Brisbane Broncos 16–14 Penrith Panthers — Preliminary Final, 2025 NRL Finals Series
28 Sep 2025 · Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane, QLD · Attendance: 52,491
Data last verified: 11 August 2026.
Preliminary Final, 2025 NRL finals series: Brisbane Broncos 16–14 Penrith Panthers, at Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane, QLD on 28 Sep 2025.
Scoring timeline
| 11′ | Penrith Panthers — try, Alamoti · Cleary kicked |
| 36′ | Penrith Panthers — try, Alamoti · Cleary kicked |
| 47′ | Brisbane Broncos — try, Staggs |
| 69′ | Brisbane Broncos — try, Willison |
| 75′ | Brisbane Broncos — try, Mariner |
Tries with a sourced minute, in order scored, with the conversion kicked/missed alongside each one where source data lets us match a kicker to that specific try. Tries whose exact minute isn't recorded in available sources appear in the Scorers table below but not here; goal tallies we can't attribute to one specific try are shown as descriptive text in Scorers rather than guessed into this timeline.
Scorers
| Brisbane Broncos | Tries: Staggs 47'; Willison 69'; Mariner 75' Goals: Reynolds (1/1) 76'; Walsh (1/2 conversions) |
| Penrith Panthers | Tries: Alamoti (2) 11', 36' Goals: Cleary (2/2) 12', 37' |
Team sheets
| Brisbane Broncos | Penrith Panthers | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Reece Walsh | Fullback | Dylan Edwards | 1 |
| 2 | Josiah Karapani | Wing | Paul Alamoti | 2 |
| 3 | Kotoni Staggs | Centre | Izack Tago | 3 |
| 4 | Gehamat Shibasaki | Centre | Casey McLean | 4 |
| 5 | Deine Mariner | Wing | Brian To'o | 5 |
| 6 | Ben Hunt | Five-eighth | Blaize Talagi | 6 |
| 7 | Adam Reynolds | Halfback | Nathan Cleary | 7 |
| 8 | Corey Jensen | Prop | Moses Leota | 8 |
| 9 | Cory Paix | Hooker | Mitch Kenny | 9 |
| 10 | Payne Haas | Prop | Lindsay Smith | 10 |
| 11 | Brendan Piakura | Second Row | Scott Sorensen | 11 |
| 12 | Jordan Riki | Second Row | Liam Martin | 12 |
| 13 | Tyson Smoothy | Lock | Isaah Yeo | 13 |
| Substitutes | ||||
| 14 | Ezra Mam | Brad Schneider | 14 | |
| 15 | Kobe Hetherington | Liam Henry | 15 | |
| 16 | Xavier Willison | Isaiah Papali'i | 16 | |
| 17 | Ben Talty | Luke Garner | 17 | |
| Michael Maguire | Coach | Ivan Cleary | ||
Match officials
| Referee | Grant Atkins |
Match report
Penrith led 14-0 at half-time thanks to a double from Paul Alamoti, dominating the four-time defending champions for most of the first half; Nathan Cleary also kicked a first-half penalty goal (exact minute unconfirmed). Brisbane finally broke through when Kotoni Staggs scored around the 47th minute, followed by Xavier Willison's try, and Deine Mariner scored the match-winning try in the 75th minute — converted by Adam Reynolds from the sideline, widely reported as redemption for a missed sideline kick in the 2021 Grand Final. Reynolds had gone off injured earlier, with Ben Hunt shifting to halfback and Reece Walsh taking over some kicking duties. Brisbane's 16-14 comeback win ended Penrith's run of four straight premierships.