A first-half masterclass has helped Brisbane lodge a 26-16 defeat of Parramatta, who lost NSW State of Origin hopeful Reagan Campbell-Gillard to a suspected groin injury in Darwin.
The Eels beat the Broncos by 40 points on their last visit to the Top End in 2021 and when Adam Reynolds and Ezra Mam conspired to give the Broncos a 22-6 half-time lead on Friday night, it looked as though the script would be flipped this time around.
The Broncos did not dominate their opponents in the second half as it looked like they might, but nor could the Eels close the gap in wet conditions.
The result moves the ladder-leading Broncos to a 7-1 win-loss record, with the Eels slumping to a 3-5 return.
Mam can expect to face scrutiny from the match review committee after being sin-binned for a hip-drop tackle on Matt Doorey in the second half, while Eels recruit J'maine Hopgood also facing a nervous wait for making the same illegal move.
The form prop of the competition, Payne Haas could join them on the charge sheet for his own indiscretion, which went unpunished on-field despite Campbell-Gillard's injury.
Two heads-up plays from the Broncos turned a 6-6 deadlock after 20 minutes into a 18-6 lead after 25 minutes.
The second Broncos' try saw Mam run the ball on the fifth tackle and burst through the defensively feeble Josh Hodgson before flicking an offload to Reynolds.
Only minutes later, Walsh put a grubber kick through the defensive line, again on the fifth tackle. The ball bounced up for Kotoni Staggs in the in-goal, with the centre slapping the ball back in play for Mam.
It did not get any easier for the Eels in the second half.
In the first 10 minutes after the resumption, they lost centre Bailey Simonsson to a match-ending concussion and Hopgood to the sin-bin.
Simonsson knocked himself out attempting a tackle on Selwyn Cobbo and will miss next week's clash against Newcastle, while the bunker pulled the play back to sin-bin Hopgood for a hip-drop tackle on Cory Paix.
Told to lift his game by Eels coach Brad Arthur earlier this month, five-eighth Dylan Brown was the best on a beaten side.
He set up two of Parramatta's three tries with his boot, first putting a grubber kick through for his captain Clint Gutherson and then finding Maika Sivo across field amid the downpour.
Mam's sin-binning encouraged the Eels on their comeback, with Sean Russell scoring a try in the 63rd minute to close the gap on the scoreboard to 10 points.
Russell appeared to go over again in the final five minutes but Mitch Moses's cut-out pass to the wing was ruled forward.
AAP
