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- Apr 14, 2013
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Plenty of beers at the Kenmore Tavern on a Monday with your $792.
Good read.
IT was Billy Moore who made famous the rallying cry of “Queenslander!” that Queenslanders bellow to Queenslanders when they need to motivate their teammates to repel the Blue hordes. It’s a call that speaks to their very soul: This is what you are. This is who you are. This is what you represent.
The 1992 Brisbane Broncos had a similarly motivating call though it worked for different reasons. When those Broncos were under the pump they’d yell “seven-ninety-two!”, which was the amount they would be paid in cash if they won, on the Monday after each match.
And when you have a season like the ’92 Broncos, there were many happy Mondays indeed.
In the great Melbourne Cup staying race that was the ’92 Winfield Cup, the Broncos were the best team by the length of Flemington straight. They lost just four games in 24 starts. Heading into the grand final they’d lost just once in the previous 14 starts, including eight straight. Good times.
“That cry of ‘792’, it was a big factor in our success,” reckons Broncos foundation second-rower Mark Hohn. “There were plenty of reasons: Kelvin Giles had been training us for two years; Glenn Lazarus had come to the club and given us so much go-forward. He was huge for us, Lazo, probably the final piece in the puzzle.
“But the best and most fun part of that year was that we’d get we’d get $1500 for a win, $50 for a loss. After tax, insurance, all that, it came to $792. If you lost it came to $5. So there was motivation there!
“Nearly all of us had jobs or something going on. And each Monday we’d have a barbie, have a drink and if we won, receive our $792 in cash. Instant reward.”
SIGN UP NOW >
The Broncos celebrate after winning the 1992 grand final over St George.Source: Getty Images
Hohns recalls that if you made an error on the field you could expect a rev-up from Allan Langer, Kevin Walters, indeed just about everyone. “They’d yell at you: ‘Seven-ninety-two! You idiot! 792!’” laughs Hohn. “Your contract money wasn’t actually that flash. It made a big difference.”
Heading into the decider it seemed that, as per the seminal scene late in the crackerjack war flick Platoon (1987) when Private Ramucci says of Sergeant Barnes: “The only thing that can kill Barnes is Barnes”, that the only thing that could beat the Broncos was the Broncos. Or more to the point: Complacency borne of their inherent belief that the Dragons weren’t in their class.
Allan Langer (C) celebrates with Walters twins Kevin (L) and Kerrod.Source: News Corp Australia
For they could make a case. Which is not so much a slight on St George as statement of fact. Though Gene Miles had retired, Wally Lewis was captain-coach of Gold Coast Seagulls, and lanky star fullback Paul Hauff was injured in round eight, the Broncos were, as John Singleton had forecast, effectively Queensland Origin.
Two players who didn’t represent Queensland – Chris Johns and goal-kicking lock Terry Matterson – represented New South Wales. Sixteen of the grand final 17 had played or would play State of Origin. Only John Plath hadn’t because they couldn’t fit him in.
Julian O'Neill during the 1992 grand final.Source: News Corp Australia
Look at them: Julian O’Neill was a pinball at fullback; Mick “Three Knees” Hancock would jag across field and beat a dozen players in a run, some of them three times; Willie Carne ran like an Olympian; Johns was the straight man in the centres; Steve Renouf was “The Pearl”, faster than an Audi R8.
Langer bopped about in the middle with his childhood mates, the Walters twins, Kevin and Kerrod. And the pigs were equal parts workhorse and berserker. Lazarus came from a Raiders dynasty and straight into the Broncos one. Hohn, Gavin Allen, Andrew Gee, Trevor “The Axe” Gillmeister were serious people. Nuggetty Alan Cann could step and belt blokes – a heady combination.
Michael Hancock during the 1992 grand final.Source: News Corp Australia
The Dragons, meanwhile, had a menagerie: Graeme “The Penguin” Bradley; Ian “Chook” Herron. Utility back Rex Terp was a postman who once said of his defensive ability: “I tried to score more than I let in.”
Yet in dual international Scott Gourley, fullback Mick Potter and crack winger Ricky Walford, the Saints weren’t without strike. But they were under so many pumps. Those ’92 Broncos were red hot. And they were “pretty fired up,” according to Hohn.
“During the week this journo up here, Steve Ricketts, had described our back-row [Gillmeister, Cann, Matterson] as ‘Lilliputians’. Short-arses. I don’t know if Wayne Bennett put him up to it. But it fired all the boys up.”
Hohn was further buoyed that Langer was violently ill in the sheds before the match. The bigger the game, the more ill Langer would get, the better he’d play. “He sounded horrible, the poor bugger,” smiles Hohn. “But we knew: he was going to have a belter.”
And out they ran.
The Broncos celebrate their 1992 grand final win.Source: News Corp Australia
The Broncos didn’t have “structure” so much as guidelines which could be over-turned on a whim. Bennett effectively let his playmakers play and do whatever they wanted. He had skilful, “natural” players whom he allowed to do what came naturally. Like rugby union players once played for love not money, the Broncos played for fun and money. And most of the fun and money-plays came from the clown prince, spiritual leader, champion and captain, A.Langer.
He would run on the fifth tackle. He would spin it wide on the first. He would gambol about on cross-field show-and-go sojourns, teasing and twisting, and terrifying lumbering forwards with his grubbers, sides-steps, his rabbit-like pace and wiry, eely strength. He was one of the greats. He would win the Clive Churchill Medal.
Brisbane Broncos captain Allan Langer with the Winfield Cup trophy.Source: News Corp Australia
Langer scored the first try by running on the fifth, stepping a couple times, dishing to prop Gavin Allen, taking a return pass and running under the posts as referee Greg McCallum patted his head to indicate Allen’s pass had bopped off a bonce.
Langer scored again in the second half after a dummy-half scoot. Then Cann set off on a hot-stepping bump-n-run that a man of his stature and work-rate had no right to rip off. And it may have been the defining moment of that grand final had it not been for … The Try.
See it again: Willie Carne took a grubber in-goal and bombed hard and straight back into play, a brilliant kick return. Langer realised Dragons right-winger Walford was near the tackle and called for quick pill. Kevin Walters nudged brother Kerrod out of dummy-half, slung it wide to Langer who shifted in wide again to Renouf. Renouf found a hint of space and burned all of St George, sprinting for 95 metres, pursued all the way by Walford, who’ll chase the Pearl forever in his dreams.
And there was much rejoicing.
“It was so great to win,” says Hohn. “Mainly to see what it meant for everybody to bring the first trophy home to Queensland. The reception at the airport, the water cannons. And from the airport to the city all the roads were lined with people. Never forget it. It was rockstar stuff.”
And worth a lot more than $792.
A Brisbane Broncos 1992 team photo, stacked with greats.Source: News Corp Australia
Brisbane Broncos with the spoils of their maiden title.Source: News Corp Australia
Allan Langer and Glenn Lazarus with the trophy.Source: News Corp Australia
Chris Johns and Steve Renouf hold up the Winfield Cup.Source: News Corp Australia
Kevin Walters and Allan Langer.Source: News Corp Australia
Brisbane Broncos captain Allan Langer with the Winfield Cup trophy.Source: News Corp Australia
Scott Gourley takes a hit up against Glenn Lazarus in the ‘92 GF.Source: News Corp Australia
Chris Johns is tackled by St George players in the ‘92 GF.Source: News Corp Australia
https://www.foxsports.com.au/nrl/nr...2/news-story/588be75dd50ab30496e4db1f61f2b1e5
Good read.
IT was Billy Moore who made famous the rallying cry of “Queenslander!” that Queenslanders bellow to Queenslanders when they need to motivate their teammates to repel the Blue hordes. It’s a call that speaks to their very soul: This is what you are. This is who you are. This is what you represent.
The 1992 Brisbane Broncos had a similarly motivating call though it worked for different reasons. When those Broncos were under the pump they’d yell “seven-ninety-two!”, which was the amount they would be paid in cash if they won, on the Monday after each match.
And when you have a season like the ’92 Broncos, there were many happy Mondays indeed.
In the great Melbourne Cup staying race that was the ’92 Winfield Cup, the Broncos were the best team by the length of Flemington straight. They lost just four games in 24 starts. Heading into the grand final they’d lost just once in the previous 14 starts, including eight straight. Good times.
“That cry of ‘792’, it was a big factor in our success,” reckons Broncos foundation second-rower Mark Hohn. “There were plenty of reasons: Kelvin Giles had been training us for two years; Glenn Lazarus had come to the club and given us so much go-forward. He was huge for us, Lazo, probably the final piece in the puzzle.
“But the best and most fun part of that year was that we’d get we’d get $1500 for a win, $50 for a loss. After tax, insurance, all that, it came to $792. If you lost it came to $5. So there was motivation there!
“Nearly all of us had jobs or something going on. And each Monday we’d have a barbie, have a drink and if we won, receive our $792 in cash. Instant reward.”
SIGN UP NOW >
The Broncos celebrate after winning the 1992 grand final over St George.Source: Getty Images
Hohns recalls that if you made an error on the field you could expect a rev-up from Allan Langer, Kevin Walters, indeed just about everyone. “They’d yell at you: ‘Seven-ninety-two! You idiot! 792!’” laughs Hohn. “Your contract money wasn’t actually that flash. It made a big difference.”
Heading into the decider it seemed that, as per the seminal scene late in the crackerjack war flick Platoon (1987) when Private Ramucci says of Sergeant Barnes: “The only thing that can kill Barnes is Barnes”, that the only thing that could beat the Broncos was the Broncos. Or more to the point: Complacency borne of their inherent belief that the Dragons weren’t in their class.
Allan Langer (C) celebrates with Walters twins Kevin (L) and Kerrod.Source: News Corp Australia
For they could make a case. Which is not so much a slight on St George as statement of fact. Though Gene Miles had retired, Wally Lewis was captain-coach of Gold Coast Seagulls, and lanky star fullback Paul Hauff was injured in round eight, the Broncos were, as John Singleton had forecast, effectively Queensland Origin.
Two players who didn’t represent Queensland – Chris Johns and goal-kicking lock Terry Matterson – represented New South Wales. Sixteen of the grand final 17 had played or would play State of Origin. Only John Plath hadn’t because they couldn’t fit him in.
Julian O'Neill during the 1992 grand final.Source: News Corp Australia
Look at them: Julian O’Neill was a pinball at fullback; Mick “Three Knees” Hancock would jag across field and beat a dozen players in a run, some of them three times; Willie Carne ran like an Olympian; Johns was the straight man in the centres; Steve Renouf was “The Pearl”, faster than an Audi R8.
Langer bopped about in the middle with his childhood mates, the Walters twins, Kevin and Kerrod. And the pigs were equal parts workhorse and berserker. Lazarus came from a Raiders dynasty and straight into the Broncos one. Hohn, Gavin Allen, Andrew Gee, Trevor “The Axe” Gillmeister were serious people. Nuggetty Alan Cann could step and belt blokes – a heady combination.
Michael Hancock during the 1992 grand final.Source: News Corp Australia
The Dragons, meanwhile, had a menagerie: Graeme “The Penguin” Bradley; Ian “Chook” Herron. Utility back Rex Terp was a postman who once said of his defensive ability: “I tried to score more than I let in.”
Yet in dual international Scott Gourley, fullback Mick Potter and crack winger Ricky Walford, the Saints weren’t without strike. But they were under so many pumps. Those ’92 Broncos were red hot. And they were “pretty fired up,” according to Hohn.
“During the week this journo up here, Steve Ricketts, had described our back-row [Gillmeister, Cann, Matterson] as ‘Lilliputians’. Short-arses. I don’t know if Wayne Bennett put him up to it. But it fired all the boys up.”
Hohn was further buoyed that Langer was violently ill in the sheds before the match. The bigger the game, the more ill Langer would get, the better he’d play. “He sounded horrible, the poor bugger,” smiles Hohn. “But we knew: he was going to have a belter.”
And out they ran.
The Broncos celebrate their 1992 grand final win.Source: News Corp Australia
The Broncos didn’t have “structure” so much as guidelines which could be over-turned on a whim. Bennett effectively let his playmakers play and do whatever they wanted. He had skilful, “natural” players whom he allowed to do what came naturally. Like rugby union players once played for love not money, the Broncos played for fun and money. And most of the fun and money-plays came from the clown prince, spiritual leader, champion and captain, A.Langer.
He would run on the fifth tackle. He would spin it wide on the first. He would gambol about on cross-field show-and-go sojourns, teasing and twisting, and terrifying lumbering forwards with his grubbers, sides-steps, his rabbit-like pace and wiry, eely strength. He was one of the greats. He would win the Clive Churchill Medal.
Brisbane Broncos captain Allan Langer with the Winfield Cup trophy.Source: News Corp Australia
Langer scored the first try by running on the fifth, stepping a couple times, dishing to prop Gavin Allen, taking a return pass and running under the posts as referee Greg McCallum patted his head to indicate Allen’s pass had bopped off a bonce.
Langer scored again in the second half after a dummy-half scoot. Then Cann set off on a hot-stepping bump-n-run that a man of his stature and work-rate had no right to rip off. And it may have been the defining moment of that grand final had it not been for … The Try.
See it again: Willie Carne took a grubber in-goal and bombed hard and straight back into play, a brilliant kick return. Langer realised Dragons right-winger Walford was near the tackle and called for quick pill. Kevin Walters nudged brother Kerrod out of dummy-half, slung it wide to Langer who shifted in wide again to Renouf. Renouf found a hint of space and burned all of St George, sprinting for 95 metres, pursued all the way by Walford, who’ll chase the Pearl forever in his dreams.
And there was much rejoicing.
“It was so great to win,” says Hohn. “Mainly to see what it meant for everybody to bring the first trophy home to Queensland. The reception at the airport, the water cannons. And from the airport to the city all the roads were lined with people. Never forget it. It was rockstar stuff.”
And worth a lot more than $792.
A Brisbane Broncos 1992 team photo, stacked with greats.Source: News Corp Australia
Brisbane Broncos with the spoils of their maiden title.Source: News Corp Australia
Allan Langer and Glenn Lazarus with the trophy.Source: News Corp Australia
Chris Johns and Steve Renouf hold up the Winfield Cup.Source: News Corp Australia
Kevin Walters and Allan Langer.Source: News Corp Australia
Brisbane Broncos captain Allan Langer with the Winfield Cup trophy.Source: News Corp Australia
Scott Gourley takes a hit up against Glenn Lazarus in the ‘92 GF.Source: News Corp Australia
Chris Johns is tackled by St George players in the ‘92 GF.Source: News Corp Australia
https://www.foxsports.com.au/nrl/nr...2/news-story/588be75dd50ab30496e4db1f61f2b1e5
