Broncos beat Papali'i's last game with big comeback in Canberra

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By Jon Healy

Topic:NRL

Brisbane mounts a stunning second-half fightback to deny retiring Raiders great Josh Papali'i a win in his final game at Canberra Stadium.

The loss ends the Raiders' faint finals hopes.

At Lang Park, the Dolphins are hoping to consolidate their place in the league's top four against the Eels.

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The Dolphins pack the scrum out on the right with shape all out left.

Kodi Nikorima has his pick out wide, fakes to Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow out the back but plays short to Herbie Farnworth, who bursts through the tackle of Mitchell Moses to score the hosts' opener.

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Great metres from the Dolphins, starting with the 1-2-3 punch of Selwyn Cobbo, Jamayne Isaako and Jack Bostock. And Isaiya Katoa caps the set with a grubber into the in-goal that forces a scrum for an accidental off side.

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The ball-handling error from Herbie Farnworth after a mountain of defence hands the Eels another chance and this time Will Penisini's exceptional offload unleashes Brian Kelly to score in the corner.

Really sloppy stuff by the Dolphins.

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The Dolphins challenge a no-penalty call on an aerial contest between Will Penisini and Herbie Farnworth.

And, despite the challenge being pretty clearly wrong, they're keeping their challenge for some reason.

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Isaiya Katoa grubbers into space and has the ball just in front of him but he opts not to dive on it.

He's bumped out by a late-arriving Josh Addo-Carr, who shows great urgency to knock the ball dead at the last second.

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The Eels absorb the pressure from the Eels, force a bad kick and then, with some field position and momentum, move quickly and Ronald Volkman capitalises on some retreating defence, getting out of dummy half and bursting through the tackle of Morgan Knowles and Tom Flegler to crash over.

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The Phins kick off and Junior Paulo marks it just inside the dead-ball line.

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The Broncos, who at times this year have looked utterly clueless and a shadow of their 2025 selves, pull off another brilliant comeback just as they did at this ground in the first week of the finals last year to spoil Josh Papali'i's party and extinguish Canberra's faint finals hopes.

Brisbane trailed 30-16 with just 18 minutes left in the game but found the energy and some execution in attack to score 18 unanswered points and silence this Canberra Stadium crowd.

Payne Haas was, as usual, one of Brisbane's best and it was his fortuitous try that sparked the comeback, while Billy Walters, Ben Hunt and replacement fullback Hayze Perham were also key orchestrators out there.

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After surrendering the ball to Matty Nicholson to give the Raiders a chance, Josiah Karapani comes up with a brilliant try-saver to force Xavier Savage into touch out on the right wing!

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Josiah Karapani drops it and the Raiders will have one more set!

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The Raiders' spiral bomb is marked by Hayze Perham 5 metres off the Broncos' tryline and they need to hang on to end the game.

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Ethan Strange beats about half of the Broncos' defenders and rolls in a grubbers it through for a flying Kaeo Weekes.

He has the ball and tryline at his mercy, but the ball takes a miserable bounce for the Raiders fullback and Xavier Willison is rewarded for chasing back.

Willison nabs the high bouncing ball and Weekes knocks on as he tries to steal the ball back.

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Ben Hunt digs into the line on the last just as he did in the last set, but this time he throws the ball out the back to Hayze Perham, who beats Matt Timoko for speed and dives over the line to score!

Is it August 21, 2026 or is it week one of the 2025 finals all over again?

And Perham converts for a 34-30 lead inside the final five minutes.

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Ben Hunt knocks on a ball out in front of him and then, from the scrum, Ethan Strange fumbles Tom Starling's pass.

The Broncos are back on the surge.

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Ben Hunt tries to dink another kick in behind to catch the Raiders out of position, but it hits Ethan Strange's hand and Josh Papali'i is on the spot to fall on the ball.

If that kick made it through, Kotoni Staggs and Grant Anderson were flying and would have been tough to stop.

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Are they going to do it again?

Deine Mariner and Josiah Karapani break down the right off a Payne Haas face ball.

That opens up the field and Ben Hunt spies the space on the right wing where Grant Anderson puts his hand up. Hunt puts the kick over the top perfectly for Anderson to hit it at full speed and he steps inside Kaeo Weekes to score.

Hayze Perham converts! The Broncos are trailing by just two points with 12 minutes left.

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The bomb is knocked on by Jed Stuart and it ends up in the hands of Payne Haas, who pins the ears back an powers through defenders to score an important try.

Imagine trying to put your body in front of that. No thanks.

Hayze Perham converts and the Broncos trail 30-22 with 15 minutes left.

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The Raiders crowd erupts as Raider number 300 jogs back onto the field.

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The Broncos repelled set after set but eventually Owen Pattie pokes a grubber in behind the line and Pat Carrigan makes a meal of batting it dead, only able to pop it straight up into the hands of Zac Hosking to score.

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