The Broncos have locked up a top four spot after powering to a 54-10 win over the Eels which leaves the latter’s finals hopes hanging by a thread.
It was a night at The Gabba which couldn’t have gone much worse for last year’s beaten grand finalists, who now face an uphill battle to be part of the post season and may have to try and do so without their representative halfback Mitchell Moses.
Moses suffered a suspected facial fracture in the first half and failed to play any of the second half, while second-rower Andrew Davey also didn’t play beyond the 46th minute after failing a HIA.
Brisbane on the other hand were all smiles after arguably their best performance of the year and now head into the bye in Round 25 with their pursuit of the minor premiership well and truly alive.
A stunning piece of work from Reece Walsh and Kurt Capewell down the short side, which resulted in an Adam Reynolds try, set the tone for the night early on and over the next 20 minutes Brisbane scored three more tries to lead 24-0 at the break.
First Billy Walters and Deine Mariner got the first of their personal doubles, before Herbie Farnworth jogged backwards into the in-goal area for a try two minutes from the half, after shaking out of a brave attempted tackle from Moses, who by that stage already appeared to have suffered his injury.
The home side simply couldn’t put a foot wrong and after retaining possession by overturning an on-field call with a captain’s challenge, they sent Mariner flying over for his second early in the second period.
Ezra Mam then jumped on a Capewell offload and danced over, before Walters supported up the middle to grab an in-field kick and secure his first career double.
To their credit the Eels did get over for two late consolation tries through Sean Russell and Dylan Brown, but a Kurt Capwell try in between them and one last four-pointer through Walsh, who capped off a brilliant performance that included four line-break assists and 159 run metres, took Brisbane past the half century.