| Year: | 2006 |
| Competition: | Queensland Cup |
| Duration: | March 11 – September 16, 2006 |
| Teams: | 11 |
| Count: | 5th |
| Mpcount: | 3rd |
| Matches: | 116 |
| Points: | 5,972 |
| Player Of The Year: | Brandon Costin (Courier Mail Medal) |
| Nextseason Year: | 2007 |
The 2006 Queensland Cup season was the 11th season of Queensland's top-level statewide rugby league competition run by the Queensland Rugby League. The competition, known as the Queensland Wizard Cup due to sponsorship from Wizard Home Loans featured 11 teams playing a 26-week long season (including finals) from March to September.
The Redcliffe Dolphins won their fifth premiership, defeating the Toowoomba Clydesdales 27–6 at Suncorp Stadium. Souths Logan Magpies Brandon Costin was named the competition's Player of the Year, winning the Courier Mail Medal.[1]
In 2006, the Queensland Cup retained the same 11 teams that competed in the 2005 season. The Wynnum Seagulls, who played under that name from 1995 to 2005, returned to playing as the Wynnum Manly Seagulls.
| Colours | Club | Home ground(s) | Head coach(s) | Captain(s) | NRL Affiliate | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Burleigh Bears | Pizzey Park | Jim Lenihan | Ryan Gundry | None | ||
| Central Comets | Browne Park | Matt Parish | Herewini Rangi | None | ||
| Easts Tigers | Langlands Park | Michael Booth | Matt Lockyer | None | ||
| Ipswich Jets | QLD Group Stadium | Trevor Gillmeister | Danny Coburn | None | ||
| North Queensland Young Guns | Dairy Farmers Stadium | Michael Crawley | Daniel Strickland | North Queensland Cowboys | ||
| Norths Devils | Bishop Park | Wayne Treleaven | Anthony Boyd | Melbourne Storm | ||
| Redcliffe Dolphins | Dolphin Oval | Anthony Griffin | Troy Lindsay | Brisbane Broncos | ||
| Souths Logan Magpies | Brandon Park | Mark Gliddon | Brandon Costin | None | ||
| Toowoomba Clydesdales | Clive Berghofer Stadium | Mark Gee | Nick Kenny | Brisbane Broncos | ||
| Tweed Heads Seagulls | Piggabeen Sports Complex | Steve Murphy | Matt King | None | ||
| Wynnum Manly Seagulls | Kougari Oval | Neil Wharton | Jimmy Ahmat | None |
| 2006 Queensland Cup | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | |||||||||||
| 1 | Toowoomba Clydesdales | 20 | 16 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 680 | 462 | +218 | 32 | |
| 2 | North Queensland Young Guns | 20 | 14 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 604 | 392 | +212 | 30 | |
| 3 | Redcliffe Dolphins (P) | 20 | 14 | 0 | 6 | 2 | 619 | 434 | +185 | 28 | |
| 4 | Tweed Heads Seagulls | 20 | 11 | 0 | 9 | 2 | 473 | 455 | +18 | 22 | |
| 5 | Easts Tigers | 20 | 10 | 2 | 8 | 2 | 505 | 490 | +15 | 22 | |
| 6 | Burleigh Bears | 20 | 9 | 3 | 8 | 2 | 429 | 435 | -6 | 21 | |
| 7 | Norths Devils | 20 | 8 | 1 | 11 | 2 | 538 | 570 | -32 | 17 | |
| 8 | Central Comets | 20 | 7 | 1 | 12 | 2 | 409 | 560 | -151 | 15 | |
| 9 | Wynnum Manly Seagulls | 20 | 5 | 3 | 12 | 2 | 483 | 562 | -79 | 13 | |
| 10 | Souths Logan Magpies | 20 | 5 | 2 | 13 | 2 | 497 | 632 | -135 | 12 | |
| 11 | Ipswich Jets | 20 | 4 | 0 | 16 | 2 | 486 | 731 | -245 | 8 | |
| Home | Score | Away | Match Information | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| width=14% | Date | width=14% | Venue | |||||
| Qualifying / Elimination Finals | ||||||||
| Tweed Heads Seagulls | 4 – 12 | Easts Tigers | 26 August 2006 | Piggabeen Sports Complex | ||||
| North Queensland Young Guns | 8 – 22 | Redcliffe Dolphins | 27 August 2006 | Townsville Sports Reserve | ||||
| Semi-finals | ||||||||
| North Queensland Young Guns | 18 – 28 | Easts Tigers | 1 September 2006 | Dairy Farmers Stadium | ||||
| Toowoomba Clydesdales | 56 – 22 | Redcliffe Dolphins | 2 September 2006 | Clive Berghofer Stadium | ||||
| Preliminary Final | ||||||||
| Redcliffe Dolphins | 30 – 16 | 9 September 2006 | Dolphin Oval | |||||
| Grand Final | ||||||||
| Toowoomba Clydesdales | 6 – 27 | Redcliffe Dolphins | 16 September 2006 | Suncorp Stadium | ||||
| Toowoomba Clydesdales | Position | Redcliffe Dolphins | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ryan Cullen | |||
| Chris Giumelli | |||
| Jason Moon | Greg Bourke | ||
| Nick Emmett | |||
| Rory Bromley | |||
| Chris Fox | |||
| Ben Green | Marty Turner | ||
| Nick Kenny (c) | Troy Lindsay (c) | ||
| Mick Roberts | |||
| Adam Starr | |||
| Grant Flugge | |||
| Danny Burke | |||
| Mark Shipway | |||
| Bench | Nick Walker | ||
| Joe Clarke | Bench | Shannon Fish | |
| Lynden Murphy | Bench | Daniel Green | |
| Lachlan Morgan | Bench | Gerard Parle | |
| Mark Gee | Coach | Anthony Griffin |
Toowoomba finished the regular season as minor premiers and charged into the Grand Final after a dominant 56–22 win over Redcliffe in the major semi final. Redcliffe ended the season in 3rd place and upset the 2nd place North Queensland Young Guns 22–8 in the first week of the finals. After the big loss to Toowoomba, the Dolphins defeated Easts 30–16 to qualify for their eighth Grand Final and their fourth against the Clydesdales. In the regular season, Toowoomba defeated Redcliffe 42–28 in Round 8, while the Dolphins won the return match 34–16 in Round 18.
Toowoomba prop Ben Vaeau opened the scoring in just the 3rd minute of the contest when he steamrolled through the Dolphins defence from 10 metres out to score. Redcliffe hit back in the 8th minute when halfback Marty Turner stepped through some soft defence to score under the posts. With 10 seconds remaining in what was a tough first half, the Dolphins took the lead when fullback Ryan Cullen went through under the posts to score. The Dolphins taking a 12–6 lead into the half time break.
Redcliffe maintained their narrow six-point lead for most of the second half, before hooker Mick Roberts kicked a field goal in the 67th minute to extended his side's lead to seven. Just over a minute later the Dolphins had their third try of the game when centre Nick Emmett batted down a Roberts' cross-field kick to his winger Rory Bromley who scored in the corner. Redcliffe pulled off a carbon copy of the try five minutes later when Emmett brought down a Turner kick and handed it off to Bromley who got his second. With two minutes remaining, Mark Shipway scored to seal the contest for Redcliffe and secure their fifth Queensland Cup premiership.
The 2006 Grand Final would be the last game the Toowoomba Clydesdales would ever play in the Queensland Cup. One of the foundation clubs of the competition, the Clydesdales ceased operations at the end of the year due to financial reasons.[2] [3]