2004 Queensland Cup

The 2004 Queensland Cup season was the 9th season of Queensland's top-level statewide rugby league competition run by the Queensland Rugby League. The competition featured 12 teams playing a 26-week long season from March to September.
The Burleigh Bears defeated the Easts Tigers 22–18 in the Grand Final at Suncorp Stadium to claim their second premiership. Burleigh Brent McConnell was named the competition's Player of the Year, winning the List of [Queensland Cup honours#Petero Civoniceva Medal|Courier Mail Medal].

Teams

Wests Panthers, who participated in the Queensland Cup since the inaugural season in 1996, withdrew from the competition at the end of 2003. They were replaced by Brothers-Valleys, a club formed in 2002 by the merger of Past Brothers, who played in the Queensland Cup from 1996 to 1998, and the Fortitude Valley Diehards, who originally folded in 1995.
The Brisbane Broncos, Melbourne Storm and North Queensland Cowboys were again affiliated with the Toowoomba Clydesdales, Norths Devils and North Queensland Young Guns respectively.

Colours	Club	Home ground	Head coach	Captain	NRL Affiliate
	Brothers-Valleys	O'Callaghan Park	Gary O'Brien	Scott Maguire	-
	Burleigh Bears	Pizzey Park	Rick Stone	Ali Brown	-
	Central Comets	Browne Park	Neale Crow	Wade Rothery	-
	Easts Tigers	Langlands Park	Michael Booth	Darren Smith	-
	Ipswich Jets	Bendigo Bank Oval	Trevor Gillmeister	Danny Coburn	-
	North Queensland Young Guns	Dairy Farmers Stadium	Adrian Thomson	Daniel Strickland	North Queensland Cowboys
	Norths Devils	Bishop Park	Gary Greinke	Andrew Hamilton	Melbourne Storm
	Redcliffe Dolphins	Dolphin Oval	Neil Wharton	Troy Lindsay	-
	Souths Logan Magpies	Davies Park	Anthony Griffin → Mitch Brennan	Jace van Dijk	-
	Toowoomba Clydesdales	Clive Berghofer Stadium	John Dixon	Adrian Vowles	Brisbane Broncos
	Tweed Heads Seagulls	Piggabeen Sports Complex	Steve Murphy	Marty Stone	-
	Wynnum Seagulls	Kougari Oval	Kelly Egan	Damien Quinn	-

Finals series

† Match decided in extra time.

Grand Final

Burleigh Bears	Position	Easts Tigers
Reggie Cressbrook	FB	Jason Barsley
Trent Purdon	WG	Steve Beattie
Jason Webber	CE	Steve Renouf
Nick Shaw	CE	Wade Liddell
Aseri Laing	WG	Michael Pearce
Adam Hayden	FE	Isaac Kaufmann
Brent McConnell	HB	Dane Campbell
Ali Brown	PR	Charlie Tonga
Ryan Gundry	HK	Trent Young
Adam Watene	PR	Scott Alo
Martin Griese	SR	Darren Smith
John Flint	SR	Scott Sipple
Robert Apanui	LK	Dallas McIlwain
Shane O'Flanagan	Bench	Martin Allen
Tony Gray	Bench	Leigh Coghill
Kris Flint	Bench	Matt Lockyer
David Hicks	Bench	Paul Dezolt
Rick Stone	Coach	Michael Booth

Burleigh, who finished as minor premiers for the second season in a row, defeated Easts by a point in their major semi final to earn a spot in the Grand Final, their third since 1997. Easts, who came 3rd in the regular season, defeated the 2nd placed Norths in the qualifying final to set up their match with Burleigh. The loss saw them then face Wynnum in the preliminary final, who they defeated 50–24 to set up a rematch with the Bears in the Grand Final. During the regular season, Burleigh defeated Easts in both of their encounters.

First half

Burleigh opened the first half strongly when five-eighth Adam Hayden stepped through Easts' defensive line to score in the 6th minute. Three minutes later, Hayden put centre Nick Shaw through a hole to score the Bears' second try. The Tigers got back into the contest in the 20th minute, when hooker Trent Young muscled his way over underneath posts. Burleigh regained their 10-point lead when second rower John Flint burst through to score in the 31st minute as the Bears took a 16–6 lead into the break.

Second half

Easts hit back 10 minutes into the second half when former Australian and Queensland representative Steve Renouf spun through a defender to score in the corner. Micheal Pearce converted the try from the sideline to cut the lead to four. A Reggie Cressbrook penalty goal pushed Burleigh's lead to six, setting up a tense final 20 minutes. With just over a minute to play, Burleigh's Kris Flint attempted a field goal that would've sealed the game for the Bears but missed to the right, giving Easts one last chance. With 30 seconds remaining, Tigers' halfback Dane Campbell put in a chip kick for winger Steve Beattie, who burst through two Burleigh defenders to score. Campbell then converted from out wide to send the game into extra time.

Extra time

Easts had the first opportunity to win the game in the third minute of extra time, when Campbell attempted a field goal then went wide right. Both teams missed multiple field goal attempts before Burleigh prop Shane O'Flanagan barged over to score the premiership-winning try in the 17th minute of extra time.

End-of-season awards

Courier Mail Medal: Brent McConnell Rookie of the Year: Luke Dalziel-Don