So Who Won in Brisbane?

The Sydney Qualifier was predictable.

Campbelltown Saints and FTA were pencilled in by most before the opening kick-off, and there was no need to reach for the eraser. It stayed that way right through to the end. Both teams booked their Gold Coast tickets, with CTown taking the winners’ cheque and Western Sydney bragging rights along with it.

Predictable, but not boring.

Jarryd Hayne’s Saints also knocked off a long-held Nines assumption along the way. Older legs do not survive Day Two. They did. Comfortably.

Brisbane was different.

Sydney-based DLB and Central Queensland’s Titans of Coal were Brisbane’s version of the Saints and FTA. The teams people circled early and expected to see late.

By Sunday afternoon, the script was covered in scribbles and crossed-out lines.

Neither qualified.

Instead, the final featured 18 pairs of young legs on the field, spread across two teams that may as well have photocopied the Dawgs playbook. Light on big names. Heavy on engines. Built to run all weekend.

With the summer heat dialled to eleven at Rochedale, Brisbane didn’t care who you were. It rewarded teams built for the grind.

Te Ao Mārama manager Wiki Haua understood the balance. Prepared, but fresh. Their lead-up was simple. One training run and a barbecue.

Haua also knew exactly where he was pitching his tent. This is a competition where some teams arrive carrying a thousand games of NRL, Super League, Origin and international experience, all baked into their rotations.

So he went the other way.

No pedigrees. No shortcuts. Just a squad built to recover quickly and run again.

Wins over the Wide Bay Renegades, 35–4, and Isa Warriors, 23–14, booked Te Ao Mārama a place in the finals and left them sitting comfortably at the end of Day One.

Comfortable, but not finished.

As the long shadows crept across the field in the final game of the day, they were set to meet Indigenous Mana.

Indigenous Mana were working from a familiar Nines blueprint, with one clear exception.

Leivaha Pulu.

The former Titan, Warrior and Tongan international was the lone piece of top-level experience in an otherwise anonymous lineup. The rest of the squad were club players pulled from around Brisbane, young legs and local footy miles.

On paper, there wasn’t much riding on it. Both teams were already locked in for Sunday’s finals.

Indigenous Mana had beaten Isa Warriors earlier in the day and lost a tight one to the Wide Bay Renegades, leaving them with only a mathematical chance of finishing on top, even if they handed Te Ao Mārama a drubbing.

But Nines games rarely stay on paper for long.

Indigenous Mana’s Cory McGrady blew the game open early, his creative kicking and skill by hand leaving Te Ao Mārama searching for answers. Indigenous Mana dictated the tempo from there, while Te Ao Mārama were forced to chase.

A loose carry late handed Indigenous Mana possession ten metres out with ninety seconds to play. Jaspar Kobale finished it off, sealing a 15–4 win.

Te Ao Mārama were still heading to the finals.

But they walked off with something lingering.

Doubt.

That’s usually where Nines weekends start to unravel teams.

Sunday doesn’t reward panic or self-pity. It rewards whoever wakes up first, recovers quickest, and treats Saturday as information rather than damage.

Indigenous Mana handled it like a team riding momentum. They leaned into the edge they’d found late on Day One, loose without being careless, confident without needing to prove anything. Saturday hadn’t rattled them. It had freed them up.

Te Ao Mārama took a different path.

They didn’t try to outrun Saturday. They absorbed it. The energy was calmer. The tempo more deliberate. Where Indigenous Mana trusted momentum, Te Ao Mārama trusted control. They looked less like a team chasing redemption and more like one quietly fixing what needed fixing.

By the time Sunday afternoon settled in, the tournament had done its sorting.

Not through upsets.
Not through luck.
Through repetition.

The teams built to back it up were still standing. The ones carrying too much from Saturday were not.

Te Ao Mārama and Indigenous Mana didn’t stumble into the grand final. They arrived there logically, the inevitable result once Brisbane stopped pretending names still mattered.

And by then, the final felt less like a showdown and more like confirmation.

Confirmation that on these Sundays, reputation fades quickly. Execution doesn’t.

That execution showed itself late, in a moment that had nothing to do with flair. A restart. A lapse. One penalty. Ten metres of field position. No hesitation.

Te Ao Mārama took what was there.

Ryan Hollis finished it the way this tournament kept rewarding all weekend. Direct. Efficient. Uncomplicated. Pressure turned into points, not conversation.

That was the difference.

Not the tries before it. Not the noise around it. Just the ability to recognise the moment, stay composed, and convert when it finally arrived to win 24 – 17.

That’s how Brisbane was won.

Both teams are now Premier League-bound, heading to the Gold Coast in January with a clear understanding of what this format will demand again.

And while Sydney finished with two teams stacked with former pros. Brisbane finished with two teams built like the Dawgs.