Match Details
Match Date	27th May, 2006
Opponent	Brisbane
Result	Loss 6-25
Coach	Steven Folkes
Captain	Andrew Ryan
Venue	Brisbane (Suncorp Stadium)
Crowd	30,589
Referee	Steve Clark

There was no Origin hangover for Brisbane but plenty of headaches for the Bulldogs after a Maroons-bolstered Broncos went to the top of the NRL table with a 25-6 win at Suncorp Stadium.

It was billed as a mini-Origin clash after 10 players involved in Queensland's 17-16 loss to NSW last Wednesday backed up, but this time the boys in blue walked off worse for wear as their four game winning run came to an abrupt halt.

Brisbane's sixth victory in seven games extended the Broncos' winning streak after an Origin clash to nine straight - a tally spanning three years.

While Brisbane coach Wayne Bennett may have found a cure for the Origin hangover, Dogs mentor Steve Folkes is still scratching his head over a tonic after his NSW contingent of Willie Mason, Mark O'Meley and Andrew Ryan, plus Maroons forward Nate Myles, looked fatigued and made uncharacteristic mistakes.

In contrast, Brisbane's Darren Lockyer, Brent Tate, Petero Civoniceva, David Stagg, Sam Thaiday and Shaun Berrigan all looked keen to make amends for Queensland's heartbreaking loss in Sydney.

The only Maroon who failed to back up for Brisbane was centre Justin Hodges who is out for up to a month with a hamstring complaint.

After trailing 18-0 at halftime, the Bulldogs finally showed some bite when reserve utility Reni Maitua made an initial bust then ran off a remarkable back pass from five-eighth Daniel Holdsworth to score in the 45th minute.

But Brisbane hit back five minutes later when skipper Lockyer ran off a clever Civoniceva offload to set up winger Tame Tupou's second.

Tupou crashed over down the left sideline and sealed his sixth career try-scoring double after video referee Steve Nash gave him the green light.

After kicking just one from five in the first half, Parker potted over a sideline conversion to make it 24-6.

Lockyer guaranteed victory with a 65th minute field goal.

Parker's first half misses included one right in front after Tupou scored the first of three Broncos four-pointers bagged in the opening 14 minutes.

Brisbane attacked the left flank resulting in tries to Tupou and Berrigan before winger Darius Boyd finished off a sweeping movement to the right.

Six players handled the ball before centre Tate delivered an inside ball to Boyd who crashed over.

The crowd gave a mock cheer when Parker finally potted over his first goal, converting Lockyer's try to make it 18-0.

Source: AAP

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