Coates twisted his neck as he flamboyantly dived to score his second try and create the 16-point advantage, with all three first-half tries created in part by an impressive Anthony Milford.

But with Lodge, who missed a bulk of last season with a knee injury, already icing his leg on the sideline and Asiata joining him with what appeared to be nerve damage after an innocuous collision, the Eels rallied.

Reed Mahoney was too quick out of dummy half, catching a slow Brisbane defence napping as he scored before Blake Ferguson played on from what the Broncos thought was a knock on, chipping infield for Clint Gutherson to score.

Broncos back Herbie Farnworth then dropped an intercept and Ferguson made him pay, blasting his way over in the corner before Mitchell Moses put them ahead with his kick.

The final 20 minutes were gut-busting for both sides, with players cramping and gasping for air in backplay as the game opened up drastically.

Junior Paulo then crashed through an exhausted Brisbane defence to score and seal the deal in the final moments.

‘There was that 10 minute period in the second half where we just lost our way a bit … and they were good enough to finish us off,” Walters said.

“We’ve got to learn to play with adversity; having three injured is not ideal but I’m proud of our guys for hanging in there.

“We seemed to be dipping down then all of a sudden they found something … and had a couple of opportunities we didn’t quite grab.”

Eels bench forward Isaiah Papali’i (180 metres gained) was a key feature of the Eels’ second-half revival after they had completed just 10 of 19 sets in the first half.

“I’m a little disappointed that we didn’t show them enough respect early on,” Eels coach Brad Arthur said.

“But maybe we couldn’t have fought back in the last couple of years.”

“I’d just seen how calm they were in the sheds at half time and that was a good indication for me.”

Milford was electric early on, but he blew two chances late in the second half to bring his wounded team back in the game with terrible last-tackle selections.

For Brisbane, Jake Turpin made 47 tackles at hooker, while Brodie Croft, who was selected ahead of Tom Dearden at halfback, defended tenaciously and was unlucky not to score two tries from short kicks.