The NRL is going back to the future as they add another team to Brisbane. But a quarter of a century ago, the South Queensland Crushers were the first team to try and share territory with the Broncos. This is their story.
Van de Velde was a former coach, so knew what was required, but it was Lindner's relationship with Turner, who was the Maroons' manager during Lindner's Origin career, that got him to the club.
The club had to aim high when it came to landing a few big fish, because as sure as styles make fights, stars make fans. He signed experienced halfback Mike Ford, who had played for Great Britain for years, and outside back St John Ellis, who was "a bit mad" but dangerous with the ball in hand. Reports from the time suggested the pair's code switch was a matter of "when" rather than "if", and with the two proud Queenslanders looking to stay in Brisbane, the Crushers had the edge on the other expansion sides.
"The very first day, we arrived at training and we had all our personalised training bags with our initials on them with all our gear inside. I remember seeing Jason Little's gear bag, but he'd changed his mind that morning," Sattler said, "Two days later, Fili comes back and says he can't find him, but we were getting desperate because we had to get back home."
"He said they'd refund us the money, I said 'that's fair enough, we want the player, but if that's how it is, that's how it is'." "They thought we were little brothers and that was fair enough, they'd earned that right. That never concerned me. What we would do was look at every sponsorship contract they had and target the opposition company," van de Velde said.
But the Broncos wouldn't miss the chance to flex their muscles either; they didn't become the biggest team in the league by letting foxes into the henhouse. "Originally I wanted to go with 'South-East Queensland' … and Quayley said he wasn't sure, he'd have to check.
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