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Michael Hancock (rugby league)

Australian rugby league footballer

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
People and ideasInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJan 29, 2026
Entity authorityQ3308241 ↗
Source-derived summary

Michael John "Mick" Hancock (born 21 October 1969) is an Australian former rugby league footballer who played in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s. An Australian international and Queensland State of Origin representative wing, he played in the Brisbane Broncos' first five Grand Final victories in 1992, 1993, 1997 Super League, 1998 and 2000. At the time of his retirement from football in Australia in 2000 he held the Broncos' club records for most career appearances. He played out the rest of his career in England with the Salford City Reds and retired in 2002.

Early career

Hancock started out playing in the under 16's/18's and A Grade in the Toowoomba rugby league for the Stanthorpe Gremlins.

The young wing, Hancock starred as a 17-year-old for the Toowoomba Clydesdales in the Winfield State League.

First grade career

In 1988, Hancock joined the Brisbane Broncos for the club's initial season in the New South Wales Rugby League premiership as a member of the first Brisbane run-on team that thrashed defending premiers the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles 44–10 in 1988's season opener at Brisbane's Lang Park in a side that included representative players Wally Lewis (captain), Colin Scott, Joe Kilroy, Gene Miles, Allan Langer, Bryan Niebling, Greg Dowling and Greg Conescu.

In 1989, Hancock made his début for the Queensland Maroons, becoming the then-youngest footballer of either state to play in a State of Origin series and scored two tries in the 36–6 win over NSW at Lang Park. He then made his Test début on the 1989 mid-season tour of New Zealand while still a teenager. Having already represented his state in all three matches of that year's Origin series, he also played in all six matches on the New Zealand tour, scoring three tries.

Editorial summary

Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Michael Hancock (rugby league)” is australian rugby league footballer. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Michael, Hancock and rugby, not as a finished interpretation.

Editorial reviewA useful biographical orientation record, particularly for establishing names, roles and a first chronology. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1969, 1992, 1993, 1997—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1969-10-21. For this dossier, Michael, Hancock and rugby is the immediate research focus.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The phrase “australian rugby league footballer” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.

Evidence profile

Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jan 29, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q3308241. None of the 1 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1969, 1992, 1993 and 1997.

Critical limits

A concise life account rarely captures disputed attribution, private networks or the changing language used to describe a career. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
Verify next

Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Michael Hancock (rugby league)”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Michael Hancock (rugby league) primary sources, Michael Hancock (rugby league) archive and Michael research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Michael Hancock (rugby league)”?
  2. Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
  3. How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Michael Hancock (rugby league)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.