Brisbane coach Anthony Griffin refused to take the spotlight off Petero Civoniceva’s big night after his side almost certainly secured a place in the NRL finals with a 19-12 victory over Penrith on Friday.

Griffin wouldn’t talk specifically about Brisbane’s finals claims despite his side snapping a six-game losing streak against the Panthers, who tried to gatecrash Civoniceva’s party attended by 35,178 guests.

Civoniceva’s parents, wife Bonnie and four children were among the crowd which poured onto the field after the game.

“I couldn’t have asked for a more fitting goodbye to Suncorp Stadium, playing for a club I’ve got such a great history with against my old teammates,” said Civoniceva, surrounded by over 5,000 cheering fans.

“I want to thank my parents, my wife Bonnie and the kids and friends and family.

“Thank you supporters who are here tonight, it’s an honour to play in front of you and represent you.”

Victory wasn’t secured until back-rower Alex Glenn galloped over for his 10th try of the season in the 75th minute and man-of-the-match halfback Peter Wallace snapped a field goal to put the game out of the Panthers’ reach.

Asked if the win was the tonic Brisbane needed going into the finals, Griffin appeared to almost sidestep the question.

“We’ll be a chance next week,” he said quickly followed with “it’s a big night for Petero tonight.

“We did what we had to do but it’s important we recognise his achievements.”

Civoniceva was not surprised his former club made a good fist of their attempt to ruin his big night.

“We turned up knowing we were going to be in for a tough game,” he said.

“It was a real arm wrestle for most of the match.”

Griffin said Brisbane had been “very messy” in the opening 40 minutes.

“We tried to go around them and get things done before we’d earned the right to.

“We clicked a bit in the second half which was nice.”

The win will do Brisbane’s confidence the world of good after a tough month in which they’ve suffered close losses against the top three sides Canterbury, Melbourne and Manly.

“We’ll enjoy the moment and we’ll get back into training on Monday and we’ll be ready to go,” Griffin said.

“It’s the start of a new competition now.”

Brisbane played like a batsman in the “nervous 90s” in the first half with Penrith taking a slender 6-0 lead into the break after a late try to winger Josh Mansour, who had earlier suffered a cut to his mouth after a heavy collision with rival Justin Hodges.

Brisbane had enough ball in the opening 20 minutes to have a handsome lead but Penrith managed to hold them out before fullback Michael Gordon’s break in the 30th minute set up Mansour’s try.