1989 Panasonic Cup (rugby league)

The 1989 Panasonic Cup was the 16th 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 and Papua New Guinea. This was the final season of the competition, which was replaced by the Tooheys Challenge Cup the following year.

1989 NSWRL Midweek Cup

NSWRL Panasonic Cup
Tournament details
Dates	1 March – 7 June 1989
Teams	19
Venue(s)	9 (in 9 host cities)
Final positions
Champions	Brisbane (1st title)
Runners-up	Illawarra
Tournament statistics
Matches played	18
← 1988

A total of 19 teams from across Australia and Papua New Guinea played 18 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)
Canterbury-Bankstown	Bulldogs	NSWRL	Winners of the 1988 New South Wales Rugby League Premiership	16th (Previous: 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988)
Balmain	Tigers	NSWRL	Runners-Up in the 1988 New South Wales Rugby League Premiership	16th (Previous: 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988)
Cronulla-Sutherland	Sharks	NSWRL	Third Place in the 1988 New South Wales Rugby League Premiership	16th (Previous: 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988)
Canberra	Raiders	NSWRL	Fourth Place in the 1988 New South Wales Rugby League Premiership	8th (Previous: 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988)
Manly-Warringah	Sea Eagles	NSWRL	Fifth Place in the 1988 New South Wales Rugby League Premiership	16th (Previous: 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988)
Penrith	Panthers	NSWRL	Sixth Place in the 1988 New South Wales Rugby League Premiership	16th (Previous: 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988)
Brisbane	Broncos	NSWRL	Seventh Place in the 1988 New South Wales Rugby League Premiership	2nd (Previous: 1988)
South Sydney	Rabbitohs	NSWRL	Eighth Place in the 1988 New South Wales Rugby League Premiership	16th (Previous: 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988)
North Sydney	Bears	NSWRL	Ninth Place in the 1988 New South Wales Rugby League Premiership	16th (Previous: 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988)
St. George	Dragons	NSWRL	Tenth Place in the 1988 New South Wales Rugby League Premiership	16th (Previous: 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988)
Parramatta	Eels	NSWRL	Eleventh Place in the 1988 New South Wales Rugby League Premiership	16th (Previous: 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988)
Eastern Suburbs	Roosters	NSWRL	Twelfth Place in the 1988 New South Wales Rugby League Premiership	16th (Previous: 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988)
Illawarra	Steelers	NSWRL	Thirteenth Place in the 1988 New South Wales Rugby League Premiership	8th (Previous: 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988)
Newcastle	Knights	NSWRL	Fourteenth Place in the 1988 New South Wales Rugby League Premiership	2nd (Previous: 1988)
Gold Coast-Tweed	Giants	NSWRL	Fifteenth Place in the 1988 New South Wales Rugby League Premiership	2nd (Previous: 1988)
Western Suburbs	Magpies	NSWRL	Sixteenth Place in the 1988 New South Wales Rugby League Premiership	16th (Previous: 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988)
Brisbane	Poinsettias	BRL	League Representative Team	11th (Previous: 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988)
NSW Country	Kangaroos	CRL	Country League Representative Team	11th (Previous: 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988)
Port Moresby	Vipers	PNGRFL	League Representative Team	4th (Previous: 1986, 1987, 1988)

Venues

Sydney	Bathurst	Wagga Wagga	Parkes	Townsville	Perth	Brisbane	Tweed Heads	Port Moresby
Parramatta Stadium	Carrington Park	Eric Weissel Oval	Pioneer Oval	Townsville Sports Reserve	WACA Ground	Lang Park	Seagulls Stadium	Lloyd Robson Oval
Capacity: 28,000	Capacity: 12,000	Capacity: 10,000	Capacity: 12,000	Capacity: 13,000	Capacity: 20,000	Capacity: 45,000	Capacity: 13,500	Capacity: 15,000

Preliminary rounds

Date	Winner	Score	Loser	Score	Venue	Man of the Match
4/04/89	Combined Brisbane (Bourke, Daunt, Harvey, Cook tries, Harvey 2 goals, Daunt field goal)	21	Port Moresby (PNG) (Ipu, Akuila tries, Akuila 2 goals)	12	Lloyd Robson Oval
7/04/89	Combined Brisbane (Smith try, Harvey 2 goals), Daunt field goal)	9	NSW Country (Elwin goal)	2	Seagulls Stadium
12/04/89	St George (Mohr, Walford, Coyne tries, Walford goal)	14	Combined Brisbane (Cook, McIntosh tries, Harvey goal)	10	Lang Park	Kevin Langer – Combined Brisbane

Qualifying round

Date	Winner	Score	Loser	Score	Venue	Man of the Match
1/03/89	Brisbane (Matterson 2, Tessmann tries, Matterson 2, G.French goals)	18	Canberra (Lazarus, K.Walters tries, Wood 2 goals, Stuart field goal)	13	Pioneer Oval	Terry Matterson – Brisbane
8/03/89	South Sydney (Blake, Longbottom 2, Lyons, P.Roberts tries, Ellison 6 goals)	36	Penrith (McIndoe 2 tries, Baker 2 goals)	12	Parramatta Stadium	Phil Blake – South Sydney
10/03/89	Parramatta (Sterling, Lauriie, Wynn tries, Fitzhenry 5 goals)	22	Balmain (Grant, Chalmers tries, Brooks 2 goals)	12	WACA Ground	Peter Sterling – Parramatta
15/03/89	Canterbury-Bankstown (McCarthy 3, Lamb tries, Lamb 4 goals)	24	Newcastle (Quinton goal)	2	Parramatta Stadium	Andrew Farrar – Canterbury-Bankstown
22/03/89	Cronulla-Sutherland (Picken, Docking, Wilson tries, Wilson 4, Watson goals)	22	Eastern Suburbs (Salvatori, Melrose tries, Smith goal)	10	Parramatta Stadium	Alan Wilson – Cronulla-Sutherland
29/03/89	Illawarra (Kissell, Heugh, Larder tries)	12	Western Suburbs	0	Parramatta Stadium	Steve Larder – Illawarra
19/04/89	North Sydney (McArthur, Maguire tries, McArthur 2 goals, Gale field goal)	13	Gold Coast (Close try, Eden goal)	6	Parramatta Stadium	Greg Florimo – North Sydney
26/04/89	Manly-Warringah (Ryan 2, Hasler, Williams tries, Shearer 3 goals)	22	St George (Walford, Mohr tries, Walford goal)	10	Eric Weissel Oval	Des Hasler – Manly-Warringah

Quarter finals

Date	Winner	Score	Loser	Score	Venue	Man of the Match
5/04/89	South Sydney (Mavin try, Ellison 2 goals, Blake, Ellison field goals) *	10	Canterbury-Bankstown (Alchin try, Lamb 2, Corcoran goals)	10	Parramatta Stadium	Ian Roberts – South Sydney
3/05/89	North Sydney (McPhail, B.French, Jones tries, Dorahy 2 goals)	16	Manly-Warringah (Shearer, Toovey tries)	8	Parramatta Stadium	Martin Bella – North Sydney
10/05/89	Illawarra (Rodwell 3, Hardy 2, Wishart, Kissell, Russell tries, Wishart 4 goals)	40	Cronulla-Sutherland	0	Parramatta Stadium	Dean Schifilliti – Illawarra
17/05/89	Brisbane (Lewis 3, Renouf 2, Matterson, French tries, Matterson 7 goals)	42	Parramatta (Leeds try, Fitzhenry goal)	6	Townsville Sports Reserve	Terry Matterson – Brisbane

Semi finals

Date	Winner	Score	Loser	Score	Venue	Man of the Match
24/05/89	Illawarra + (Wishart, Schifilliti tries, Wishart 2 goals)	12	North Sydney (Florimo, Beaven tries, Kiss 2 goals)	12	Parramatta Stadium	Greg Florimo – North Sydney
31/05/89	Brisbane (Jackson 2, Currie, Le Man, Renouf tries, French 2 goals)	24	South Sydney (Blake try)	4	Carrington Park	Peter Jackson – Brisbane

Final

Teams

Brisbane : 1. Shane Duffy, 2. Michael Hancock, 3. Tony Currie, 4. Peter Jackson, 5. Joe Kilroy, 6. Wally Lewis (c), 7. Allan Langer, 13. Terry Matterson, 12. Gene Miles, 11. Brett Le Man, 10. Sam Backo, 9. Kerrod Walters, 8. Greg Dowling Reserve James Donnelly. Coach: Wayne Bennett.

Illawarra : 1. Steve Hampson, 2. Rod Wishart, 3. Brett Rodwell, 4. Jeff Hardy, 5. Jason Moon, 6. Tony Smith, 7. Andy Gregory, 13. Ian Russell, 12. Les Morrisey, 11. Dean Hanson, 10. Michael Carberry, 9. Dean Schifilliti, 8. Chris Walsh (c) Reserves Cavill Heugh, Craig Keen, Michael Bolt, Trevor Kissell. Coach: Ron Hilditch.

Date	Winner	Score	Loser	Score	Venue	Man of the Match
7 June 1989	Brisbane (Jackson, Kilroy, Backo, Miles tries, Matterson 3 goals)	22	Illawarra (Hampson, Wishart, Rodwell ties, Wishart 4 goals)	20	Parramatta Stadium	Andy Gregory – Illawarra

The Broncos raced to a 16-0 lead and it seemed the Steelers' much more fancied opponents would run away with the game. But Illawarra hit back. Illawarra lost the match 22-20, however Brisbane scored a try off what appeared to be a forward pass. The large Illawarra contingent of the 16,968 strong crowd at Parramatta Stadium booed the Broncos after their win, with Brisbane captain Wally Lewis gaining their ire by gesturing back.^[1] Illawarra's performance inspired Australian folk singer John Williamson to write a song about the match.

Notes

• – advanced having scored the first try

+ – advanced on penalty countback

Awards

Player of the series

• Terry Matterson (Brisbane)

Golden Try

• Glenn Ryan (Manly-Warringah)