As he often does, Nathan Cleary picked it and then said it best. He is the best player in the game after all.

“I thought the difference last year, and probably over the last four years, is we were in positions to save tries,” Cleary lamented after losing his first finals game, and thus finishing without a premiership ring for the first time, since 2021.

“We actually saved them [in years past], where tonight we probably didn’t do that.”

In short, Brisbane did. The Broncos have raw power and athleticism and points for days when their passes stick. Like never before on Sunday afternoon, they defended like demons - it didn’t matter when the ball went astray.

Brisbane ride momentum like no-one else, and in their past two clashes they have engineered 16 and 14-point comebacks in front of sold-out crowds losing their collective minds.

With a capacity Suncorp crowd out-stripping and literally shaking the great ground’s (apparently a feat not ever the rowdiest Origin crowds have managed), the Broncos prevailed thanks to a........

© Brisbane Times