Jot it down and remember where you were for the craziest Battle of Brisbane yet.
It may have been the Dolphins who took home the two points in a thrilling 40-32 shootout against the Broncos – securing their maiden finals appearance in the process – but the 50,000-plus fans who packed into Suncorp Stadium were arguably the biggest winners of Saturday night.
There were moments of brilliance and sheer lunacy, contract statements and ominous reminders, injury scares and flaring tempers.
It might be best if we just broke it down.
Mam magic and a contract statement
Ezra Mam has been a man maligned for much of season 2026 – his axing at times throughout the campaign symbolic of the Broncos’ dramatic slide from defending champions to the doldrums of the competition.
But the under-siege five-eighth issued a stunning reminder of just what he could produce with a first-half hat-trick that threatened to completely take the game away from the Dolphins.
It was fitting that in Indigenous Round Mam produced his finest performance of the year, his first highlight bouncing on the outside of Reece Walsh to take his fullback’s pass and score untouched from close range. The opportunity came from a Billy Walters 40/20, it what was the off-contract hooker’s first starting appearance since rupturing his ACL last year.
For Mam’s next trick, shortly after Jamayne Isaako sent the Dolphins’ kick-off out on the full, the 23-year-old simply ran it hard and straight at the defence, before shrugging off a pair of tackles and reaching out desperately for his second.
Walters was quick to issue another reminder of why he must be retained at Red Hill, slicing out of dummy half and splitting the defence, before finding Deine Mariner on his inside to score an 80-minute special.
It was then Mam’s kicking game which extended Brisbane’s early lead to 24 points, his grubber twice fumbled by Jack Bostock for Xavier Willison to touch down.
And even after the Dolphins scored three straight tries, it was Mam who wrestled back the ascendancy for a moment – scoring straight from a scrum after Tom Gilbert’s knock on.
Just as he was in the 2023 grand final, Mam appeared destined to add a man of the match medal to his accolades. Until one moment and a rival general flipped the script.
The good fortune and little general
The Dolphins needed something to go their way as Mam orchestrated a 24-0 Broncos lead. Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow was on hand to provide that.
As the Broncos went on the attack again, a dropped ball by Jaiyden Hunt was swooped on by the Dolphins’ No.1 – his smile as soon as he grabbed possession a sign he knew he would not be caught on the 90-metre dash to score.
While that try may have been in fortuitous circumstances, it appeared to awaken his side as they hunted to keep their top four hopes alive.
From the following set, Max Plath – who was outstanding all night, finishing with 184 running metres – burst through the middle and into the clear to go deep into Brisbane territory.
Halfback Isaiya Katoa then stood up, commanding his team into position for him to fire a perfect short pass for Connelly Lemuelu to cut the deficit to 12 points.
Katoa was at it again when the Dolphins clinched the momentum, with the 22-year-old’s brilliant face pass for Bostock presenting a two-on-one, with Isaako finishing the job in the corner.
While Mam’s third briefly halted the surge, it would not be for long. Ben Talty’s dropped ball coming out of trouble opened the door, and the Dolphins turned globetrotters.
Winger Selwyn Cobbo could have panicked when Katoa’s attempted long ball went behind him and crept towards the sideline, but the former Bronco’s tap-back for a supporting Farnworth was perfect.
The England centre was then hardly troubled on his way to the line, the Broncos’ defence parting without hesitation. Somehow, at half-time, the Dolphins led 30-24.
Katoa’s masterclass and ‘The Hammer’s’ miracle
He had shown signs he was about to make this game his own, but it was the way Katoa controlled the second half which ultimately proved the difference.
The first-half shootout had quickly descended into an arm wrestle, with Mariner and Gilbert both sent for head injury assessments, and Farnworth seen limping regularly after an awkward tackle on his lower leg by opposite number Kotoni Staggs.
Against a Broncos side missing skipper and veteran halfback Adam Reynolds, it was Katoa’s composure which guided the Dolphins home – relying on his patient kicking game while waiting for his moment to strike.
That chance came when Tabuai-Fidow’s kick return, and Plath’s bulldozing carry with three defenders on his back, got the Redcliffe army on the charge – Katoa’s delicate chip over the top gifting Lemuelu his second try of the night.
While Walsh would ice a penalty goal to earn Brisbane the lead back, Katoa was far from finished with the boot.
His attacking bomb was miraculously taken by Tabuai-Fidow, who reached out to score his second and clinch the lead, before the Tongan maestro’s cross-field effort was reeled in by Bostock and eventually spread back the other way for Cobbo to seal the win.
By full-time, for all of the individual brilliance Mam and Tabuai-Fidow showcased, Katoa was the evening’s champion – orchestrating five of his side’s seven tries, in a performance that well and truly silences the lone mocker on him: his past inability to close out tight contests.
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Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: www.smh.com.au
