2024 Queensland Cup grand final
2024 Queensland Cup grand final
22 September 2024 - Norths play Redcliffe in the grand final of the Queensland Cup
I said that North Queensland had a good season. That was approximately 72 hours before they went down 24-0 to the fraudulent Sharks and while I understand there was a comeback of some sort, that’s where the game finished in my mind. As the pinnacle of north Queensland rugby league, this outcome somewhat undermines the angle I was going for but I also recommend taking a whole of game perspective. In this sport, sometimes you have to find the joy where the joy can be found.
Further south, the Dolphins also had a good year, in some ways, if you knew were to look.
Whether the Dolphins missing the finals in only their second season in the national competition was a realistic expectation for a team that 18 months ago was all but assumed to get the spoon, there’s an argument to be had each way.
The NRL team seemingly didn’t deliver on its potential, or potentially outperformed the loss of two Origin calibre forwards for the year, along with the usual injury woes. The grandmaster coach acted out the distracted boyfriend meme in real time with his new job. Still, there were the stickers and caps following the crushing victory over the Brisbane Broncos that erected the metaphorical blue curtain around the campaign of their long time, cross-town rivals. This merchandising trend has only ebbed slightly in the subsequent weeks and threatens to spill across the Ted Smout Bridge, which seems like important context.
Kippa-Ring are yet to build much in the way of seniors women's football infrastructure but they can count upon three Queensland Cup affiliates. In the NRL, the Dolphins finished above the Broncos and Titans, and the Central Queensland Capras, the Norths Devils and the original Dolphins all outlasted the other south-east Queensland clubs. The Titans didn't qualify an affiliate for the post-season and the Broncos’ didn't make it past week 1.
Two of them, the second placed Devils and the third placed Dolphins, outlasted the entire league, which brought us to Kayo Stadium, Redcliffe, on Sunday evening.
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The melody of the Toreador’s Song rings out across Dolphins Oval. Tinny, jaunty, more marching band at the local show than La Scala. I refuse to parse the layering of 20th century Australian suburbiana on 19th century French opera played at a 21st century football game in case I disappear into a deep rabbit hole searching for non-existent meaning. If Bizet hadn’t died shortly after the premiere of Carmen, and would not now be approaching 200 years old, his brain surely would have exploded when he heard what was wrought with his work.
Carmen is a four act tragedy about a soldier who stabs his ex-lover for leaving him for a bull fighter. The comparison between that bloody and cruel sport, if that’s what you want to call it, of the bull fighting referenced by Toreador, and the bloody and cruel sport of rugby league, if that’s what you want to call this, would be too on the nose had Kierran Moseley not delivered his post-game captain’s speech with a visibly bleeding ear.
Undoubtedly, the 2024 grand final will be remembered almost solely in terms of its violence, a spiritual revival of Bashup Park, temporarily moved 25 kilometres north and several decades into the future.
Redcliffe have been operating most of the season with one major strategic move, which is to push a big red button that causes the forwards to start whacking the opposition into submission. Coach Ben Te’o pounded that button about ten minutes before the half, demanding that the Dolphins staunch the bleeding. The problem is that a) it’s physically hard to sustain and b) you risk being embarrassed by a godlike Tesi Niu, in only his second good game, getting loose in the space on the edges on his way to man of the match honours. The other downside risk, that the referee might penalise Brent Woolf and others for swinging arms, didn’t seem to materialise.
Te’o was also about ten minutes too late. Redcliffe did well to rally the troops after an early three try blitz and by half time, the Dolphins were in striking distance but had been gifted all of their points by Devils errors. Something about slippery hands are the Dolphins’ playthings?
The tension became noticeable, then palpable, and ratcheted up through the third quarter of the game. Norths struck the first blow of the second half - who else but Tesi Niu to put Paskins over in the corner (what a sentence) - but the Dolphins narrowed the margin to just four points, a more than surmountable lead with twenty on the clock, off the back of a clever kick to get Josh Kerr down shortly after the break, followed by James Walsh targetting Jack Ahearn for a try at the hour mark. The Phins’ celebrations were as if he had won the game and not merely got them back into it.
The tension was released, the air left the stadium and the life went out of the eyes of Redcliffe - player and fan alike - when Walsh dropped the ensuing kick-off and the Devils put Manase Kaho, a player I am increasingly confident has a future in the majors, into the western corner off the scrum base. Norths had weathered the storm, taking the beating and the Devs were simply too good out wide to be contained by the Phins’ outside backs.
Tukimihia Simpkins - another young man with a potentially bright future except that he signed for the Titans - put Campbell Duffy over through the middle to the ice the cake and the game. The defence, having put all their effort into taking heads off, had nothing left to stop the inevitable. The final ten minutes saw the return of the referee’s whistle, which had been curiously absent most of the game.
Without the siren, there was no clear point of catharsis but the crowd worked out the game was over as the victors embraced and smiled and the losers sat on their haunches wondering what might have been1. The presentation stage was wheeled out, the sponsor background erected to block the view of the eastern stand and spectators were told they would not be allowed on the field. There was no Overture from Carmen, nor magnums of XXXX on hand, but that might be something for the QRL to consider for next year’s champion.
Dynasties are a difficult thing to nail down precisely. There are some clear examples but myriad edge cases. Bill James took a shot at quantifying it for baseball and even that required a little bit of aesthetic smoothing. Broadly, a dynasty should last for at least three years, contain at least one title and a series of high performing seasons.
Northern Suburbs had an era of success in the shadow of World War II, winning the Brisbane premiership in ‘34, ‘38 and ‘40 and finishing runners-up in ‘39, ‘41, ‘44 and ‘45. The official history of the club identifies Edward “Babe” Collins, Jack Reardon and Jack Stapleton as three of the 7 Legends (loosely analogous to Immortals) that defined the first 75 years of the club (1933 - 2008). Both lock Collins and halfback Stapleton were present for all three of these premierships, with three-quarter Reardon arriving in 1935 and departing after the 1940 title, defecting to archrivals Brothers under a cloud of acrimony and possible sectarian differences. Reardon would later go on to become the writer of rugby league record for the Courier Mail. That this took place in and around wartime Brisbane tints, but does not necessarily taint, our view of this achievement.
One of the great all-time dynasties in the annals of rugby league came between 1959 and 1970. Norths won six in a row from 1959 to 1964, then again in ‘66 and ‘69, finishing runners-up in ‘67 and ‘70. Future Immortal Clive Churchill captain-coached the club in 1959 to initiate the run but this was the dynasty of Bob Bax. The bush psychologist was a master of man management and motivational techniques2 and had a deep influence on the career of Wayne Bennett. Over that length of time, players came and went but Bax was the one enduring feature. It was his dynasty.
It’s not at all clear to me what this current dynastic iteration, in which three titles won in four years meets most definitions, is actually about. While that may come with more time and the removed perspective of history, the somewhat parallel Panthers’ dynasty is clearily enough defined.
Since 2021, Norths have been coached by Rohan Smith (2018 to round 5, 2022), Kevin Neighbour and Ben King (rest of 2022) and Dave Elliott (2023 and 2024). The affiliation with the Broncos was ended after 2023 and the relationship with the Dolphins was commenced this year. Even among the playing group, only Jack Ahearn and Jacob Gagan has played all four post-covid seasons.
The only constants have been the name, the jersey and the premierships. Over a long enough timespan, that’s really all a club is.
Season 2024 review
Pride (17-3 + prelim): We would have had a less violent and more competitive grand final had the Cowboys nerfed their season, freeing up Cairns local Jake Clifford to play for his home town team in the preliminary final. Northern still had an excellent season, the kind that might roll forward into next year under new coach via the Dragons’ NSW Cup team and the Sharks’ pathways program, Russ Aitken.
Devils (13-7 + premiership): Just noting that “Stand Up and Cheer for Norths Again This Year” is both an invocation to the faithful and a thinly veiled, potentially threatening, imperative for the opposition.
Dolphins (13-7 + runners-up): It looked like Redcliffe might fall into the same quicksand that sucked down Burleigh and Wynnum for the first part of the season but the Dolphins found their identity, rallied and powered into the finals whereupon they got smacked by the Devils twice in four weeks.
Falcons (12-8 + week 2 exit): The Falcons made an effort to not rely on the Storm’s support and they made good on this, playing a highly entertaining and attacking style. It all came crashing down, shut out 38-0 by the Pride and then manhandled by an excellent Hunters team in the finals to go out in straight sets. The Falcs have been in the finals mix but never really threatened for the title since 2019.
Hunters (12-8 + prelim): A massive achievement for the boys from Papua New Guinea. Their first finals appearance since 2017, capped off by making a much deeper run than their record would have suggested was likely. The Hunters even made good on their embarrassing 66-8 loss to Sunny Coast when it mattered. Judah Rimbu, the Archer of Mendi, deserved player of the year.
Capras (10-8-2 + week 2 exit): Another year of quiet competence in Rockhampton. While the Capras didn’t blow the competition open, they outperformed two-thirds of the league and did so for the third year in succession while continuing to lose talent south. The question, less about this year’s rock solid foundation and more about next’s potential, is how to move into that upper tier.
Bears (10-9-1 + week 1 exit): A blueblood program brought low by their association with the Walters’ Broncos. Burleigh looked like they’d been turned down to 85% of what they usually are. It may be a combination of the Broncos’ fringe talent not being the quality that the Bears are used to leveraging from the Titans (Corey Oates refused to drive an hour down the highway to play for them and apparently that was fine!) and that the old guard that has made up the core of this club for most of the last decade has finally reached its end. That the Bears finished the year 0-2 against the Capras is a real telling stat. Interesting off-season ahead.
Wynnum (10-9-1 + week 1 exit): Another blueblood program brought low by their association with the Walters’ Broncos. Wynnum played some of the most uninspiring and boring football you’ve ever seen to deliver barely a winning record and a meek week 1 exit from finals in Port Moresby. Relative to expectations, the Clydesdales had a better season.
Blackhawks (10-9-1): With a new coach, no NRL affiliation (other than a few Rabbitohs stickers going up around the joint) and putting the messiness of last year behind them, Townsville pulled themselves together under new coach Terry Campese in a promising season-long performance. In a season of blowouts, the Blackhawks only really got the crap kicked out of them two or three times. The last round loss to Wynnum Manly in a win and in will stick in the craw.
Magpies (9-11): Picked up where they left off in 2023. Hot season, flat finish and an even flatter follow-up. Injury plagued but snatched some big wins against top teams. Could score points and concede them with equal ease. The biggest scalp of the year was a win in PNG. Jury is still out on Karmichael.
Tigers (8-11-1): Massive injury run and shipping some of the Storm’s hotter talent to North Sydney undermined the premiership defence from the get-go. Still played with some pluck and determination, just too short on troops. A re-balancing of the roster to account for the Bears’ partnership might be required.
Cutters (8-12): A fantastic start to the season (4-1 and top of the ladder after round 6) resulted in a long slide down the ladder into irrelevance. Mackay were still in the top eight as late as round 14. Michael Comerford was let go and we’ll see what happens next under Adam Cuthbertson.
Tweed (8-12): Buuhhhh? Tweed have been pretty pedestrian for a while now but it wasn’t that long ago that they played in a preliminary final. Any time I watched them this year, they seemed to be conceding the softest try imaginable. This is the hottest seat in the competition going into next year.
Jets (6-14): With the support of the Titans, the Jets managed to put their 0-20 season behind them and win some actual football games, including two dubs over the Bears and the Falcons. The most visually confusing game of the year featured Ipswich and Townsville both playing in Jets strip. Ben Cross was finally punted for Tye Ingebrigtsen.
Clydesdales (1-19): This is what I expected out of Western in their last season, where they managed to capitalise on one fluke win plus two wins over a historically bad Jets team to avoid the spoon. There’s a long way to go to build this program into something competitive. Patience is counselled.
You were always going to lose this game. Hope this helps!
There are innumerable funny anecdotes about Bob Bax but here’s an typical example: “One day at Norths I saw him seated before the players at halftime, forwards to one side, backs the other, quoting from a book he had opened in front of him. Somehow I found myself moving around behind him to get some strapping and noticed he was quoting from two blank pages of paper!” - Bob Duncan