Cowboys edge it late
The Cowboys edged the Broncos 35–31 at Suncorp Stadium in front of 45,582 in Round 6. They led 24–18 at half-time and held on. It was their 4th straight win. It ended the Broncos' 3-game winning run.
Scott Drinkwater (Cowboys) was the standout with 79 fantasy points, 190 run metres, 5 tackle breaks and 1 try. The Cowboys won the metres battle 2,362 to 1,744.
Our Final Tip had the Broncos at 60% (a Lean) and got it wrong. The bookies had the other side as favourites, so this one was an upset.
Broncos
WWWLL
Cowboys
WWWLL
Game flow
Broncos · above
Cowboys · below
Show scoring as a table
| Min | Team | Player | Event | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4' | Broncos | Kotoni Staggs | Try | 4–0 |
| 5' | Broncos | Thomas Duffy | Conversion | 6–0 |
| 13' | Cowboys | Jaxon Purdue | Try | 6–4 |
| 14' | Cowboys | Jake Clifford | Conversion | 6–6 |
| 15' | Cowboys | Zac Laybutt | Try | 6–10 |
| 17' | Cowboys | Jake Clifford | Conversion | 6–12 |
| 26' | Cowboys | Soni Luke | Try | 6–16 |
| 28' | Cowboys | Jake Clifford | Conversion | 6–18 |
| 31' | Broncos | Josiah Karapani | Try | 10–18 |
| 32' | Broncos | Thomas Duffy | Conversion | 12–18 |
| 34' | Cowboys | Scott Drinkwater | Try | 12–22 |
| 35' | Cowboys | Jake Clifford | Conversion | 12–24 |
| 39' | Broncos | Jesse Arthars | Try | 16–24 |
| 39' | Broncos | Thomas Duffy | Conversion | 18–24 |
| 48' | Broncos | Ezra Mam | Try | 22–24 |
| 50' | Broncos | Thomas Duffy | Conversion | 24–24 |
| 58' | Broncos | Ben Talty | Try | 28–24 |
| 60' | Broncos | Thomas Duffy | Conversion | 30–24 |
| 64' | Cowboys | Tom Chester | Try | 30–28 |
| 66' | Cowboys | Jake Clifford | Conversion | 30–30 |
| 77' | Cowboys | Heilum Luki | Try | 31–35 |
Team stats
Better on the day
BroncosCowboys
46%
Possession
54%
86%
Completion rate
85%
1,744
Run metres
2,362
595
Post-contact metres
699
6
Line breaks
8
29
Tackle breaks
33
6
Offloads
18
773
Kick metres
500
86.6%
Effective tackle %
89.8%
33
Missed tackles
29
5
Errors
8
4
Penalties conceded
5
| BRI | NQL | |
|---|---|---|
| Six-again (ruck) | ||
| Dangerous Tackle | ||
| Obstruction | ||
| Ball Strip | ||
| Other | ||
| Total | 8 | 7 |
Positional battles
Combined numbers per position group · more fantasy points takes the battle
Fullbacks
NQL 79-42
Arthars
Drinkwater
190
Run metres
190
21
Kick return metres
69
2
Tackle breaks
5
1
Line breaks
0
Halves
NQL 116-47
Mam
Clifford, Dearden
1
Try assists
2
1
Line-break assists
4
43
Kick metres
301
0
Errors
2
Hookers
BRI 29-2
Paix
Mahoney
28
Tackles
3
0
Run metres
15
49
Passes
16
0
Errors
0
Middles
BRI 155-148
Jensen, Haas, Carrigan
Hess, Taumalolo, Cotter
405
Run metres
486
152
Post-contact metres
180
99
Tackles
81
4
Missed tackles
6
Back row
Piakura, Riki
Luki, O'Donnell
234
Run metres
163
1
Tackle breaks
2
62
Tackles
69
4
Missed tackles
5
Outside backs
BRI 141-115
Karapani, Staggs, Shibasaki, Mariner
Purdue, Chester, Taulagi
575
Run metres
623
3
Line breaks
3
2
Tries
2
3
Errors
2
Best performers
NQL
Scott Drinkwater
79
BRI
Jordan Riki
72
NQL
Soni Luke
72
BRI
Thomas Duffy
70
NQL
Tom Dearden
68
BRI
Payne Haas
65
NQL
Heilum Luki
64
NQL
Tom Chester
63
Show performers as a table
| Player | Team | Fantasy | Run m | Tackle breaks | Line breaks | Tries | Try assists | Tackles |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scott Drinkwater | Cowboys | 79 | 190 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 9 |
| Jordan Riki | Broncos | 72 | 134 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 41 |
| Soni Luke | Cowboys | 72 | 97 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 42 |
| Thomas Duffy | Broncos | 70 | 38 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 15 |
| Tom Dearden | Cowboys | 68 | 186 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 25 |
| Payne Haas | Broncos | 65 | 189 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 33 |
| Heilum Luki | Cowboys | 64 | 95 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 35 |
| Tom Chester | Cowboys | 63 | 245 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 13 |
Head-to-head
2025 R26Cowboys home
BRI
38
30
NQL
Broncos by 8
2025 R3Broncos home
BRI
26
16
NQL
Broncos by 10
2024 R23Cowboys home
BRI
42
18
NQL
Broncos by 24
2024 R4Broncos home
BRI
38
12
NQL
Broncos by 26
2023 R23Cowboys home
BRI
30
14
NQL
Broncos by 16
How we tipped it
Chance each model gave the Cowboys · right of 50% = tipped the winner
Generated automatically from nrl.com match data and our own models · 2026-09-25 05:16:11 UTC