THE Brisbane Broncos have dealt the Newcastle Knights' finals hopes a devastating blow with a hit-and-run 30-14 ambush at McDonald Jones Stadium on Saturday night.
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The result leaves the Knights 12th on the ladder and they are likely to be trailing the top eight by four points by the end of round 20, with six games to play.
Adding to Newcastle's woes, they lost NSW Origin hero Bradman Best in the early minutes to a hamstring injury.
The win ended Brisbane's six-game losing streak and allowed them to leapfrog Newcastle on the points table.
Queensland Origin fullback Reece Walsh carved the Knights up in the first half to give the visitors an 18-0 lead at the break.
Centre Daine Mariner scored two first-half try and Walsh crossed himself against an uninspiring Newcastle team who missed 40 tackles in the opening 40 minutes, and made nine errors.
Brisbane, boosted by the return from a long-term injury lay-off of skipper Adam Reynolds, increased their stranglehold on the match when back-rower Brendan Piakura charged over 10 minutes after half-time to make it 24-0.
Knights forward Jack Hetherington gave the 26,952 home fans rare cause to cheer four minutes later when he crashed over for his first try this year.
It didn't take long for the Broncos to hit back with a try from five-eighth Ezra Mam, after supporting a Mariner break.
Newcastle bench forward Mat Croker scored for the Knights in the 68th minute after chasing a Tyson Gamble grubber kick, then winger Greg Marzhew dived over to further narrow the deficit.
But then game was long gone before then.
Newcastle's loss followed last week's 44-6 hammering from Manly at Brookvale.
