1984 National Panasonic Cup
The 1984 National Panasonic Cup was the name of the annual mid-week knockout rugby league competition. The naming rights sponsor changed to Panasonic's product brand National. The tournament was played from April to August 1984, culminating in the final between Combined Brisbane and Eastern Suburbs.
Format
The eleventh midweek cup competition operated on a straight knock-out format. The competition reduced to 17 teams with Newtown being ejected from the 1984 Sydney premiership. Auckland (NZ) won the inter-district championship in 1983 and therefore replaced Central Districts (NZ) in the competition.
The competing teams were the 13 Sydney premiership teams (Balmain, Canberra, Canterbury-Bankstown, Cronulla-Sutherland, Eastern Suburbs, Illawarra, Manly-Warringah, North Sydney, Parramatta, Penrith, St George, South Sydney and Western Suburbs), Central Districts (NZ), Combined Brisbane, NSW Country and QLD Country.
2 teams played in a Preliminary (or qualifying) round. They were Auckland (NZ) and QLD Country.
Preliminary round
| Date | Winner | Score | Loser | Score | Venue | Man of the Match |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16/05/84 |  QLD Country (Gill 2, Gibson, Armstrong tries, Lindenberg 4 goals, Tew field goal) |
25 |  Auckland (NZ) (Sinclair, Cooper, Friend tries, Lovett 3 goals) |
18 | Lang Park | Peter Gill - QLD Country |
Round 1
| Date | Winner | Score | Loser | Score | Venue | Man of the Match |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11/04/84 |  Balmain (Roach, Hardwick tries, Brooks 2 goals) |
12 |  Cronulla-Sutherland (Armstrong goal) |
2 | Leichhardt Oval | Steve Roach - Balmain |
| 18/04/84 |  Penrith (Levy, B.Izzard, Connor, Burgmann tries, Levy 5 goals) |
26 |  Illawarra (Browne, Hetherington tries, McPherson goal) |
10 | Leichhardt Oval | Mark Levy - Penrith |
| 2/05/84 |  Combined Brisbane (Lewis, Kilroy, Belcher, Meninga tries, Meninga 4 goals, ???? field goal) |
25 |  South Sydney (Hardy 2 Biles tries, Baker 3 goals) |
18 | Lang Park | |
| 9/05/84 |  NSW Country (Williams, Graham, Trudgett tries, Dennis 2 goals, ???? field goal) |
17 |  Western Suburbs (Broughton try) |
4 | Carrington Park | Tony Trudgett - NSW Country |
| 23/05/84 | Canterbury-Bankstown (Lamb, Langmack, S.Mortimer, Tunks tries, Conlon 6 goals, S.Mortimer, Folkes field goals) |
30 |  Manly-Warringah (Barkley, Boustead tries, Hegarty goal) |
10 | Leichhardt Oval | Peter Tunks - Canterbury-Bankstown |
| 6/06/84 |  Eastern Suburbs (Eden, Beckett 2, Gale, Simpkins, Dunn, Greene tries Eden 5, Hastings goals) |
44 | QLD Country |
0 | Leichhardt Oval | Scott Gale - Eastern Suburbs |
| 13/06/84 |  Parramatta (Hunt, Houghton, Sterling, Mara tries, Mara 2 goals) |
20 |  Canberra (Corkery goal) |
2 | Leichhardt Oval | Peter Wynn - Parramatta |
| 20/06/84 |  St George (Gearin, Morris, Fraser, Funnell tries, Gearin 3 goals) |
22 |  North Sydney |
0 | Leichhardt Oval | Perry Haddock - St George |
Quarter finals
| Date | Winner | Score | Loser | Score | Venue | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 27/06/84 | Parramatta (Ella, Kenny tries, Cronin 4 goals) |
16 | Penrith (Alexander try, Levy goal) |
6 | Leichhardt Oval | Brett Kenny - Parramatta |
| 4/07/84 | Eastern Suburbs (Hardy 2, McKellar, Greene, Gale tries, Greene 2 goals) |
24 | NSW Country (Maguire try) |
4 | Leichhardt Oval | Steve Hardy - Eastern Suburbs |
| 11/07/84 | Combined Brisbane (Scott, Ribot tries, Meninga 3 goals) |
14 | Canterbury-Bankstown (Johnstone try, Conlon 3 goals, Lamb field goal) |
11 | Lang Park | Wally Lewis - Combined Brisbane |
| 18/07/84 | St George (O’Grady 2, Johnston, Duval tries, Rogers 5 goals) |
26 | Balmain (Lane try, Brooks goal) |
6 | Scully Park | Graeme O'Grady - St George |
Semi finals
| Date | Winner | Score | Loser | Score | Venue | Man of the Match |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 25/07/84 | Combined Brisbane (French, Lindner tries, Meninga 3 goals) |
14 | Parramatta (Ella try, Cronin 4 goals) |
12 | Leichhardt Oval | Wally Lewis - Combined Brisbane |
| 1/08/84 | Eastern Suburbs (Leggett, Hastings, Worth tries, Eden 3 goals, Hastings 3, Gale field goals) |
22 | St George (Gearin try, 3 goals) |
10 | Leichhardt Oval | Kevin Hastings - Eastern Suburbs |
Final
| Date | Winner | Score | Loser | Score | Venue | Man of the Match |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 15 August 1984 | Combined Brisbane (Miles, Lewis tries, Meninga 2 goals) |
12 | Eastern Suburbs (Hardy try, Eden 3 goals, Hastings field goal) |
11 | Leichhardt Oval | Wally Lewis - Combined Brisbane |
A televised night game, the final's match commentary was provided by Ray Warren and Bill Anderson.
Brisbane: 1. Colin Scott, 2. Joe Kilroy, 3. Mal Meninga, 4. Gene Miles, 5. John Ribot, 6. Wally Lewis (c), 7. Henry Foster, 8. Bob Lindner, 9. Wally Fullerton Smith, 10. Bryan Neibling, 11. Richie Poulsen, 12. Eddie Muller, 13. Greg Dowling. Reserve: 14. Tony Currie. Coach Bob McCarthy.
Eastern Suburbs: 1. Graeme Atkins, 2. Shane McKellar (c), 3. Glenn Leggett, 4. David Greene, 5. John Ferguson, 6. Mike Eden, 7. Scott Gale, 8. Kevin Hastings, 9. Mark Wheeler, 10. Terry Regan, 11. Dane Sorensen, 12. Rowland Beckett, 13. Tom Arber. Reserves: 15. Darren Finlayson, 16. Gavin Miller, 17. Steve Hardy. Coach Laurie Freier.
Player of the Series
Golden Try
Eastern Suburbs player Mike Eden won the A$5,000 award for creating the Golden Try of the 1984 Panasonic Cup.[2]
References
- ^ Gallaway, Jack (2003). Origin: Rugby league's greatest contest 1980 - 2002. University of Queensland Press. p. 50. ISBN 978-0-7022-3383-8.
{{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ 1984 Panasonic Cup Final highlights