The Scone junior was making just his second NRL appearance and his first in the run-on side after being brought in at five-eighth to replace the injured Adam Doueihi.

The Tigers went down 30-16 to the second-placed Penrith Panthers in a match where Madden had eight runs for 51 metres, seven kicks for 287 metres along with making 28 tackles.

"It was really good. Really good to get out there," Madden said.

"It was a very fast game, Panthers are a very quality team. It's just good to be playing NRL."

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Madden has again been named at No. 6 this weekend against the Bulldogs in the final regular round of the NRL season.

It will cap of a disjointed 24 months for Madden after COVID-19 saw the NSW Cup competition cancelled the past two seasons.

"It's been difficult, I think I've only played 15, 16 games over the last two years," Madden said.

"So it's been very challenging but I think you've just gotta go into training each day and each week with the right mindset to want improve yourself and better yourself.

"You had to look at it a different way. If you weren't playing you might have done a bit more video or a few extras at training where you can learn and develop your game. So I think that has helped me along the way to where I am now."