Pride of the Second-Tier competitions

The Northern Pride have claimed the Inaugural NRL State Championship with a hard fought 32-28 victory over the Penrith Panthers at a hot ANZ Stadium.

Blake Leary struck up the first of two Pride tries in the opening 10 minutes as he crossed via the boot of Shaun Nona. Nona's kicking ability brought up the second try minutes later as Javid Bowen collected the first of three tries. The Pride jumped to an 8-0 lead.

The Panthers turned the momentum in their favour as they ran in two back-to-back tries through Luke Capewell and Eto Nabuli. Mid-way through the opening half, the goal kicking the difference as the Panthers led 12-8.

Javid Bowen bagged his second four-pointer inside the final 10 minutes of the first half as Shaun Nona's boot again pin-point. This was followed up as the Panthers returned serve as Waqa Blake spectacularly dived on in the eastern corner to give his side a 16-14 lead at half time.

The Panthers continued their try scoring run as Kierran Moseley and Kieran Moss crossed early in the second half as the Panthers took a 28-16 lead at the 54th minute. The Panthers getting to feet as they fought hard to gain control of the game.

The Northern Pride sailed home as Javid Bowen posted his third try and Tyrone McCarthy danced over under the posts to seal the win. The Pride took their opportunities on offer to secure a 32-28 victory and take the NRL State Championship back to Queensland.

NORTHERN PRIDE (34)
Tries: Blake Leary, Javid Bowen (4), Semi Tadulala, Tyrone McCarthy
Field Goals:
Conversions: Shaun Nona (1/4), Javid Bowen (1/1)
Penalty Goals: Shaun Nona (1/1)

PENRITH PANTHERS (28)
Tries: Luke Capewell, Eto Nabuli, Waqa Blake, Kierran Moseley, Kieren Moss
Field Goals:
Conversions: Wes Naiqama (4/5)
Penalty Goals:

LATE MAIL: Penrith Panthers - No change for Garth Brennan's side, taking to the field 1-17

LATE MAIL: Northern Pride - Kyle Feldt replaced by Davin Crampton with Patrick Kaufusi on the bench. Ethan Lowe moves to the bench with Jack Svendsen starting

Welcome to our LIVE coverage of the inaugural NRL State Championship at ANZ Stadium between NSW Cup Premiers, Penrith Panthers and the Intrust Super Cup Premiers, Northern Pride. It's a big battle as the best of State Cup comps come together.

We are UNDERWAY at ANZ Stadium as the Panthers kick off!

1: Kieren Moss watches the first kick of the game roll over the sideline, Shaun Nona pins the kick perfectly first up. Panthers scrum down on their own 10 metre line.

2: Tyrone McCarthy comes up with a one-on-one strip on Kevin Kingston after he darted 20 metres up field. The Pride with possession 30 metres out.

3: Blake Leary is denied first points as the pass from Shaun Nona is ruled forward. Panthers with the change over at their 10 metre line

4: ZERO TACKLE for the Pride after Hezron Murgha had the ball knocked down on the last tackle kick. Pride with possession deep in their own half

5: ZERO TACKLE again for the Pride, Panthers drop the ball as the last tackle bomb went up. It's followed up immediately by a penalty. The Pride attack just 10 metres out from a quick tap

6: TRY NORTHERN PRIDE
Scored by Blake Leary. Kick to come.
The Northern Pride strike first points through Blake Leary as Shaun Nona placed a pin-point kick through the Panthers defence. Brilliant try following the penatly

8: UNSUCCESSFUL CONVERSION NORTHERN PRIDE
Conversion attempt by Shaun Nona unsuccessful.
Shaun Nona with the conversion attempt from in front of the posts slices it across the face of goal

9: Penalty comes against the Panthers, the Pride kick for touch and attack now 25 metres out from the try line

10: VIDEO REFEREE for the Northern Pride, Sheldon Powe-Hobbs has surged for the try line but looks to have been held up by Luke Capewell

10: NO TRY for the Pride, Sheldon Powe-Hobbs is denied as he was held up over the try line by Luke Capewell

11: UNFORCED ERROR PENRITH PANTHERS
Wes Naiqama makes an unforced error.
Wes Naiqama unable to take possession on the last tackle kick as he dropped it. Another chance for the Pride with a scrum 10 metres out

12: TRY NORTHERN PRIDE
Scored by Javid Bowen. Kick to come.
Javid Bowen jumps on a grubber kick in goal off the boot of Shaun Nona, Pride on a roll at the moment with errors giving up possession in their own red zone

13: UNSUCCESSFUL CONVERSION NORTHERN PRIDE
Conversion attempt by Shaun Nona unsuccessful.
Shaun Nona from the eastern sideline with the sun beaming down on him hooks it to the left of the posts

16: TRY PENRITH PANTHERS
Scored by Luke Capewell. Kick to come.
Luke Capewell with a turn of pace has bolted away for the Panthers and he streaked away 40 metres after taking an inside offload from Kevin Naiqama

18: SUCCESSFUL CONVERSION PENRITH PANTHERS
Conversion attempt by Wes Naiqama successful.
Wes Naiqama with the conversion attempt draws the game back to 2 points

19: Penalty to the Panthers, too long in the ruck from the Pride. Penrith attack 30 metres out from the kick for touch

21: Luke Capewell's kick for the western corner is over the top of Wes Naiqama and it's over the sideline. Change over on last tackle for the Pride

22: Ben Murdoch-Masila is down in back play with a possible knee injury. Meanwhile Shuan Nona has been forced over the sideline by Wes Naiqama

22: Ben Murdoch-Masila has copped an accidental throat in a tackle. Panthers resume play from inside their own half

23: VIDEO REFEREE for the Panthers, NO TRY is the call for Eto Nabuli. Looking at grounding

23: TRY PENRITH PANTHERS
Scored by Eto Nabuli. Kick to come.
Eto Nabuli gets GREEN LIGHTS after one look on replay, he reached out for the line after a brilliant run around shift.

25: SUCCESSFUL CONVERSION PENRITH PANTHERS
Conversion attempt by Wes Naiqama successful.
Wes Naiqama swings the conversion from the western sideline and the Panthers take the lead over the Pride

27: Shaun Nona rockets a kick towards the sideline, just outside the 40 metre line and it's a scrum feed for the Panthers

29: Kieren Moss watches the ball roll dead and it's a 20 metre tap

30: VIDEO REFEREE for the Northern Pride, we have NO TRY for Javid Bowen. Shaun Nona has come up with a one-on-one strip.

31: TRY NORTHERN PRIDE
Scored by Javid Bowen. Kick to come.
Javid Bowen gets the GREEN LIGHTS as he bolts away after Shaun Nona took the ball in a clean strip on Kieren Moss.

31: SUCCESSFUL CONVERSION NORTHERN PRIDE
Conversion attempt by Shaun Nona successful.
Shaun Nona with the conversion attempt from right in front nails it this time to give the Pride the lead again

35: TRY PENRITH PANTHERS
Scored by Waqa Blake. Kick to come.
Waqa Blake has leapt over in the eastern corner after a brilliant run from Kieren Moss who then linked with Nathan Smith to set up the Panthers 3rd try

37: UNSUCCESSFUL CONVERSION PENRITH PANTHERS
Conversion attempt by Wes Naiqama unsuccessful.
Wes Naiqama with the conversion attempt from the sideline and it's pushed across the face of goal

39: UNFORCED ERROR PENRITH PANTHERS
Waqa Blake makes an unforced error.
Waqa Blake is unable to hold onto a late pass and it's zero tackle for the Pride 10 metres short of halfway

40: Penalty awarded to the Pride just before the siren and they will take the shot at penalty goal on offer.

40: SUCCESSFUL PENALTY GOAL NORTHERN PRIDE
Penalty goal attempt by Shaun Nona successful.
Shaun Nona slots the conversion attempt of the penalty goal to give up as a 16-all locked up game at the break

41: Second half is UNDERWAY here at ANZ Stadium as we are locked at 16-all between the Penrith Panthers and Northern Pride

42: UNFORCED ERROR PENRITH PANTHERS
Waqa Blake makes an unforced error.
Waqa Blake unable to take the short pass and it's a knock on against Penrith, the Pride with possession deep in their own half.

43: UNFORCED ERROR NORTHERN PRIDE
Sheldon Powe-Hobbs makes an unforced error.
Sheldon Powe-Hobbs is unable to hold onto possession and the Panthers go back on the attack 15 metres out from a scrum feed

44: ZERO TACKLE for the Panthers, knock down by the Pride and the Panthers attack 10 metres out

44: TRY PENRITH PANTHERS
Scored by Kierran Moseley. Kick to come.
Kierran Moseley darted out from acting half and it's another try for the Panthers, incredible dummy half play

45: SUCCESSFUL CONVERSION PENRITH PANTHERS
Conversion attempt by Wes Naiqama successful.
Wes Naiqama slots the conversion and it's the Panthers in front by a converted try

46: UNFORCED ERROR PENRITH PANTHERS
Kieren Moss makes an unforced error.
Kieren Moss fumbles possession from the kick off and it's the Northern Pride with a scrum feed 10 metres out from the Panthers try line

47: UNFORCED ERROR NORTHERN PRIDE
Patrick Kaufusi makes an unforced error.
Patrick Kaufusi follows up the Moss mistake with one of his own, the Pride unable to keep possession and capitalise on the ball in the red zone.

48: Time off here, Patrick Kaufusi is down on the ground after a head clash with his own teammate.

48: Patrick Kaufusi is coming off with possible concussion, he head clash with Ryan Ghietti who is getting tap across the face. Panthers resume play on last tackle at the 40m line.

52: TRY PENRITH PANTHERS
Scored by Kieren Moss. Kick to come.
Tom Humble has bolted away 50 metres before getting knocked down to the ground, with no one touching him he flicked up to Kieran Moss who sailed over for Penrith.

54: SUCCESSFUL CONVERSION PENRITH PANTHERS
Conversion attempt by Wes Naiqama successful.
Wes Naiqama with the conversion attempt adds the extras and it's a 12 point game

56: Kevin Naiqama gets a penalty as he was forced over in a second effort. A handy kick up field for Penrith out of their red zone

57: 1st tackle mistake from the Panthers, forward pass and knock on sees the Pride pack a scrum down

58: Penalty to the Pride for a high tackle, they are 10 metres out from the Panthers try line.

58: VIDEO REFEREE for the Pride, Semi Tadulala is claiming darted over after an offload from Ethan Lowe

59: TRY NORTHERN PRIDE
Scored by Semi Tadulala. Kick to come.
Semi Tadulala gets GREEN LIGHTS as he managed to ground the ball with a blade of grass between the ball and the sideline. Incredible grounding!

59: UNSUCCESSFUL CONVERSION NORTHERN PRIDE
Conversion attempt by Shaun Nona unsuccessful.
Shaun Nona from the sideline is unable to slot the conversion and the score remains an 8 point gap

62: TRY NORTHERN PRIDE
Scored by Javid Bowen. Kick to come.
Javid Bowen has managed to come up with a floating catch as Sam Obst placed the kick, Wes Naiqama fumbled it and gives up a simple try

64: SUCCESSFUL CONVERSION NORTHERN PRIDE
Conversion attempt by Javid Bowen successful.
Javid Bowen with the conversion attempt slots the goal and we are back to a 2 point gap

67: Eto Nabuli juggled the ball but unluckily forced over the sideline. Change over for the Pride at the 10 metre line.

69: Eto Nabuli has dropped the ball as the Panthers spread bullet like across the field, Kevin Naiqama danced with the defence and just unable to get the right pass on. Change over for the Pride at their 10 metre line

70: Wes Naiqama has fumbled another kick and the Northern Pride have a prime opportunity to come up with points through a scrum feed 10 metres out

71: TRY NORTHERN PRIDE
Scored by Tyrone McCarthy. Kick to come.
Tyrone McCarthy sails into a gap at the posts and the Panthers defence opens up as Jason Roos out of acting half dummied and proved the face ball to give the Pride the lead

72: TRY NORTHERN PRIDE
Scored by Javid Bowen. Kick to come.
Javid Bowen with the conversion splits the uprights and they lead the Panthers by 4 points

78: Two minutes to play and the Panthers have a scrum feed 30 metres out from the Pride line

78: Tyrone McCarthy has come up with possession as the Panthers presented a lose carry, the Pride stuck in their red zone

80: Luke Capewell throws the ball into touch and the Northern Pride are the 2014 State Champions in the Inaugural NRL State Championship! They have claimed a 34-28 victory!