As the NRL's newest team prepare for their first game, learn the story of the end of the South Queensland Crushers, the Brisbane giants who could have been.
Sattler said Morgan came along too early to successfully make the transition, and if it were 20 years later, league clubs would be able to make Morgan's size an asset as they have with Storm and New Zealand star Nelson Asofa-Solomona.
"He said he just liked how it felt when he walked on it. He had a company car from the club, like a few of us, and he lost it after that." With new faces and improving rookies, there was cause for optimism, but the club was heading into a financial oblivion from which they'd never truly escape.Despite the lucrative sponsorships and strong crowds they enjoyed in 1995, the Crushers were flat broke.
The Crushers managed to shrug off the drama by upsetting big-spending Parramatta in the season opener, a 24-20 boilover that was one of the club's finest hours, and their home derby against the Broncos two weeks later was another highlight.The Crushers drew first blood when Gillmeister bet $100 on the result of the coin flip with Broncos skipper Allan Langer and won, before they gave Brisbane a hell of a scare on the field.
"The option is there of asking players to take a cut in pay, but it would be less traumatic if some of the players who have ARL loyalty agreements were placed with other ARL clubs," Turner told the Sydney Morning Herald. Lindner said he and the club made a "mutual decision" to part ways as the league and administrators came in to try and save the team from their dire financial situation.
"We made the finals, and first grade were really struggling. I remember Fili Seru, he was an absolute freak, a real natural talent, and he got called up for first grade, but halfway through the session they spun the ball out wide to his wing and he wasn't there because he'd buggered off to go train with the seconds."
"There were so many kids – and I can say kids, because we were kids – who lost their identity. Yeah, we lost some money, but it was more than that for a lot of us. The club was a family," Antonik said.The Channel Nine mogul took a personal interest in saving the club from death and launched a failed bid to lure Maroons' legend Arthur Beetson from his contract with the Roosters to coach the Crushers.
Only a few old hardheads were still around to help the club's remaining players, many of whom were part of the 1996 under-21s premiership side, make the grade. It didn't matter if they weren't ready, because there was nobody else. Bleakley, who coached reserve grade the year before, took over from Lindner and did what he could to show his charges the way.
The season began on a positive note, with a 23-6 win over Parramatta, and Bleakley told the Sydney Morning Herald after the match: "We have to win back the respect of the fans." Clinton Schifcofske enjoyed a good season at fullback and wing, but remembers how morale plummeted as the year went on. The gates to Lang Park were thrown open once again as the fans were let in for free to watch Teevan lead the side out one last time."We might not have had the same size crowd as year one, but we had a loyal core. We wanted to play for them."
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