The 2025 NRL season was filled wall to wall with outstanding games of rugby league.
From golden point thrillers, to nail-biting comebacks and one of the best finals of our generation, the 2025 season had it all.
Zero Tackle have run the rule over every game of the season to come up with the best of the best. From a long list of 42 games, we have painstakingly narrowed it down to ten.
Here are the best NRL matches of the 2025 season.
Round 10, North Queensland Cowboys 30 drew Penrith Panthers 30 at Queensland Country Bank Stadium, Townsville
The only draw of the season may not have been the most technically excellent display of rugby league you’ll ever see, but there wasn’t a whole lot of games that pushed past it for excitement throughout 2025.
The game, which also dragged attention for the wrong reasons afterwards with trainers putting water on footballs before the kick-off, saw 60 points and both teams at times seemingly more interested in losing than winning.
From 18-12 at halftime, the Cowboys levelled the game through Jake Clifford in the 45th minute, but a double from the Panthers pushed them ahead by 12 points with just 15 minutes to play.
The Cowboys then managed to score two of their own in a three-minute window, but the final five minutes wasn’t enough to split the teams, and nor was the extra ten minutes in golden point despite five field goal attempts.
Round 5, Parramatta Eels 23 defeat St George Illawarra Dragons 22 at CommBank Stadium, Parramatta
There were plenty of close games throughout the early rounds of 2025, but none came better than a Saturday afternoon thriller between the Parramatta Eels and St George Illawarra Dragons.
The storylines heading into this clash wrote themselves.
Clint Gutherson’s return to Parramatta, Zac Lomax playing his first game against his junior club, and two teams desperate for an uptick in form.
It was a back and forth game, but when the Dragons pushed out to a 20-8 lead with half an hour to go, they looked the goods.
Tries to Gutherson’s replacement Isaiah Iongi and forward Kitione Kautoga closed the game though, with penalty goals each way in the final 15 minutes keepint it locked up.
It took a, fittingly perhaps, Zac Lomax field goal to break the deadlock in golden point.
Round 10, Canberra Raiders 20 defeated by Canterbury Bulldogs 32 at GIO Stadium, Canberra
This game will always be remembered as Stephen Crichton’s game, and one where the Bulldogs proved their mettle as premiership contenders, even if they fell off the wagon during the second half of the season.
At one stage, the Raiders led this game 20 points to nil.
It was if the wheels had fallen off for the Bulldogs, but that’s not how it finished, with Crichton turning in one of the greatest individual halves of footy in some time to lead the Bulldogs on a 32-point unanswered rampage.
Crichton himself kicked off the scoring, with the Bulldogs scoring three tries in the first ten minutes of the second half.
The Raiders never got back into the game, and while they went on to win the minor premiership, this was certainly an eye-opener for them.
Preliminary final, Melbourne Storm 22 defeat Cronulla Sharks 14 at AAMI Park, Melbourne
When you think of finals footy, you think of defensive lines going to work for each other, fast-paced action and incredible bits of teamwork across 80 minutes where the ball is in play more than the regular season.
That was virtually to a word how the first game on preliminary final weekend fared, with the Melbourne Storm claiming victory over the Cronulla Sharks.
In truth, the Sharks were out of the game well before it was over, but they clawed their way back into it time and time again, simply lacking the polish and execution to get over the top of a Storm outfit who went on to lose their second straight decider.
Xavier Coates’ try just minutes from fulltime put the game beyond doubt for Melbourne after they had scored three first half tries.
Round 24, Penrith Panthers 18 defeated by Melbourne Storm 22 at CommBank Stadium, Parramatta
The Panthers and Storm haven’t gone a season in the last few years without playing a high quality game, and this one, which went to golden point, was the best of their duo for 2025.
It was eventually decided by the craft of Harry Grant, who snuck over for a try in the extra period, but that only came after 80 excellent minutes between two sides on the path to the finals.
The teams had traded tries through the first 50 minutes of the game, but Melbourne’s second was followed quickly by another to Joe Chan which seemed to flip the momentum.
Goal-kicking was poor from Nick Meaney though, so even with a late try to Marion Seve, the four tries to three in regular time wasn’t enough for Melbourne.
Penrith went close to winning the game on multiple occasions, but couldn’t find a way over the tryline after Scott Sorensen’s 61st-minute effort, which, at that point, put them in front.
Preliminary final, Brisbane Broncos 16 defeat Penrith Panthers 14 at Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane
The Brisbane Broncos looked dead and buried in this game, with the Panthers just minutes away from their sixth straight grand final.
But then, as it happened in other weeks of the finals, the Broncos found a way.
Down 14-0 at halftime, Kotoni Staggs was first to score in the second half, before tries in the 69th and 75th minute to Xavier Willison and Deine Mariner respectively put the Broncos back ahead.
The Panthers threw the kitchen sink at Michael Maguire’s side during those final minutes, but Brisbane’s stars found a way to keep them out and book a spot in the grand final, which would see a two-decade-long drought end at Red Hill.
Round 9, Melbourne Storm 18 defeated by Canberra Raiders 20 at Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane
Magic Round brought with it some excellent games in 2025, but none more so than the last game of the round between the Raiders and Storm.
Two teams who have put on a number of sneaky good games in recent years, the Raiders wound up being the minor premiers, and it might have been this game which proved why.
An effort from Kaeo Weekes was the only reason it made it to an extra period, before a pair of sin bins rocked golden point, with Jamal Fogarty cool as ice to slot the winning penalty goal after a dangerous tackle from Trent Loiero just a minute later.
In what was one of the games of the year, the two sides went back and forth all night and kept a fatigued Magic Round crowd alive.
Round 20, Newcastle Knights 15 defeated by New Zealand Warriors 20 at McDonald Jones Stadium, Newcastle
Leka Halasima.
One of the breakout stars of the 2025 season had his crowning moment in this game, scoring a try in the final play of the game off a long-range effort.
It was all effort and intensity from Halasima to come up with a loose ball and then roam his way through a staggered Newcastle defensive line.
The game had ebbed and flowed before that, the Warriors still learning how to play without Luke Metcalf.
After scoring the first try, they fell behind heading into halftime, but were kept in it with Dane Gagai missing all three conversions. A try to Demitric Vaimauga, penalty goals each way and a field goal to Jack Cogger left the Warriors a point behind in the closing stages before Halasima’s excellent effort.
Round 25, Penrith Panthers 16 defeated by Canberra Raiders 20 at Glen Willow Oval, Mudgee
If you’re looking for a game with drama, this was among the best in 2025.
On a Friday, in Mudgee, with a 6pm kick-off.
At the start of the year when fixtures were being made, you could understand why the Panthers and Raiders were handed the 6pm Friday timeslot, but NRL powerbrokers must have been kicking themselves by the time the game rolled around.
In the end, it was a stunning long-range try in golden point for Kaeo Weekes that settled the difference after a drop goal attempt from Penrith hit the post.
Up until then, it had been a back and forth game, with both teams looking at various points like they were on the verge of kicking clear with the game.
A belter between two finals-bound sides just weeks out from the knockouts getting underway.
Qualifying final, Canberra Raiders 28 defeated by Brisbane Broncos 29 at GIO Stadium, Canberra
The undisputed game of the year, and maybe one of the games of the decade to date.
In the opening week of the finals, the Raiders looked to be well on their way to victory against the Brisbane Broncos, and in the process, booking themselves the critical week off.
But that’s not the way Reece Walsh saw it going, with the star fullback returning from a sin bin to drag the Red Hill-based outfit, firstly into extra time, and then over the top of the green machine.
For Walsh, it was part of the best eight-week run of his career to date as Brisbane took the premiership, while the Raiders were unable to back up the following week from the 90-plus minute epic and were bundled out in straight sets.
The game had it all – excitement, controversy and thrilling plays.
