The Broncos are heartbroken after falling just short of a Grand Final victory.
With a 26-24 Grand Final loss to Penrith in front of 81,947 fans, the Brisbane Broncos fell just shy of a record-breaking Grand Final win.
five-eighths dynamic After a sluggish Brisbane team muddled its way to an 8-6 halftime disadvantage, Ezra Mam crossed for three tries in 10 minutes to throw the game up at the start of the second half.
The Broncos were unable to hold off the Panthers, with a try to Nathan Cleary in the 78th minute stealing the championship from them.
Backs Jesse Arthars and Herbie Farnworth stood out with solid carries and tackle breaks, while workaholic middle forwards Payne Haas, Pat Carrigan, and Thomas Flegler carried their pack all night.
After surviving some early Panthers pack pressure, Brisbane hooker Billy Walters put his team on the front foot with a 40-20 kick in the sixth minute off the back of some brilliant forward runs.
However, crucial errors by the Broncos coming out of their own end of the field gave the Panthers field position for the next 10 minutes, and despite defending well, the Broncos finally cracked when a ball was knocked back by a Bronco hand from a goal line drop out, and Mitch Kenny collected the ball to score.
After 18 minutes, the defending Premiers led 6-0 thanks to Stephen Crichton’s conversion from the right.
The game progressed with both teams muscling up in defense until Penrith took the lead in the 29th minute with a Crichton penalty goal after a goal line drop out went over the sideline.
But, as halftime approached, the Broncos held their nerve and refused to be bullied, finally gaining field position thanks to a piggy-back penalty, with successive shifts of play eventually seeing Flegler smash over for a critical try under the posts.
Reynolds converted, and the Broncos trailed by two points at halftime despite having only 43% possession and a 60% completion rate in the first half.
Brisbane came out for the second half determined to gain their fair share of possession so they could play Broncos football, and they accomplished so in the first few minutes, with the electric Ezra Mam capitalizing.
Mam took advantage of some strong running by his forwards, splitting the Penrith defenders on the left and scorching half the field to outpace Dylan Edwards. In the 45th minute, Reynolds converted from the touchline, and Brisbane lead 12-8.
The Broncos were gaining momentum, moving wider and began to offload, and it was Mam who took advantage of another opening on the left to score and complete his hat trick in the 52nd minute. Reynolds’ conversion gave him an 18-8 lead.
And in an instant, it was 24-8, thanks to Ezra Mam finding space after being put away by Reece Walsh and sprinting away on the left edge to score a converted try.
The defending Premiers, however, were not finished and produced a spirited comeback with tries to Moses Leota (62nd minute) and Crichton (67th minute) to pull the score back to 24-20 with 12 minutes remaining, before Cleary scored in the shadows of full-time to give his team the lead.
