Brisbane coach Anthony Griffin has scoffed at talk the Broncos will be little more than “nuisance value” if they make next month’s NRL finals.

Griffin said Brisbane were already in finals mode and playing well enough to be a genuine finals threat.

“Our final is tomorrow night (against Penrith). We’ve already started our finals,” he said.

“It’s about getting past Penrith. If we don’t do that we’re finished.

“We’re not looking towards the finals, we’re already in them.”

Brisbane can’t finish any higher than seventh if they beat the Panthers at Suncorp Stadium which means they will have to win four games in a row to win the premiership.

“It’s about staying alive now. You win two or three games now you’re down to the last four and anyone’s a chance then,” said Griffin.

“We’ve got enough (talent) there if we get a result to be a real threat and not as nuisance value as some are suggesting.”

Despite six straight losses, Brisbane believe they’re building the momentum needed to win finals football.

“Those last three weeks we didn’t get a scoreboard result but we’re building a lot of resilience and belief,” said Griffin.

“They’ve been really hard, semi-final type games of football which is exactly what we need at this time of the year.

Strike centre Justin Hodges threw a scare into the camp when he went down at training on Thursday morning but Griffin quickly dismissed any concerns about his fitness.

“He got a kick in the shins and he milked it for everything,” laughed the coach.

With more than 40,000 fans rolling up, Griffin said it would be a “big night on a lot of fronts” for the club.

“We’re farewelling Petero (Civoniceva), it’s a final for us and Wal (former Brisbane foundation captain Wally Lewis) is getting inducted into the Hall of Fame,” he said.

The players would not be addressed before the game about the significance of Civoniceva’s Suncorp Stadium swansong.

“They (players) all know … you’d have to be living on the North Pole if you didn’t know, they all understand,” he said.

With Josh Hoffman returning at fullback, Corey Norman at five-eighth and Dale Copley on the wing, Brisbane’s line-up is a lot like earlier in the season when they were putting teams away with their slick attack.

Norman’s running game is a must in the halves to generate try-scoring opportunities with Peter Wallace and Andrew McCullough both accomplished organisers.

“Corey’s got some confidence playing fullback and got his running game back and he’s ready to go with Pete (Wallace),” said Griffin.

Griffin warned Penrith would be out to spoil Brisbane’s big night.

“They’re in the best form of their season with their key players (Michael) Jennings, (Lachlan) Coote, (Luke) Walsh and (Brad) Tighe and they’ve got Michael Gordon back,” he said.

“It’s nothing foreign to us, everyone we’ve played over the last six weeks have played their best game of footy against us.”