The Penrith Panthers have added more misery to the Brisbane Broncos with a 34-12 win on Thursday Night at Panthers Stadium in the 2023 Grand Final rematch.
In one of the most highly anticipated rematches in recent history, Brisbane were forced to come into the clash without stars Adam Reynolds and Payne Haas.
With plenty of emphasis from Brisbane’s camp around forgetting the negative connotations of last year’s decider, the game had an added element of drama before kick-off.
In the early stages of the game, it was looking to be a very even contest until Brisbane forced the hosts into a handful of errors.
However, the turning point of the game came in the fourth minute when Reece Walsh collided heads with Taylan May forcing him off for the remainder of the game.
Penrith didn’t look back from this point and blew out to a dominant first-half lead with tries from Sunia Turuva, Mitch Kenny and a double from in-form centre Izack Tago.
Coming into the break with a 22-2 lead, Penrith continued to inflict more punishment on their opponents as the second half began.
Brian To’o’s quickfire double put the Panthers into a 32-point lead and with just under half an hour of play remaining, the result was all but to bed.
Brisbane managed to claw back two tries through Deine Mariner and Jesse Arthars, but it was too little too late for Kevvie Walters’ side.