Brown reflects on Bears’ epic 2004 Queensland Cup victory
“IT was disappointing that there had to be a loser.”
That’s how Ali Brown remembers the Queensland Cup’s greatest ever grand final, when he captained Burleigh to a remarkable 22-18 extra-time defeat of Easts in 2004.
Lining up against a Tigers squad stacked with Queens- land rugby league legends Steve Renouf and Darren Smith, the Bears looked in the box seat from the outset.
Off the game’s opening hitup, a heavy Rob Apanui tackle forced Tigers prop Scott Alo to drop the ball, and the Bears ran with that momentum to a 16-6 lead at the break. Renouf wove his magic to lift the Tigers back into the contest but it wasn’t until a last-minute roll of the dice – a midfield chip kick for winger Steve Beattie, followed by a difficult Dane Campbell conversion – that they would draw level.
Several field goal attempts went astray before big Bears stalwart Shane O’Flanagan bowled over in the 98th minute to break the deadlock.
“It was a really good day,” said Brown, a prop.
It’s been a long time between drinks: the Bears last made a final in 2005 and Brown was the last Burleigh skipper to lift the Queens- land Cup way back in 2004.
But Brown is confident the new generation side can account for Redcliffe at Suncorp Stadium tomorrow.
“I’m confident they will,” he said. “If everyone does the job that they’re supposed to do, it will give them every opportunity.”