1986 National Panasonic Cup

The 1986 National Panasonic Cup was the 13th 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, Western Australia and Papua New Guinea.

1986 NSWRL Midweek Cup

NSWRL National Panasonic Cup
Tournament details
Dates	5 March - 4 June 1986
Teams	17
Venue(s)	7 (in 6 host cities)
Final positions
Champions	Parramatta (2nd title)
Runners-up	Balmain
Tournament statistics
Matches played	16

A total of 17 teams from across Australia and Papua New Guinea played 16 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)
Enter in Round 1
Canterbury-Bankstown	Bulldogs	NSWRL	Winners of the 1985 New South Wales Rugby League Premiership	13th (Previous: 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985)
St. George	Dragons	NSWRL	Runners-Up in the 1985 New South Wales Rugby League Premiership	13th (Previous: 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985)
Parramatta	Eels	NSWRL	Third Place in the 1985 New South Wales Rugby League Premiership	13th (Previous: 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985)
Balmain	Tigers	NSWRL	Fourth Place in the 1985 New South Wales Rugby League Premiership	13th (Previous: 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985)
Penrith	Panthers	NSWRL	Fifth Place in the 1985 New South Wales Rugby League Premiership	13th (Previous: 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985)
Manly-Warringah	Sea Eagles	NSWRL	Sixth Place in the 1985 New South Wales Rugby League Premiership	13th (Previous: 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985)
Eastern Suburbs	Roosters	NSWRL	Seventh Place in the 1985 New South Wales Rugby League Premiership	13th (Previous: 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985)
Cronulla-Sutherland	Sharks	NSWRL	Eighth Place in the 1985 New South Wales Rugby League Premiership	13th (Previous: 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985)
South Sydney	Rabbitohs	NSWRL	Ninth Place in the 1985 New South Wales Rugby League Premiership	13th (Previous: 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985)
Canberra	Raiders	NSWRL	Tenth Place in the 1985 New South Wales Rugby League Premiership	5th (Previous: 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985)
North Sydney	Bears	NSWRL	Eleventh Place in the 1985 New South Wales Rugby League Premiership	13th (Previous: 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985)
Western Suburbs	Magpies	NSWRL	Twelfth Place in the 1985 New South Wales Rugby League Premiership	13th (Previous: 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985)
Illawarra	Steelers	NSWRL	Thirteenth Place in the 1985 New South Wales Rugby League Premiership	5th (Previous: 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985)
Brisbane	Poinsettias	BRL	League Representative Team	8th (Previous: 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985)
NSW Country	Kangaroos	CRL	Country League Representative Team	8th (Previous: 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985)
Enter in Preliminary Round
Port Moresby	Vipers	PNGRFL	League Representative Team	1st
Western Australia	Black Swans	WARL	State Representative Team	3rd (Previous: 1977, 1978)

Venues

Sydney		Brisbane	Newcastle	Lismore	Bathurst	Goroka
Leichhardt Oval	Orana Park	Lang Park	Newcastle International Sports Centre	Oakes Oval	Carrington Park	Danny Leahy Oval
Capacity: 23,000	Capacity: 20,000	Capacity: 45,000	Capacity: 33,000	Capacity: 12,000	Capacity: 12,000	Capacity: 10,000

Preliminary round

Date	Winner	Score	Loser	Score	Venue
13/04/86	Port Moresby	52	Western Australia	14	Danny Leahy Oval [1]

Round 1

Date	Winner	Score	Loser	Score	Venue	Man of the Match
5/03/86	Balmain (Gartner, John Davidson, Gale, tries, Conlon 5 goals)	22	Cronulla-Sutherland (Docking, Wakefield tries, Carney 3 goals)	14	Leichhardt Oval	Mark Wakefield - Cronulla-Sutherland
12/03/86	Parramatta (Jurd, Grothe, Hunt tries, Hunt 2 goals, Sterling field goal)	17	Illawarra (Upfield try)	4	Orana Park	Peter Sterling - Parramatta
19/03/86	Canterbury-Bankstown (Lamb 2 goals, Lamb, C.Mortimer field goals)	6	South Sydney (Baker 2 goals, Baker field goal)	5	Oakes Oval	Peter Tunks - Canterbury-Bankstown
26/03/86	Canberra (Belcher 2, Coyne tries, Meninga 2 goals, Elliott field goal)	17	North Sydney (Teasdell try, Kiss goal)	6	Leichhardt Oval	Gary Belcher - Canberra
2/04/86	Western Suburbs (Naden 2, Brett Clark, Bruce Clark tries, Schubert 3 goals, Brett Clark field goal)	23	Penrith (Gonzales, Fenton tries, Alexander 2 goals)	12	Leichhardt Oval	Brett Clark - Western Suburbs
16/04/86	Manly-Warringah (Blake 2, Close, Ronson tries, Cochrane goal)	18	Combined Brisbane (Lindner, S.Lewis tries, Scott goal)	10	Lang Park	Dale Shearer - Manly-Warringah
16/04/86	Eastern Suburbs (Bennett 3, Katsogiannis, Melrose 2, Leggett, McGahan, Patterson, Hardy tries, Melrose 8 goals)	60	Port Moresby (PNG) (Numapo, Jakis, Kerekere tries, Numapo, Heni goals)	16	Lang Park	Trevor Gillmeister - Eastern Suburbs
23/04/86	St George (Selby 2, Funnell, Johnston, Haddock, Morris tries, O'Connor 6 goals)	36	NSW Country (Elwin 2 goals)	4	Carrington Park	Geoff Selby - St George

Quarter finals

Date	Winner	Score	Loser	Score	Venue	Man of the Match
9/04/86	Parramatta (Ella, R.Price, Sharp tries, Ella 2 goals)	16	Canterbury-Bankstown (Folkes, Bugden tries, Lamb goal)	10	Leichhardt Oval	Ray Price - Parramatta
30/04/86	Manly-Warringah (Lyons, Cox, Blake tries, Cochrane 3 goals)	18	St George (O'Connor goal)	2	Newcastle ISC	Des Hasler - Manly-Warringah
7/05/86	Balmain (John Davidson 2, Roach, Myler tries, Conlon 2 goals)	20	Canberra ( Meninga, O'Sullivan tries, Meninga 2 goals)	12	Leichhardt Oval	Steve Roach - Balmain
14/05/86	Eastern Suburbs (Wurth, McGahan tries, Melrose 3 goals, Hastings 2 field goals)	16	Western Suburbs (Geelan try, Crooks 2 goals)	8	Leichhardt Oval	Hugh McGahan - Eastern Suburbs

Semi finals

Date	Winner	Score	Loser	Score	Venue	Man of the Match
21/05/86	Parramatta (Hunt, Kenny, Laurie, Lillis tries, Hunt 3 goals, Ella field goal)	23	Manly-Warringah (Ronson try)	4	Leichhardt Oval	Brett Kenny - Parramatta
28/05/86	Balmain (Bridge, Gartner, Schofield, John Davidson tries, Conlon 4 goals, Bridge field goal)	25	Eastern Suburbs (Simpkins, Bennett tries, Melrose goal)	10	Leichhardt Oval	Paul Sironen - Balmain

Final

Date	Winner	Score	Loser	Score	Venue	Man of the Match
4 June 1986	Parramatta (Kenny 2, Muggleton, Ella, Wynn, Bugden tries, Eden 4 goals)	32	Balmain (Gale, Myler, Humphreys tries, Schofield 2 goals)	16	Leichhardt Oval	Peter Sterling - Parramatta

Player of the Series

• Ray Price (Parramatta)

Golden Try

• Gary Bridge (Balmain)

Sources

1. Rugby League Project - Port Moresby Vipers http://www.rugbyleagueproject.org/teams/port-moresby-vipers/results.html

• https://web.archive.org/web/20070929103317/http://users.hunterlink.net.au/~maajjs/aus/nsw/sum/nsw1986.htm