NRL: Lockyer's Broncos too strong for Manly

Jharal Yow Yeh of the Broncos celebrates a try. Photo / Getty Images

Broncos 18 Sea Eagles 10

A potential season-ending injury to fullback Josh Hoffman and a looming suspension for star forward Sam Thaiday has taken the shine off Brisbane's 18-10 NRL win over Manly.

A game that had absolutely no bearing on either side's position in the top eight turned into a nightmare for Brisbane whose premiership stocks will plummet should Hoffman's scans bring bad news and Thaiday is rubbed out by the judiciary after dumping Manly prop Brent Kite on his head in the 68th minute.

The win could come at an enormous cost, but if nothing else, Brisbane gave retiring skipper Darren Lockyer the farewell his adoring fans turned out to see in his final regular season match - although the Broncos play the Warriors at Suncorp Stadium on Saturday.

"It doesn't look good for Josh (Hoffman) and hopefully Sammy's tackle was not too bad," said Lockyer after the win.

As Brisbane players tried to defend Thaiday one of the referees could be heard saying "I don't like it, I'm not going to debate it."

And Thaiday, whose last judiciary appearance was in 2007, said he would be "wishing on all his lucky stars" in the next few days.

Missing five players, including Brett and Glenn Stewart and five-eighth Kieran Foran, to injury and suspension from the wash up of their 'Brookie Brawl' last weekend, Manly threatened to spoil Lockyer's big afternoon in front of 50,859 - the biggest crowd to attend a Broncos game at Suncorp Stadium.

First big Tony Williams scored in the 45th minute and then livewire halfback Daly Cherry-Evans crossed two minutes later to cut Brisbane's 14-0 half time lead to 14-10.

Luck however was on Lockyer's side three minutes later when video referee Steve Clark disallowed a try to winger Michael Oldfield, deemed offside by Clark after cross from a Cherry-Evans kick in the 50th minute.

Hoffman limped off early in the first half making the injured Justin Hodges' return even more important.

Hoffman will have scans on Monday but there were fears he'd torn his posterior cruciate ligament which could sideline him for up to 10 weeks.

If Hodges is cleared to return from his latest hamstring injury coach Anthony Griffin may be tempted to use him at fullback, a role he played in Brisbane's 2006 premiership-winning campaign.

More likely Gerard Beale could move from the wing with Dale Copley coming into the side for the Warriors clash.

Beale look solid when he shifted to fullback in Hoffman's absence, making a number of strong runs and scoring a try in the 63rd minute off a Peter Wallace cut-out pass that secured the precious win for Lockyer.

Manly did enough without their missing stars to confirm their place as premiership favourites, with Cherry-Evans underlining his claim on rookie-of-the-year honours.

Brisbane winger Jharal Yow Yeh was denied what would have been a contender for try of the year by video referee Steve Clark who found a contentious knock on after several players featured in the lead up.

Lockyer, Ben Te'o and Yow Yeh all handled twice but Clark ruled forward Scott Anderson had knocked on in the middle of the move.

BRISBANE 18 (G Beale M Gillett A McCullough J Yow Yeh tries C Parker goal) bt MANLY 10 (D Cherry-Evans T Williams tries J Lyon goal) at Suncorp Stadium. Referee: Jared Maxwell, Adam Devcich. Crowd: 50,859.

- AAP