The 1994 Brisbane Broncos season was the seventh in the club's history. As defending Premiers the Broncos competed in the NSWRL's 1994 Winfield Cup competition, finishing the regular season 5th (out of 16). They then progressed as far as the Semi-finals where a one-point loss to the North Sydney Bears saw them knocked out. Brisbane also hosted and lost the 1994 World Club Challenge to England's Wigan.
In the English spring of 1994 it was announced that the Brisbane Broncos club was buying the London Crusaders, who would be renamed 'London Broncos'.[1]
New South Wales Rugby League season 1994 started in fine fashion for Brisbane. They cruised through to the final of the Tooheys Challenge Cup for the fifth time, but amazingly were pipped by the South Sydney Rabbitohs in the decider. That started a shocking opening to the premiership that saw them win just one game in the first month of the competition and leave them languishing near oblivion. They were flat out winning two games in a row for much of the season.
Behind the scenes, Broncos chief executive John Ribot sent his first report on the Super League concept to News Ltd chief executive Ken Cowley.
On-field Brisbane continued to struggle, with frustration reaching boiling point against the Newcastle Knights. Referee Greg McCallum sinbinned Allan Langer for dissent as the Knights beat the Broncos for the first time. More disappointment came when Wigan avenged their 1992 loss by winning the 1994 World Club Challenge at ANZ Stadium mid-season.
A late season revival catapulted the Broncos into fifth spot, narrowly beating out the Illawarra Steelers for a spot in the finals. A tight contest against Manly-Warringah which resulted in 16-4 victory revived some hope of a 'three-peat'.[2] The following week they played against the North Sydney Bears, and after trailing 14-4 the Broncos staged a comeback to level at 14-14. In the end, a Jason Taylor field goal won the game for North Sydney 15-14 shortly before full-time.
| Round | Opponent | Result | Bro. | Opp. | Date | Venue | Crowd | Position |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Draw | 18 | 18 | 12 Mar | 31,701 | 7/16 | ||
| 2 | Loss | 12 | 25 | 18 Mar | 22,688 | 14/16 | ||
| 3 | Loss | 18 | 22 | 25 Mar | 37,749 | 14/16 | ||
| 4 | Win | 44 | 12 | 1 Apr | 20,216 | 11/16 | ||
| 5 | Win | 37 | 6 | 10 Apr | 44,511 | 6/16 | ||
| 6 | Loss | 10 | 11 | 16 Apr | 35,917 | 8/16 | ||
| 7 | Win | 36 | 14 | 23 Apr | Princes Park | 14,672 | 7/16 | |
| 8 | Win | 34 | 2 | 1 May | 34,060 | 5/16 | ||
| 9 | Loss | 11 | 21 | 8 May | 18,309 | 8/16 | ||
| 10 | Win | 40 | 10 | 15 May | 30,762 | 7/16 | ||
| 11* | Loss | 4 | 26 | 27 May | 14,020 | 8/16 | ||
| Loss | 14 | 20 | 1 Jun | 54,220 | 8/16 | |||
| 12* | Win | 12 | 10 | 10 Jun | 38,302 | 8/16 | ||
| 13* | Loss | 10 | 29 | 26 Jun | 23,775 | 9/16 | ||
| 14 | Win | 40 | 10 | 1 Jul | 36,549 | 8/16 | ||
| 15 | Loss | 10 | 24 | 10 Jul | 26,743 | 9/16 | ||
| 16 | Win | 36 | 6 | 17 Jul | 11,358 | 9/16 | ||
| 17 | Win | 48 | 12 | 24 Jul | 36,510 | 5/16 | ||
| 18 | Win | 28 | 16 | 30 Jul | 9,106 | 5/16 | ||
| 19 | Win | 34 | 16 | 7 Aug | 41,211 | 5/16 | ||
| 20 | Loss | 6 | 22 | 14 Aug | 10,944 | 5/16 | ||
| 21 | Win | 17 | 0 | 19 Aug | 20,838 | 5/16 | ||
| 22 | Win | 41 | 6 | 28 Aug | 47,486 | 5/16 | ||
| Qualif. Final | Win | 16 | 4 | 4 Sep | 34,891 | |||
| Semi Final | Loss | 14 | 15 | 10 Sep | 36,011 | |||
| width=20 abbr="Position×" | width=175 | Team | width=20 abbr="Played" | Pld | width=20 abbr="Won" | W | width=20 abbr="Drawn" | D | width=20 abbr="Lost" | L | width=20 abbr="Points for" | PF | width=20 abbr="Points against" | PA | width=20 abbr="Points difference" | PD | width=20 abbr="Points" | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Canterbury-Bankstown | 22 | 18 | 0 | 4 | 537 | 340 | +197 | 36 | ||||||||||
| 2 | North Sydney | 22 | 17 | 1 | 4 | 517 | 291 | +226 | 35 | ||||||||||
| 3 | Canberra | 22 | 17 | 0 | 5 | 677 | 298 | +379 | 34 | ||||||||||
| 4 | Manly-Warringah | 22 | 16 | 1 | 5 | 605 | 311 | +294 | 33 | ||||||||||
| 5 | Brisbane Broncos | 22 | 13 | 1 | 8 | 544 | 316 | +228 | 27 | ||||||||||
| 6 | Illawarra | 22 | 11 | 3 | 8 | 484 | 387 | +97 | 25 | ||||||||||
| 7 | Cronulla-Sutherland | 22 | 12 | 0 | 10 | 432 | 401 | +31 | 24 | ||||||||||
| 8 | Penrith | 22 | 10 | 2 | 10 | 404 | 448 | -44 | 22 | ||||||||||
| 9 | South Sydney | 22 | 9 | 1 | 12 | 401 | 569 | -168 | 19 | ||||||||||
| 10 | Newcastle Knights | 22 | 9 | 0 | 13 | 427 | 458 | -31 | 18 | ||||||||||
| 11 | St. George | 22 | 9 | 0 | 13 | 386 | 497 | -111 | 18 | ||||||||||
| 12 | Parramatta | 22 | 7 | 1 | 14 | 350 | 474 | -124 | 15 | ||||||||||
| 13 | Western Suburbs | 22 | 6 | 2 | 14 | 439 | 650 | -211 | 14 | ||||||||||
| 14 | Eastern Suburbs | 22 | 6 | 1 | 15 | 344 | 513 | -169 | 13 | ||||||||||
| 15 | Gold Coast Seagulls | 22 | 5 | 1 | 16 | 363 | 618 | -255 | 11 | ||||||||||
| 16 | Balmain | 22 | 4 | 0 | 18 | 303 | 642 | -339 | 8 | ||||||||||
| Player | Tries | Goals | FG | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 | 47/78 | 3 | 129 | |
| 23 | 0 | 0 | 92 | |
| 14 | 0 | 0 | 56 | |
| 11 | 2/2 | 1 | 49 | |
| 3 | 18/35 | 0 | 48 | |
| 11 | 0 | 0 | 44 | |
| 8 | 0 | 0 | 32 | |
| 6 | 0 | 0 | 24 | |
| 5 | 0 | 0 | 20 | |
| 4 | 0 | 0 | 16 | |
| 3 | 0 | 0 | 12 | |
| 2 | 0 | 0 | 8 | |
| 2 | 0 | 0 | 8 | |
| 2 | 0 | 0 | 8 | |
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | |
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | |
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | |
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | |
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | |
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | |
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | |