A hiccup from Brisbane has given St George Illawarra a chance of winning the NRL minor premiership after they beat Parramatta 25-22 at home yesterday.

Brisbane stumbled against Penrith, losing 22-20 at Penrith Stadium, leaving them only two points ahead of both the Dragons, Parramatta and Wests Tigers with two competition rounds remaining.

The Dragons have a guaranteed two points from next week's bye and have a real shot at winning the minor premiership if they beat Newcastle in their last match before the finals begin.

The Broncos looked to have the measure of Penrith at 20-14 with five minutes to go yesterday, but two late tries to centre Paul Franze, the last with just 49 seconds remaining, tipped them out.

Both teams finished with four tries, with five-eighth Preston Campbell kicking three goals for the Panthers and halfback Brett Seymour two for the Broncos.

Brisbane, who lost prop Shane Webcke with a medial ligament strain to his left knee, have the Roosters and Eels as opponents in the last two rounds.

The Roosters' season went from poor to terrible when they lost 17-16 to South Sydney at Aussie Stadium.

The Rabbitohs had not beaten the Roosters in 11 years.

- NZPA