1984 National Panasonic Cup
# 1984 National Panasonic Cup

The 1984 National Panasonic Cup was the 11th edition of the NSWRL Midweek Cup, a NSWRL-organised national club Rugby League tournament between the leading clubs and representative teams from the NSWRL, the BRL, the CRL, the QRL and the NZRL.

A total of 17 teams from across Australia and New Zealand played 16 matches in a straight knock-out format, with the matches being held midweek during the premiership season.

## Qualified Teams

| Team | Nickname | League | Qualification | Participation (bold indicates winners) |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| Enter in Round 1 |||||
| Parramatta | Eels | NSWRL | Winners of the 1983 New South Wales Rugby League Premiership | 11th (Previous: 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983) |
| Manly-Warringah | Sea Eagles | NSWRL | Runners-Up in the 1983 New South Wales Rugby League Premiership | 11th (Previous: 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983) |
| Canterbury-Bankstown | Bulldogs | NSWRL | Third Place in the 1983 New South Wales Rugby League Premiership | 11th (Previous: 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983) |
| St. George | Dragons | NSWRL | Fourth Place in the 1983 New South Wales Rugby League Premiership | 11th (Previous: 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983) |
| Balmain | Tigers | NSWRL | Fifth Place in the 1983 New South Wales Rugby League Premiership | 11th (Previous: 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983) |
| Eastern Suburbs | Roosters | NSWRL | Sixth Place in the 1983 New South Wales Rugby League Premiership | 11th (Previous: 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983) |
| North Sydney | Bears | NSWRL | Seventh Place in the 1983 New South Wales Rugby League Premiership | 11th (Previous: 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983) |
| South Sydney | Rabbitohs | NSWRL | Eighth Place in the 1983 New South Wales Rugby League Premiership | 11th (Previous: 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983) |
| Cronulla-Sutherland | Sharks | NSWRL | Ninth Place in the 1983 New South Wales Rugby League Premiership | 11th (Previous: 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983) |
| Canberra | Raiders | NSWRL | Tenth Place in the 1983 New South Wales Rugby League Premiership | 3rd (Previous: 1982, 1983) |
| Penrith | Panthers | NSWRL | Eleventh Place in the 1983 New South Wales Rugby League Premiership | 11th (Previous: 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983) |
| Illawarra | Steelers | NSWRL | Twelfth Place in the 1983 New South Wales Rugby League Premiership | 3rd (Previous: 1982, 1983) |
| Western Suburbs | Magpies | NSWRL | Fourteenth Place in the 1983 New South Wales Rugby League Premiership | 11th (Previous: 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983) |
| Brisbane | Poinsettias | BRL | League Representative Team | 6th (Previous: 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983) |
| NSW Country | Kangaroos | CRL | Country League Representative Team | 6th (Previous: 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983) |
| Enter in preliminary round |||||
| Queensland Country | Maroons | QRL | Country League Representative Team | 6th (Previous: 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983) |
| Auckland | Falcons | NZRL | Winners of the 1983 New Zealand Rugby League Inter-District Premiership | 8th (Previous: 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980) |

## Venues

| Sydney | Brisbane | Tamworth | Bathurst |
| - | - | - | - |
| Leichhardt Oval | Lang Park | Scully Park | Carrington Park |
| Capacity: 23,000 | Capacity: 45,000 | Capacity: 13,000 | Capacity: 12,000 |

## 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, Dowling 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 | Man of the Match |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 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

* Wally Lewis (Combined Brisbane)

### Golden Try

Mike Eden (Eastern Suburbs)

