The jury on Dean Pay's tenure at the Bulldogs is still out.
Fresh off back-to-back upset wins against the Sharks and Knights, Cantebury arrived at Suncorp Stadium with a new wave of speculation shrouding their coach's future.
And while the Dogs scrapped their way to those aforementioned wins, the 28-6 loss exposed Canterbury as a team which too often offsets flashes of improvement with serious blunders which hinder any genuine hope of prolonged success.
On Thursday night, Exhibit A was the ill-disciplined Josh Jackson penalty which gifted Brisbane two points to start the night.
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Exhibit B was the subsequent Dallin Watene-Zelezniak kick-off which sailed dead in-goal on the full.
Two minutes later, Kotoni Staggs scored the first try as a result of a wonderfully deft Jamayne Isaako offload.
Crunch time: Canterbury's Dallin Watene-Zelezniak fails to crack the Broncos' defence.Credit:AAP
Exhibit C was Brandon Wakeham's inexplicable drop in the second half, moments after he stripped Matt Lodge of the football.
In the following set, Staggs marched over for his second try. Game, set, match.
Erase those mistakes and the Bulldogs almost went with the Broncos, who had to win to keep their finals hopes alive.
Well, they almost went with the Broncos in the first half, anyway.
When the match was there to be won, Brisbane's young stars stood up.
Payne Haas has returned from a hamstring injury and picked up where he left off. You don't make 205 metres in a match unless you are a bonafide powerhouse.
If Haas isn't bending the defensive line, Tevita Pangai Jr puts his hand up for a carry. He has rediscovered the form which made him the hottest free agent in the NRL at the start of the season, before Brisbane locked him up on a reported $600,000 per year.
If he keeps producing plays like the offload which led to Isaako's first half try, $600,000 per year will prove to be a bargain.
Then there's Queensland forward David Fifita.
He makes tackling look like a very painful exercise when he hits the defensive line at top speed.
Staggs may have been placed on report for raising his knee into an attempted tackle Corey Harawira-Naera but he was similarly destructive with ball in hand on his way to a double, too.
Anthony Seibold's decision to send Anthony Milford back to fullback and push Darius Boyd into the front line has also paid dividends.
The pair seem suited in their new positions, having laboured through the first half of the season.
Boyd threw a simple final pass for Isaako's first half try but went one better with an instinctive, precise cutout which put Corey Oates over in the second term.
Brisbane were clean and given Pay's squad lacks fireRead More – Source
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