The Brisbane Broncos have enhanced their top-four chances with a solid 18-12 victory over the Cronulla Sharks in front of 27,905 fans at a slippery Suncorp Stadium on Friday night.
The home side showed more spark in attack during a dour first-half to take a handy 8-0 lead at the break before weathering an early second-half onslaught by the Sharks to cruise home and claim back-to-back victories.
It was the first time in two months the Broncos had the luxury of a full-strength backline with centre Justin Hodges returning from a six-match ban to join halves Darren Lockyer and Peter Wallace, who have both spent time on the sidelines with injury.
But it was the likes of forwards Sam Thaiday, Greg Eastwood and Tonie Carroll who stood up against the physical Sharks pack to lay the platform for the Broncos as they move one-point shy of fourth position on the NRL ladder.
The third-placed Sharks continued their struggle with the ball in hand, only crossing the chalk late in the game when the contest was as good as over.
Cronulla half-back Brett Kimmorley was pinged for lying on the tackled player in the 5th minute, allowing the Broncos to post first points via a Michael Ennis penalty goal.
The Broncos had the first real chance to score a try 27 minutes in when a slick ball-spread left resulted in winger Kane Manihera crashing over the line, but referee Shayne Hayne ruled the Brisbane rookie held up after a he was stopped by a pack of desperate Cronulla defenders.
But the hosts would make it count six minutes later when a Peter Wallace bomb was shoveled back for interchange forward Eastwood who displayed great vision to hook a kick in the direction of winger Denam Kemp to bag his 13th four-pointer of the season.
Ennis slotted the sideline conversion to give the Broncos their eventual 8-0 half-time lead.
The Sharks came out firing in the second-half mixing some rare line-breaks with committed defence, but their efforts went unrewarded due to the Broncos' gritty scrambling and goal-line defence.
Sharks' skipper and perennial bad boy Paul Gallen was placed on report for a jolting shoulder shot to the head of Broncos' utility David Stagg in the 54th minute which could see the Australian Test star in hot water, although Stagg appeared to be falling into the tackle.
The telling blow by the Broncos came in the 57th minute when Ennis jumped out of dummy-half then flopped a ball back for Thaiday to pick up and power over.
Ennis converted from a sharp angle to give Brisbane a handy 14-0 lead with almost a third of the game completed.
The visitors were back in with a sniff when Sharks full-back Brett Kearney slammed the ball over the in the 68th minute, but Eastwood capped off a strong performance with a try five minutes later to seal the game for Brisbane.
Sharks second-rower Grant Millington grabbed a consolation try for the Sharks two minutes from full-time.
Brisbane Broncos 18
Tries: Kemp, Thaiday, Eastwood
Conversions: Ennis 2
Penalty goals: Ennis
Cronulla Sharks 12
Tries: Kearney, Millington
Conversions: Covell 2
Sportal's NRL Player of the Year:
3 - Sam Thaiday (Broncos)
2 - Michael Ennis (Broncos)
1 - Greg Eastwood (Broncos)