Queensland derby

Queensland derby
Location Queensland
TeamsBrisbane Broncos
North Queensland Cowboys
First meeting8 April 1995
Broncos 20–12 Cowboys
Latest meetingFriday 21 March 2025
Broncos 26–16 Cowboys
Next meeting30 August 2025
Cowboys vs. Broncos
StadiumsQE II Stadium
Lang Park
Willows Sports Complex
North Queensland Stadium
Statistics
Meetings total57
Most winsBrisbane Broncos (36)
Most player appearancesCorey Parker (32)
Top scorerJohnathan Thurston (204)
All-time seriesBroncos: 36
Drawn: 2
Cowboys: 19
Largest victoryBroncos 58–4 Cowboys (12 April 1998)

The Queensland derby, known for sponsorship purposes as the XXXX Derby is the series of rugby league matches between National Rugby League (NRL) clubs based in Queensland. Currently there are four NRL teams in Queensland: the Brisbane Broncos, the North Queensland Cowboys, the Gold Coast Titans, and the Dolphins. The Brisbane Broncos are the longest-standing and most successful club of the four.

Two new teams began competing in the New South Wales Rugby League's Winfield Cup competition in 1988. The first of these was the Brisbane Broncos and the second, the Gold Coast Tweed Giants, was technically based in Tweed Heads, New South Wales rather than Queensland but for practical purposes was a Queensland team representing the Gold Coast. Two new Queensland sides, the North Queensland Cowboys and the South Queensland Crushers, entered the renamed Australian Rugby League competition in 1995. The Crushers side folded in 1997 amid the Super League War and the Gold Coast side, after several changes of name, also folded in 1998. The 1998 season was the first of the NRL era; the Queensland Derby was played between the two Queensland NRL sides, the Broncos and the Cowboys, from 1998 to 2007, when a new Gold Coast side, the Titans, entered the competition.

In 2015, the Broncos and Cowboys played in the first all-Queensland grand final, with North Queensland defeating Brisbane 17-16 in golden point extra time to win their first premiership.

In 2023, the Queensland Derby officially became a four-sided contest with the entry of the Dolphins, a national level team associated with the longstanding Queensland Cup side, the Redcliffe Dolphins.