Brisbane Broncos special report: Matty Johns draws comparisons between 1996 Newcastle Knights

The Broncos have discovered that adulation, money and youth is a dangerous cocktail, but can they learn from being beaten by their greatest opponent, themselves? As MATTY JOHNS knows too well.

When the Brisbane Broncos pull the sheets back on their disastrous 2024 NRL season, if they’re honest they’ll realise they were defeated by their greatest opponent, themselves.

The success of reaching last year’s grand final, the adulation that came with it, the endorsements, the attention — both good and bad — had a far greater impact than any premiership hangover or injury.

I’ve seen this so many times.

NAIVE YOUNG COWBOYS

The 2022 North Queensland Cowboys were a young team expected to finish in the bottom four. Yet, out of nowhere, they came within a whisker of making the grand final.

With that success came praise, representative jerseys, end-of-season awards and financial upgrades.

Being a young team, people expected them to take the next step, and they were installed as one of the favourites to win the 2023 premiership.

They finished 11th.

Adulation, money and youth is a dangerous cocktail. And like the Cowboys, the Broncos have discovered that.

A dejected Broncos side watch their finals hopes fade away. Picture: NRL Photos

A LIVING KNIGHTMARE

The irony of life, not just sport, is that tough times build strength, and good times erode it. I’m speaking directly from experience.

1996 was a horrible season and a painful experience for our young team at the Newcastle Knights.

We didn’t see it coming because the previous season was the complete reverse. Before the 1995 season, legendary Englishman Malcolm Reilly arrived as coach and immediately went to work on us, mentally and physically.

He trained us like racehorses, I mean literally. Three days a week we’d go to Newcastle racecourse and were made to run lap after lap, effort after effort, with coach Reilly standing silently at the finishing post, making notes on each player as he passed.

After one session he left his notepad and when I sneaked a peek. It’s fair to say he wasn’t particularly impressed with any of us. Soon after, he wrote a personal letter to each player in the squad, expressing his disappointment at what he had inherited, and lamenting his decision to take on the role.

Mal Reilly was a tough taskmaster.

ARISE, YOUNG KNIGHTS

It did the trick. Our standards rose dramatically.

After nine rounds, we were undefeated. By round 16, we had only suffered two losses, belting teams like Brisbane 32-10 and eventual premiers Canterbury 42-nil.

Manly, however, remained our kryptonite. They beat us 34-18 late in the season and we lost to them again, narrowly, in the grand final qualifier.

But the season was a success. Our disappointment was mild given how rapidly we had improved.

The cherry on top was having six of us named in the Australian team for the Centenary World Cup in England.

The success continued and the adulation increased as we returned home world champions, with Andrew Johns being named player of the tournament and in some people’s opinions, the world’s best rugby league player.

In a football-obsessed city like Newcastle, wherever we went drew attention, and every party in town we were at.

PARTY BOYS AND PRIMA DONNAS

Unsurprisingly, we got full of ourselves.

Hang on, that’s not fair, I can’t broadbrush the whole team — Andrew and I got full of ourselves. I look back at some of the stuff and cringe.

We trained in wraparound sunglasses, and posed up for fashion shoots for magazines, believe it or not. I found some of the photos recently and, my God, we looked like the fish Hugo boss rejected. Bright slacks, double-breasted jackets with turtleneck skivvies underneath. The only thing missing was the Sherlock Holmes pipe.

We thought we were cool, we were flogs.

Andrew Johns was a vibe in Newcastle in the 90s.

We started the 1996 ARL season as competition favourites, but it was a disaster.

Our fitness levels were nowhere near what they were the previous season. Just because someone offers to buy you a beer, it doesn’t mean you have to accept it.

Our form was moderate early, but by the middle of the season things completely fell apart.

Losses on the field were only part of it.

The unity of the team had deteriorated and, on one notable occasion, Andrew and I had a disagreement which turned into a fistfight out the front of a popular local pub. There were no mobile phone cameras back in that day, like the one that captured the Broncos’ pre-season scuffle between Pat Carrigan and Adam Reynolds earlier this year, but Buzz Rothfield got the story, of course.

By the last few rounds, with finals out of reach, the fans had had enough and we were booed off the field after an embarrassing loss.

Oh yeah, I nearly forgot, Joey decided to die his hair red. Good timing.

Buzz Rothfield broke the news of the Johns fight on December 15, 1996

BRONCOS, TAKE NOTE

Shortly after the season ended, coach Reilly dragged us all together for the autopsy. It wasn’t an enjoyable meeting, but an honest one. It was the first time we acted like adults in 12 months.

We went through all the events that led to our failure. We were embarrassed that our heads were so far up our arses that we didn’t see the fall coming.

We returned to the hard work, reacquainted ourselves with Newcastle racecourse and won the 1997 competition.

Over to you, Broncos.

Originally published as Brisbane Broncos special report: Matty Johns draws comparisons between 1996 Newcastle Knights