Brisbane have made a statement with a 22-8 NRL win over the Sydney Roosters in a match pockmarked by an ugly Dylan Napa hit on Andrew McCullough.
Napa was put on report after leading with his head in a tackle that forced the Brisbane hooker to be taken from Allianz Stadium on a medicab.
He was sin-binned for the 24th minute incident that was almost identical to the one that left Brisbane’s Korbin Sims with a broken jaw in May.
Broncos staff reported that McCullough suffered a concussion and a lacerated mouth however he was cleared of a break or structural damage.
Napa will come under the scrutiny of the match review committee on Sunday and could be set for a lengthy stint on the sidelines.
Sims missed four weeks after being hit by Napa in round 11, however the Roosters front-rower was not charged for that incident.
The Broncos came into round 24 in seventh but fired a shot across the bow of the rest of the competition with a comprehensive win over the second-placed Roosters.
The Roosters were often their own worst enemies, coming up with 15 errors on their way to a second straight loss to put them on uneven footing just two weeks out from the finals.
Hooker Jake Friend had a monumental game, making 71 tackles, just shy of Shaun Fensom’s alltime record of 74.
With Napa off the field, the Broncos struck through Jamayne Isaako who produced an acrobatic put-down to give his side a 12-8 lead.
And when Daniel Tupou made a mess of an Anthony Milford bomb, Kodi Nikorima picked up the spoils to put the Broncos in front 20-8 at the break.
When Latrell Mitchell was sin-binned in the 56th minute for a professional foul, Isaako booted the only points of the second-half with a penalty goal to extend the Broncos’ advantage to 14 points.
The Broncos are now showing signs of peaking at the right time of the year with prop Matt Lodge (118 metres) and Tevita Pangai Junior (150m, 21 tackles) leading their side up front.
The Roosters were on two occasions denied by the video referees in the second-half with James Tedesco nearly reeling in a Friend grubber and Joseph Manu putting a foot on the sidelines after beating three defenders.