One of the most unpredictable, absorbing NRL seasons on record concluded with a Grand Final to match – a game to echo through the ages.
Brisbane Broncos ended nearly two decades of heartache with a 26-22 triumph over Melbourne Storm, who became the first team in more than two decades to lose consecutive deciders.
Amid all the drama and interweaving narratives, however, it was a wizard in the No.1 jersey destined to command kilometres of headlines courtesy of one of rugby league’s all-time great individual performances.
Simply one of the best
The Holy Trinity of rugby league Grand Finals – 1989, 1997 and 2015 – was joined by Penrith’s record-breaking 2023 comeback against Brisbane…and now we have another masterpiece to add to the pantheon of epic deciders.
The Broncos’ victory over the Storm had it all: a blistering start, massive momentum shifts, instantly iconic tries, staggering defensive plays, courage and daring on both sides of the ball, dramatic injury setbacks, unlikely heroes, superstars cementing their status and a nerve-shredding finish.
At 16-6 and 22-12 ahead, Melbourne sat in the box-seat.
But for the third straight match, Brisbane overturned a double-digit second-half deficit – and held big-game specialist opponents scoreless after the break for the second consecutive Sunday – to pull off an extraordinary premiership heist.
All after losing Adam Reynolds to a hamstring injury while they were still behind in the 48th minute, and Josiah Karapani and Ben Hunt to HIAs inside the frantic last quarter of an hour as the Broncos’ defence again carried them to a high-stakes upset.
The Broncos won six titles from six Grand Finals in their first 19 seasons, all with the same coach.
They’ve had to wait another 19 seasons for their seventh, enduring two of the most agonising Grand Final heartbreakers, roster overhauls, a wooden spoon, six coaching changes and the erosion of their perpetual heavyweight standing in the interim.
Following a heavy loss to the Storm in Round 23, the Broncos were staring down the barrel of dropping out of the Top 8 a week later when they trailed the Dolphins 28-14.
But they rallied to kickstart a seven-match winning streak that culminated in lifting the NRL trophy.
Whether it’s a one-off or the start of another golden era for the club, Brisbane’s 2025 success is destined to rank alongside the most memorable achieved by any team.
The Broncos open the 2026 premiership betting as $5.00 favourites.
Walsh achieves Grand Final immortality
Never has there been less suspense prior to the announcement of the Clive Churchill Medal winner, such was the scale of Reece Walsh’s performance – as dynamic, exhilarating, audacious, multi-faceted and vital to the result as any ever witnessed on the biggest stage.
The mercurial fullback needed just two minutes to put his stamp on the decider, producing a sensational try assist for Deine Mariner.
Walsh’s solo try when the first half was threatening to get away from the Broncos will be as replayed as Steve Jackson’s, Nathan Blacklock’s, Stacey Jones’, Fuifui Moimoi’s and Andrew Fifita’s similarly superhuman four-pointers
He looked likely to tear the Storm apart with every touch in the second half and delivered back-to-back dazzling cut-out passes to put the Broncos in front with 22 minutes to go.
But despite the extraordinary statlines of four line-break assists, three try assists and 14 tackle-breaks to go with his phenomenal try, it was three efforts in defence – long pinpointed as the weakest part of Walsh’s game – that will shine just as bright in rugby league folklore.
The 88kg custodian stopped front-row giant Tui Kamikamica from scoring with a desperate lunge early in the second half, the momentum of the match swinging dramatically from that moment.
He ran down opposite number Ryan Papenhuyzen and forced him into a poor pass with 13 minutes left.
But Walsh’s poise to snuff out a two-on-one and come up with the tackle on Papenhuyzen in the dying seconds ranks the biggest, most impressive clutch defensive play in Grand Final history (with all due respect to Scott Sattler and Andrew Ryan).
I have no hesitation in labelling it the greatest individual display ever produced in a Grand Final – by a fair margin.
And it comes at the end of a scintillating run of form, which started at a juncture where Walsh was under intense scrutiny and pressure.
Never has a player so unequivocally lived up to the hype, or been more worthy of having ‘The Little Master’s’ award hang around his neck.
Unsung Broncos stand tall
Walsh’s heroics will tower over all future recollections of the 2025 Grand Final – as well it should.
But a host of unheralded types and improbable saviours played major roles in Brisbane’s eclipse of Melbourne.
Kobe Hetherington was close to being the Broncos’ best forward off the bench (it was his charge that put them on the front foot for Walsh’s solo try), while man-mountain Xavier Willison – in just his second game back from a seven-week layoff – led their pack with 146 metres.
Centre Gehamat Shibasaki capped one of the most incredible scrapheap-to-stardom rises with a second-half double, nine tackle-breaks and 199 metres.
He’s now a Kangaroo.
Deine Mariner finished July playing for Burleigh Bears but broke back into the line-up and grabbed a double, along with a team-high 217 metres.
The Broncos’ other winger, Josiah Karapani, only made his first top-grade appearance this year in Round 14 and was playing his 23rd NRL game.
Ezra Mam, perhaps the most controversial figure in the game right now, rose above the boos to come off the bench and play a role second only to Walsh in influence.
It was only his 12th game of the year.
Meanwhile, on a night when he drew level with Darren Lockyer on 355 top-grade appearances, prodigal son Ben Hunt fulfilled his Grand Final redemption arc (despite finishing it on concussion protocols) – to the extent that he even earned a post-match shout-out from losing captain Harry Grant.
The game – and indeed the Broncos’ season overall – was a triumph for the misfits as much as the megastars.
Storm’s lament
Melbourne created unwanted history as the first club to lose Grand Finals in consecutive years since Sydney Roosters (who had won the 2002 title) in 2003-04.
On a night where Craig Bellamy coached in a record-breaking 11th decider, he now faces the stark reality that he’s been at the helm for more losses than wins on rugby league’s biggest stage.
As inspirational as the Broncos’ fightback was, their opponents piggybacked them through the second half.
The Storm were well in control before leaking three unanswered tries in 12 minutes after halftime, while they had more than enough chances to strike back after the Broncos surged into the lead.
The lack of composure from Melbourne’s big guns was jarring.
Cameron Munster, the archetypal big-game player, was inexplicably quiet throughout, while Jahrome Hughes was barely sighted in the second half and Harry Grant was unable to have an offensive impact.
That subpar poise seemed to radiate throughout the line-up with errors and poor option-taking derailing the Storm’s hopes of finding an equaliser.
Strike second-rower Eliesa Katoa was streets ahead of his teammates across the 80 minutes.
Meanwhile, front-row cornerstone Stefano Utoikamanu’s pre-game bluster back-fired, making a modest 10 runs for 99 metres in a middle-forward contingent that was thoroughly outpointed by their Broncos counterparts.
It shapes as a long, hard summer of self-reflection for the Storm, who are on the second line of 2026 title betting with the Panthers at $6.00.
‘Madge’ joins coaching greats
The remarkable resurrection of Michael Maguire’s coaching career is complete, ending Brisbane’s premiership drought at his first attempt after leading the Kiwis to a record-shattering Pacific Championships triumph over the Kangaroos in 2023 and NSW to a stirring Origin series win in 2024.
‘Madge’ also joins Jack Gibson, Phil Gould, Chris Anderson, Tim Sheens and Wayne Bennett as the only coaches to guide multiple clubs to premierships.
Given how far Maguire’s stocks had fallen – punted by Souths just three years after steering them to the title, followed by a rocky tenure with Wests Tigers that ended with a mid-season sacking in 2022 – it ranks as one of the great coaching comeback stories.
Maguire had a difficult task on his hands when he walked into Red Hill, needing to curb the ‘rockstar’ element at the club that had seen the Broncos fade back to also-ran status in 2024, while also nurturing the brilliant but volatile talent at his disposal.
His notoriously hardline methods and bootcamps drew criticism during an early-season slump.
Yet the steel they instilled in his team were arguably more crucial to the Broncos’ ultimate success than the natural gifts possessed by Walsh, Haas and co.
Maguire becomes the first Broncos coach to successfully step out of Bennett’s foreboding shadow at the Broncos.