[1] North Queensland won the match 17–16 in golden point extra time, claiming their first premiership title in their twentieth year of competition.

[2] Cowboys co-captain Johnathan Thurston, who kicked the winning field goal for his team, was awarded the Clive Churchill Medal as the best player on the ground.

The North Queensland Cowboys reached the premiership deciding game for the second time in their history since their inception into the competition in 1995, after losing to the Wests Tigers in their first appearance in 2005.

In losing to the Brisbane side, North Queensland were forced to play an extra week in the finals and faced the sixth-placed Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks at their home venue of 1300SMILES Stadium, beating them convincingly 39-0.

In the 24th minute, attacking from a repeat set which had followed a grubber kick, James Tamou took the first pass out of dummy half and scored under the posts; Thurston converted the try to give North Queensland a 12–8 lead.

North Queensland had the better of possession and field position, and generated several repeat sets in attack, but were unable to score due to a combination of poor execution and Brisbane's stout goal line defence.

Brisbane actively sought to defend its lead, kicking for touch on the sixth tackle throughout most of the second half to wind down the clock and to slow the game down to manage fatigue.

Despite this, the golden point conclusion after Hunt's opening error was considered dissatisfying, and it was a key reason for a change of rules made the following year.