The 1996 Brisbane Broncos season was the ninth in the club's history. They competed in the Australian Rugby League's 1996 Optus Cup premiership and finished the regular season in second place on the ladder, progressing as far as the semi-finals.
In 1996 the Broncos once again started solidly, went through a losing streak mid-season but recovered to finish strongly, conforming to the pattern of previous seasons.[1] However again they capitulated, losing to North Sydney and Cronulla to lose their fifth straight finals match. Gorden Tallis, at the time still contracted to the St George, chose to sit out this season rather than play for the Dragons as he had also signed to play for the Broncos in 1996. At the end of the 1996 season, players Kerrod Walters, Alan Cann, Willie Carne and Michael Hancock were asked to leave the club, as they could no longer be guaranteed regular places in the Broncos' first grade team.
| Round | Opponent | Result | Bro. | Opp. | Date | Venue | Crowd | Position |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Auckland Warriors | Forfeited | 16/20 | |||||
| 2 | Western Suburbs Magpies | Win | 36 | 14 | 31 Mar | Campbelltown Sports Ground | 9,106 | 7/20 |
| 3 | Illawarra Steelers | Win | 54 | 4 | 6 Apr | ANZ Stadium | 24,577 | 3/20 |
| 4 | South Queensland Crushers | Win | 28 | 8 | 12 Apr | Suncorp Stadium | 34,263 | 2/20 |
| 5 | North Queensland Cowboys | Win | 58 | 14 | 21 Apr | ANZ Stadium | 18,609 | 2/20 |
| 6 | St George Dragons | Win | 22 | 4 | 27 Apr | Kogarah Oval | 13,090 | 2/20 |
| 7 | Canterbury Bulldogs | Win | 30 | 8 | 4 May | Belmore Oval | 5,246 | 2/20 |
| 8 | Canberra Raiders | Win | 50 | 16 | 12 May | ANZ Stadium | 37,248 | 2/20 |
| 9* | Western Reds | Win | 22 | 14 | 24 May | WACA Ground | 10,735 | 2/20 |
| 10* | North Sydney Bears | Loss | 10 | 16 | 7 June | ANZ Stadium | 25,092 | 3/20 |
| 11 | Manly Sea Eagles | Loss | 4 | 18 | 14 Jun | ANZ Stadium | 19,837 | 4/20 |
| 12* | Illawarra Steelers | Loss | 6 | 14 | 23 Jun | Wollongong | 6,121 | 5/20 |
| 13 | Parramatta Eels | Win | 30 | 24 | 30 Jun | ANZ Stadium | 22,412 | 4/20 |
| 14 | Sydney City Roosters | Loss | 10 | 12 | 8 Jul | Sydney Football Stadium | 35,075 | 5/20 |
| 15 | Newcastle Knights | Win | 24 | 19 | 15 Jul | ANZ Stadium | 28,600 | 5/20 |
| 16 | Cronulla Sharks | Win | 15 | 12 | 20 Jul | Endeavour Field | 19,078 | 4/20 |
| 17 | Sydney Tigers | Win | 26 | 6 | 26 Jul | ANZ Stadium | 15,129 | 3/20 |
| 18 | Penrith Panthers | Win | 50 | 20 | 4 Aug | Penrith Park | 6,318 | 3/20 |
| 19 | Western Suburbs Magpies | Win | 36 | 6 | 10 Aug | ANZ Stadium | 19,866 | 3/20 |
| 20 | South Sydney Rabbitohs | Win | 20 | 18 | 17 Aug | Sydney Football Stadium | 3,011 | 2/20 |
| 21 | Gold Coast Chargers | Win | 38 | 10 | 25 Aug | ANZ Stadium | 25,749 | 2/20 |
| 22 | Auckland Warriors | Win | 38 | 6 | 30 Aug | Mt Smart Stadium | 26,000 | 2/20 |
| Qualif. Final | North Sydney Bears | Loss | 16 | 21 | 7 Sep | Suncorp Stadium | 25,983 | |
| Semi Final | Cronulla Sharks | Loss | 16 | 22 | 14 Sep | Sydney Football Stadium | 27,665 | |
| 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 | Manly-Warringah | 22 | 18 | 0 | 4 | 549 | 191 | +358 | 36 | ||||||||||
| 2 | Brisbane | 21 | 17 | 0 | 4 | 607 | 263 | +344 | 34 | ||||||||||
| 3 | North Sydney | 22 | 15 | 2 | 5 | 598 | 325 | +273 | 32 | ||||||||||
| 4 | Sydney City | 22 | 15 | 1 | 6 | 521 | 321 | +200 | 31 | ||||||||||
| 5 | Cronulla-Sutherland | 21 | 14 | 2 | 5 | 399 | 268 | +131 | 30 | ||||||||||
| 6 | Canberra | 21 | 13 | 1 | 7 | 538 | 384 | +154 | 27 | ||||||||||
| 7 | St. George | 21 | 12 | 1 | 8 | 443 | 360 | +83 | 27 | ||||||||||
| 8 | Western Suburbs | 22 | 12 | 1 | 9 | 394 | 434 | −40 | 25 | ||||||||||
| 9 | Newcastle | 21 | 10 | 1 | 10 | 416 | 388 | +28 | 23 | ||||||||||
| 10 | Canterbury | 21 | 11 | 0 | 10 | 375 | 378 | −3 | 22 | ||||||||||
| 11 | Auckland | 21 | 10 | 0 | 11 | 412 | 427 | −15 | 22 | ||||||||||
| 12 | Balmain | 22 | 11 | 0 | 11 | 319 | 459 | −140 | 22 | ||||||||||
| 13 | Parramatta | 21 | 9 | 1 | 11 | 404 | 415 | −11 | 21 | ||||||||||
| 14 | Illawarra | 22 | 8 | 0 | 14 | 403 | 444 | −41 | 16 | ||||||||||
| 15 | Penrith | 21 | 7 | 1 | 13 | 363 | 464 | −101 | 15 | ||||||||||
| 16 | Western Reds | 21 | 6 | 1 | 14 | 313 | 420 | −107 | 13 | ||||||||||
| 17 | North Queensland | 21 | 6 | 0 | 15 | 288 | 643 | −355 | 12 | ||||||||||
| 18 | Gold Coast | 22 | 5 | 1 | 16 | 359 | 521 | −162 | 11 | ||||||||||
| 19 | South Sydney | 22 | 5 | 1 | 16 | 314 | 634 | −320 | 11 | ||||||||||
| 20 | South Queensland | 21 | 3 | 0 | 18 | 220 | 496 | −276 | 8 | ||||||||||
| Player | Tries | Goals | FG | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7 | 59/94 | 0 | 146 | |
| 19 | 0 | 0 | 76 | |
| 14 | 0 | 0 | 56 | |
| 7 | 12/21 | 0 | 54 | |
| 13 | 0 | 0 | 52 | |
| 11 | 2/5 | 1 | 49 | |
| 10 | 0 | 0 | 40 | |
| 9 | 0 | 0 | 36 | |
| 8 | 0 | 0 | 32 | |
| 5 | 0 | 0 | 20 | |
| 4 | 0 | 0 | 16 | |
| 3 | 0 | 0 | 12 | |
| 3 | 0 | 0 | 12 | |
| 1 | 3/6 | 0 | 10 | |
| 2 | 0 | 0 | 8 | |
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | |
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | |
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | |
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | |
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | |