| Tourney Name: | NSWRL Midweek Cup |
| Year: | 1988 |
| Other Titles: | NSWRL Panasonic Cup |
| Dates: | 17 February - 25 May 1988 |
| Num Teams: | 19 |
| Venues: | 8 |
| Cities: | 7 |
| Champion Other: | St. George |
| Count: | 1 |
| Second Other: | Balmain |
| Matches: | 18 |
| Prevseason: | 1987 |
| Nextseason: | 1989 |
The 1988 Panasonic Cup was the 15th edition of the NSWRL Midweek Cup, a NSWRL-organised national club Rugby League tournament between the leading clubs and representative teams from the NSWRL, the BRL, the CRL and Papua New Guinea.
A total of 19 teams from across Australia and Papua New Guinea played 18 matches in a straight knock-out format, with the matches being held midweek during the premiership season.
| Sydney | Tamworth | Tweed Heads | Wagga Wagga | Brisbane | Newcastle | Goroka | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Parramatta Stadium | Belmore Sports Ground | Scully Park | Chris Cunningham Field | Eric Weissel Oval | Lang Park | Newcastle International Sports Centre | Danny Leahy Oval | |
| Capacity: 28,000 | Capacity: 28,000 | Capacity: 13,000 | Capacity: 13,500 | Capacity: 10,000 | Capacity: 45,000 | Capacity: 33,000 | Capacity: 10,000 | |
| Date | Winner | Score | Loser | Score | Venue | Man of the Match |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 22/03/88 | NSW Country (Carney, Wishart, Stammers, Campbell tries, Wishart 2, Mehmet, Elwin goals, Hastings field goal) | 25 | Port Moresby (PNG) | 0 | Danny Leahy Oval | |
| 25/03/88 | Combined Brisbane (Neal, Holmes tries) | 8 | 0 | Lang Park | ||
| 30/03/88 | Newcastle (Kemp 2, Stewart, Butterfield, Fulmer tries, Tew 3 goals) | 26 | 0 | Tony Townsend - Newcastle | ||
| Date | Winner | Score | Loser | Score | Venue | Man of the Match |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 17/02/88 | St George (Wynn, Johnston tries, Waite goal) | 10 | Parramatta (Charmers try, Garnon goal) | 6 | Peter Gill - St George | |
| 24/02/88 | Cronulla-Sutherland (Docking try, Watson 2 goals) | 8 | Canterbury-Bankstown (Campbell try, Lamb field goal) | 5 | Michael Porter - Cronulla-Sutherland | |
| 28/02/88 | Eastern Suburbs (Bridge, Williams 2, Wurth, Dart, Spina, French tries, Melrose, Papworth goals) | 36 | Western Suburbs (Peacock, Howcroft tries, Tronc 2, Schubert, Rawlings goals) | 16 | Gary Bridge - Eastern Suburbs | |
| 2/03/88 | South Sydney (I.Roberts, Mavin, Ellison, Blake tries, Ellison 5, Djura goals, Ellison field goal) | 29 | Canberra (Coyne try, Belcher 3 goals) | 10 | Ian Roberts - South Sydney | |
| 9/03/88 | North Sydney (Friend, Vincent tries, Dorahy 2 goals) | 12 | Gold Coast (Eden 3 goals) | 6 | Clayton Friend - North Sydney | |
| 16/03/88 | Balmain (Pobjie, Neil tries, Conlon 2 goals) | 12 | Illawarra (Upfield, Carney tries, Carney goal) | 10 | Paul Upfield - Illawarra | |
| 6/04/88 | Penrith (Cartwright, Alexander, Izzard, McNeill tries, McNeill 4 goals) | 24 | Brisbane (Dowling, Hancock tries, Matterson goal) | 10 | Greg Alexander - Penrith | |
| 13/04/88 | Newcastle (Miller, Hanrahan, Kemp tries, McKiernan 3 goals) | 18 | Manly-Warringah (Dwyer goal) | 2 | Brett Shore - Newcastle | |
| Date | Winner | Score | Loser | Score | Venue | Man of the Match |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 23/03/88 | South Sydney (O'Neill try, Ellison goal) | 6 | Cronulla-Sutherland (Wilson goal) | 2 | Adam O'Neill - South Sydney | |
| 20/04/88 | St George (Robinson, Walford tries, Walford 3 goals) | 14 | Penrith (Gerard try, Baker 2 goals) | 8 | Steve Robinson - St George | |
| 27/04/88 | Eastern Suburbs (McLean, Trewhella, Gillmeister tries, Smith 2 goals) | 16 | Newcastle (Kemp try, McKiernan goal) | 6 | David Trewhella - Eastern Suburbs | |
| 27/04/88 | Balmain (Parish, Robinson, Conlon tries, Conlon goal) | 14 | North Sydney (Florimo try, Dorahy 3 goals) | 10 | Garry Jack - Balmain | |
| Date | Winner | Score | Loser | Score | Venue | Man of the Match |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4/05/88 | Balmain (Robinson, Parish, McGuire tries, Conlon 3 goals, Elias field goal) | 19 | South Sydney (Blake try) | 4 | ||
| 18/05/88 | St George (Selby, Wynn, Beattie tries, Walford 3 goals) | 18 | Eastern Suburbs (McGahan try, Smith 5 goals) | 14 | Brett Clark - St George | |
St. George : 1. Clinton Mohr, 2. Bert Gordon, 3. Brian Johnston, 4. Michael Beattie, 5. Ricky Walford, 6. Steve Robinson, 7. Brett Clark, 8. Peter Gill, 9. Graeme Wynn, 10. Wally Fullerton-Smith, 11. Craig Young, 12. Trevor Bailey, 13. Paul Osborne Reserves 14. Darren Higgins, 15. Colin Fraser, 16. Geoff Selby, 17. Mark Blackburn. Coach: Ted Glossop.
Balmain : 1. Garry Jack, 2. Clint Robinson, 3. Russel Gartner, 4. Matt Parish, 5. John Davidson, 6. Ross Conlon, 7. Michael Neil, 8. Wayne Pearce, 9. David Brooks, 10. Paul Sironen, 11. Steve Roach, 12. Ben Elias, 13. Bruce McGuire Reserves 14. Michael Moss, 15. Peter Camroux, 16. Kevin Hardwick, 17. Steve Edmed. Coach: Warren Ryan.