Penrith has ended an 11-year drought and toughened Brisbane's road to the finals with a gritty 13-6 NRL win.

The finals-bound Panthers scored just one second half point, a 40-metre field goal off the boot of injured skipper Craig Gower to set a new record for away wins in a season for the club and post its first win over the Broncos in Brisbane since 1992.

Brisbane's narrow loss also set some records.

It was the first time in 16 seasons and 179 games they had lost three games in a row at home.

Fullback Michael De Vere's 68th minute penalty goal, which cut the margin to 12-6 before Gower's field goal, took his first grade points total to 880, one more than Darren Lockyer's record.

De Vere also became the first player to hit 1,000 points for the Broncos.

Penrith led 12-0 at half time but Brisbane bounced back with an early second half try to forward Dane Carlaw.

While Penrith coach John Lang was lauding the Panthers' much-maligned defence, Brisbane coach Wayne Bennett found a lot to like about his team's performance.

What he didn't like was referee's Tim Mander's interpretation of the marker defence.

Stand-in captain Shane Webcke questioned Mander about what he wanted after centre Brent Tate was penalised in the second half despite appearing to stay within the rules.

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