroughbreds, 20 of Brisbane’s top businessmen who met until the late 1990s to network among themselves and act as business sounding boards for players.
“When you have a salary cap, you have to find ways to keep your players,’’ Maranta said.
“We were able to say, ‘if you stay with us, we’ll get you a career after football and you can’t put a price on that’.
“Mark Hohn, Keith Gee and Chris Johns were only three of our success stories in business. When players are one-club players, the supporters get to know players. Now, the fans don’t know who they are cheering for.’’
2. ALLAN LANGER
DUAL Rugby World Cup winner Brad Thorn said at a Brisbane function that the best player he ever played with – in rugby league or with the All Blacks – was Langer.
Gorden Tallis said the same thing about the Broncos halfback, who was responsible for some of the most adventurous football played in the modern era.
“As a footballer he made a lot of people smile,’’ said his playmaker mate Kevin Walters.
“He was certainly the best player in the game in the 1990s. I don’t know who’d be second. People underestimate the competitive nature of Alf. He wanted to win and he did most of the time. I don’t know if people understand what a good captain he was.’’
Humble, modest but ever ready with an impish sense of humour, the 165cm Langer may be both the best and the most popular of the Broncos.
He helped make his club, which was disliked by many in the Brisbane league scene, widely popular, right from year one.
Ipswich’s favourite son, he played his 258th and last game as a Bronco in the 2002 preliminary final at age 36, and found out this year he would aptly become the fifth league player to be honoured with a statue in the Suncorp Stadium forecourt.
It will be nothing really new – there was, after all, an Alf doll marketed in 1992.
1. WAYNE BENNETT
BENNETT brought up his 500th win as a first-grade coach this year, 30 years after he agreed to move from Canberra to the Broncos.
Signed before any of the Broncos players, Bennett’s coaching was vastly respected among Queensland players and he was revered among the Brisbane corporates who the new club’s owners badly needed as supporters.
Part coach, part social worker, he casts a shadow over the club far beyond the win and loss columns that have tallied up six premierships with the Broncos.
Bennett keeps in contact with many players he moved out of the club, convincing all but the most disaffected of ex-Broncos that he was interested in them as people.
Some went to him with their problems years after their retirement as footballers.
“There’s Wayne as a coach, but Wayne is also one of the greatest people of all time, just who he is and what he has done for people,’’ Chris Johns said.
“It’s why he has such a mesmerising effect on the young players who, many of them, reckon he’s helped them become a better person. Wayne’s like a father figure to them. One of his assets is he isn’t judgmental and accepts that players will have weaknesses.’’
THE PREVIOUS 24
30 BERNIE DAWSON
29 ANTHONY GRIFFIN
28 ANDREW GEE
27 PETERO CIVONICEVA
26 ROSS JOHNSTON
25 WENDELL SAILOR
24 BRUNO CULLEN
23 SHANE WEBCKE
22 STEVE RENOUF
21 KELVIN GILES
20 CHRIS JOHNS
19 SHANE EDWARDS
18 DENNIS WATT
17 GORDEN TALLIS
16 PAUL WHITE
15 GLENN LAZARUS
14 KEVIN WALTERS
13 GENE MILES
12 LACHLAN MURDOCH
11 BERNARD POWER
10 CYRIL CONNELL
9 DARREN LOCKYER
8 WALLY LEWIS
7 JOHN RIBOT
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