Gritty Panthers fight back to hunt down determined Broncos

The Panthers were forced to fight tooth and claw against the Broncos, but held on to claim a hard-fought 14-6 win.

Penrith showed plenty of grit in a tight and entertaining contest at Suncorp Stadium in front of a big crowd and had to come from a 6-4 halftime deficit to return to the winners circle after losing to the Cowboys last week. 

The Broncos also put in an improved performance as they attempted to prevent a fifth-straight loss and showed they were there to play in the first half, standing up to the Panthers in defence and showing a determination that had been missing in recent weeks, especially on their own tryline.

They also came close to scoring the first try of the game when Deine Mariner chased through on an Ezra Mam kick, only to knock it on and give Penrith a seven-tackle set.

Despite losing their winger Daine Laurie - who was a late swap to start the game - when he left the field in the 11th minute with a hamstring injury, the Panthers were instead the first to score, with Jack Cole coming off the bench and showing great awareness to get himself in the right place at the right time to score within moments of getting on the field. 

The try was set up by a great run from prop Moses Leota who proved a drama to bring down, before Jarome Luai did the rest by sending the ball out to his left where Cole ended up with the ball and ran through for the opening points. 

However, Reece Walsh, who was playing his first game for the Broncos since Round 12, put his stamp on the game and had a particularly strong first half, doing his best to dispel any concerns that he hadn't played enough football to earn a recall to Billy Slater's Maroons team. 

Showing plenty of involvement in both defence and attack, Walsh forced a crucial error when defending and was the beneficiary of the resulting possession which ended up in Brisbane's first try, with the fullback showing his trademark speed to burn the Panthers on their right and gallop away to the tryline. 

After converting his own try, the Broncos went into the halftime break with a 6-4 lead. 

To start the second half, the Panthers withstood back-to-back goal-line dropouts and were able to instead put the pressure on the Broncos. They were the first to score after the break when the Broncos let a Luai kick bounce where it was picked up by Liam Martin who burst through the line and sent an offload to Lindsay Smith to show great skill to kick ahead into space, with Brian To'o doing the rest to give his side an 8-6 lead. 

The Broncos wouldn't go away however and if Payne Haas was able to collect a Walsh grubber kick close to the line they would have hit back, but instead, the Panthers were able to absorb all of Brisbane's attacking pressure and land a blow themselves.

After working their way back to the other side of the field, aided by a penalty, they went further in front with Mitch Kenny was give too much room at dummyhalf and scored next to the uprights. Dylan Edwards converted for a 14-6 lead with just under 10 minutes to go. 

With halfback Jock Madden forced from the field with a hamstring injury early in the second half, Walsh stepped up to take on board more of the kicking duties, doing well overall despite sending one kick out on the full. 

However, the Panthers were able to squeeze the Broncos out of the contest as the second half wore on to claim their win.