Brisbane completed its fifth straight second half shut-out to record a 17-6 win over a luckless Newcastle at Lang Park on Monday night.
The Broncos are yet to concede a try in the second term this year after five rounds of the competition, with a penalty goal to the Gold Coast in round three the only points they have given up after half-time.
The Knights had three second-half tries disallowed by video referee Chris Ward in the space of three minutes, much to the delight of most of the 25,522 crowd.
Forward Richard Fa'aso was the first to be denied a four-pointer, called back on a forward pass in the 66th minute.
Then Knights lock Joel Edwards looked a little stiff in the 68th minute with referee Phil Haines ruling he was held up by Brisbane forwards Corey Parker and Nick Kenny when replays were inconclusive.
A minute later veteran centre Adam MacDougall was ruled to have knocked on fielding a bomb.
The game was still on the line with five minutes remaining before captain Darren Lockyer slotted a field and winger Jack Reed scored his second try in the 78th minute.
The Broncos led 8-6 at half time and held on for their fourth win on the trot, joining Melbourne and St George Illawarra on top of the NRL ladder on eight points.
Rookie Reed and Matt Gillett scored in the first half while Newcastle forward Cory Paterson crossed for the Knights' only try in 11th minute, brushing aside the tackles of both Lockyer and Beale.
Beale made amends with a try in the second half.
Knight's coach Rick Stone said his players "had their pants pulled down" with Reed's try in just the second minute of the clash.
While he was not making any excuses he felt the forward pass called against Kurt Gidley that denied Fa'aoso a try was a poor call.
"That was a fair pass," Stone said.
Gidley backed his coach.
"I thought it was fine," he said.
"You have a fair idea when you throw the ball (if it's forward).
"I was going sideways when I threw it and we were coming home strongly."
Brisbane coach Anthony Griffin was not getting carried away despite another gritty win built on the back of a flawless second 40 minutes.
"In the end we got four tries to one," he said.
"We don't want to get into the habit of keep testing it (second-half defence)."
Lockyer, who had a try disallowed, said the club's fourth straight win was again built on character.
He could not remember playing five games in a row where his side did not concede a try in the second half.
"I can't recall doing that before, but I'm sure it will be broken," he said.
Broncos: 17 (J Reed 2, M Gillett, G Beale tries; D Lockyer field goal)
Knights: 6 (C Paterson try; K Gidley con)
- AAP
First posted April 11, 2011 21:00:00
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