(continued...)

The consortium had a licence but no football team. That was their first task on the agenda and it didn't take a rocket scientist to work out who their first target was. Queensland and Australian captain, the King, Wally Lewis. In a surreal, almost Hollywood-style meeting, Wally negotiated directly with Paul Morgan and Barry Maranta before signing on the spot. The original offer was lower than that of Sydney club Manly, but with the cost of moving to Sydney and the Broncos' enormous $1500 win bonuses on offer, Lewis was never really considering signing with anyone else.

Lewis' close friend and fellow Origin and Test star Gene Miles was next to sign. The news those two had signed then opened a floodgate of a who's-who of Queensland Rugby League. Allan Langer, who'd made his Origin debut in 1987, Greg "Turtle" Conescu, Joe Kilroy, Colin Scott, Greg Dowling. Arguably the most important signing was of Canberra co-coach Wayne Bennett.

John Ribot was signed as the new club's chief executive and hotelier Gary Balkin and marketing man Steve Williams were the third and fourth directors. Williams a former North Sydney player, and Brisbane and Queensland representative in the 1970s.

By mid-July 1987, the list of nicknames for the new team was down to the Broncos, Bulls, Bombers, Kookaburras or Cowboys. The board wished for an Aussie style name, like Brisbane Boomers, but that was (and still is) the name of the Australian basketball team. Brisbane Brumbies was the next favourite, but fear of having it shortened to the Brisbane Brums after a loss worried the directors no end. Thus, the Broncos were born.

On first unveiling the maroon, gold and white stripes and bands of the original Broncos jersey, the players were more than a little put off. However it was difficult to think of anything better. With time the players began to feel pride in the jersey, a jersey design that lasted with that pride for almost a decade.

Training began in earnest in November 1987 and built up solidly in January. The Broncos participated in the Bicentennial Sevens in 1988 and were knocked out by Canberra 12-4. Wally Lewis was still out after knee surgery, and the Broncos were due to play their first full trial against the Raiders, the beaten 1987 Grand Finalists.

Almost 10000 people showed up at Lang Park to get their first real look at their new team, and watched with horror as Canberra racked up the first two tries. But after a nervous first quarter, the Broncos hit back in the second with three quick tries to take the lead at half time. The team gelled amazingly and came out winners 22-16, giving everyone hope for a promising debut season, especially with captain and playmaker Wally Lewis to return to the side.

The Broncos played one more trial, against a New Zealand President's XIII and Lewis came onto the field during the first half. The Broncos were struggling for cohesion at the time, and once he came on the game changed completely. Brisbane ran out 38-6 winners.

The Broncos played one more trial, against a New Zealand President's XIII and Lewis came onto the field during the first half. The Broncos were struggling for cohesion at the time, and once he came on the game changed completely. Brisbane ran out 38-6 winners.

Then came the big day. March 6, 1988. Round 1 of the NSWRL Premiership and the Broncos had a date with the 1987 premiers Manly, led by Lewis' good friend Paul Vautin, at Lang Park. Nerves abounded. The first ever Broncos first grade team was:

Colin Scott; Joe Kilroy, Chris Johns, Gene Miles, Michael Hancock; Wally Lewis (c), Allan Langer; Terry Matterson; Brett Le Man, Keith Gee; Greg Dowling, Greg Conescu, Bryan Niebling. Res: Mark Hohn, Craig Grauf, Billy Noke.

It was a tense opening. Langer was poleaxed early and replaced with concussion. Secondrower Brett Le Man scored the first Broncos try in history for a 6-0 early lead. He was then helped off with a serious eye injury that ruled him out for half of season 88. Bryan Niebling then was carried off with a knee injury and suddenly the Broncos had lost three starters.

Manly, despite being down 6-2, were controlling play early on. Cliff Lyons split the defence but as he so often did in his career, he out-thought himself and bombed a certain tryscoring movement, twice missing halfback Des Hasler who was in the clear. The speed of the game had the players gasping for breath. One Manly player relieved himself on the ground in one of the funniest, and most disgusting pieces of television footage in league history.

Terry Matterson landed a field goal for an 8-2 lead, but then Wally Lewis had the Lang Park crowd on their feet with a trademark try before halftime. Langer saw the defence rush him, and he sped the ball to Lewis who dived over for a 14-2 lead. Dale Shearer scored for Manly right on half time but the Broncos led 14-6.

Lewis scored an inspirational try shortly after half time. After Greg Conescu made a break, Lewis supported him and ran at fullback Matt Burke. He stepped Burke beautifully and ran into the cover defence of Phil Daley and Des Hasler. Lewis managed to shrug both players off and kept moving towards the tryline. Burke came again but Lewis fended him, then Shearer slid across field and hit Lewis around the legs, but he kept moving and dived over in the tackle for a tremendous try that put the Broncos up 20-6. From there it was an absolute caning. Tries to Matterson (2), Noke and Kilroy gave the Broncos a commanding 44-10 victory. The Broncos were here. Wayne Bennett summed it up best to Wally Lewis in the quiet of the dressing room later that night "We've got a hell of a football team here."

That football team went on to win its first 6 games, following their victory over Manly with wins against Penrith, Wests, Norths, Parramatta and fellow newcomers Newcastle. However their bogey against Balmain began in Round 7.

The Tigers had struggled to date, and many didn't give them much hope of knocking off the high flying Broncos at Lang Park. But any team with Benny Elias is capable of surprises, and two simple errors from youngsters Terry Matterson and Michael Hancock plus some trickery from Elias gave the Tigers a 26-18 victory that was celebrated outrageously in the Sydney media. They were as keen to see the Broncos fail then as they are today.

Balmain coach Warren Ryan claimed the Broncos were easybeats up front. Ryan also raised the first question about Langer's tackling style where he uses the leg to trip the tackled player while holding him. Ironically that same argument has been raised time and time again until Langer's retirement from the Australian game in 1999.

The Broncos slumped to a massive defeat against Cronulla a week later. After 7 minutes the Sharks led 18-0, and it only got worse. They inflicted what would be the Broncos' worst ever defeat until 1999 with a 38-8 caning. Suddenly the Broncos were anything but the premiership favourites. As expected, Lewis copped a barrage from the Endeavour Field (now known as Shark Park) faithful. A young boy even hit him in the back. All this while Lewis was trying to do the right thing and sign autographs for the 100 or so kids waiting for him. Sydney's jealousy of the great Lewis was shocking, the worst case of bad sportsmanship ever witnessed in Australian sport.

Brisbane struggled through the traditional representative season, with losses to Canberra and a surprise loss to fellow newcomers Gold Coast Giants, who had not yet won a game. However, there is no bigger grudge than that of a football player overlooked by a recruiting drive, and that was exactly what happened to half the players and coaching staff at the Giants. They won 25-22 followed by Grand Final like celebrations. It was a tragic loss for the Broncos who missed out on the 1988 finals by just 1 point.

As the Broncos went into the State of Origin series, the Queenslanders had their own dilemma. A series without Wally Lewis, who had suffered a relatively serious shoulder injury. Despite missing Lewis, Queensland won the first match 26-18 after leading 26-6 shortly after half time.

The second State of Origin match is the now infamous Beer Can Origin where the Lang Park crowd pelted beer cans onto the field after Wally Lewis was sinbinned incorrectly for allegedly instigating a brawl. Lewis had come in to wrestle New South Wales thug Phil Daley off Queensland hooker Greg Conescu who was pinned on his back and being hit with a barrage of punches from the gutless Daley.

As Lewis marched from the field, the crowd pelted thousands of cans onto the field. Queensland won the match 16-6, but all the post-match attention was directed against Wally Lewis for instigating the crowd's behaviour. A laughable turn of events if it wasn't so serious. Queensland had won the series 2-0 and went on to make a clean sweep with victory in the third game in Sydney.

Meanwhile the Broncos were struggling. After their first six victories, they had lost 6 of their last 9 games after Canterbury knocked off the Broncos 25-10 at Lang Park in round 15. With their finals hopes on the line, Brisbane dug deep and managed four successive wins against Manly, Penrith, Wests and Norths. Two more wins from their final three games - against Parramatta, Newcastle and Balmain - would put the Broncos into the finals on debut.

Peter Sterling's Parramatta didn't want to see that happen. Although the Eels were out of contention for the finals and had lost six straight. At half time it was 10-10 and in the second half the Eels lifted and came away with the game 22-14. It left the Broncos sitting in equal third, but because of the congestion of the ladder and their poorer for and against, they were seventh. They had to win their last two games.

Their second last opponent was fellow debutants Newcastle, who had struggled all season and didn't stand a chance at Lang Park. Wally Lewis orchestrated a 24-8 victory that had the Broncos primed for the finals. A win against fellow finals aspirants Balmain would give them their dream. The Broncos tried in vain, but a depleted side, a struggling Lewis and a fiercely competitive Balmain was too much for them. The Tigers won 20-10 and Brisbane finished 2 points out of the top 5.