It will make little difference to the Roosters' final standing, but this was the performance their fans had been waiting for all year.
The Roosters won't finish inside the top eight after their 16-point win over last season's beaten finalists, but their impressive performance provided more than a ray of hope for the future.
"The path is pretty clear on what we want to do, we want to play some good football, improve on some things we did tonight but continue some of that freedom," Roosters coach Trent Robinson said.
Blake Ferguson enjoyed one of his best games in the No.1 jersey for the Roosters in place of Latrell Mitchell, who shifted on to the wing. Mitchell Pearce's form continues to improve since his return from suspension. Sio Siua Taukeiaho brought back memories of former club favourite Craig Fitzgibbon as the big lock forward enjoyed a perfect evening with the boot. However it was the performance of young Dale Copley that provided the greatest cause for optimism.
The outside back finally justified the excitement over his pre-season signing, scoring a brace of tries against his former club and an assist for another. Despite enduring a lean start to his Roosters career, it took Copley a matter of minutes to open the scoring, pouncing on a defensive lapse close to the Broncos line to score just his second four-pointer of the season to break the deadlock after four minutes.
In a bruising encounter, a heavy shot from Boyd Cordner on Lachlan Maranta left the Brisbane winger seeing stars, subsequently failing a concussion test that ruled him out for the remainder of the match. Young Roosters five-eighth Connor Watson was then left throwing up his lunch following a crunching tackle from a Broncos' back-rower.
For all the jabs, the Broncos drew level midway through the first half via Jarrod Wallace, who seized upon an error by Taukeiaho, catching a knock-on to dive over the line for a try the bunker spent minutes deliberating over before Corey Parker sealed the conversion.
The Roosters hit back shortly after through Mitchell. Playing in an unfamiliar role on the wing, the young flier finished a quick passing move to score in the corner. The Roosters found themselves with a comfortable 12-point lead heading into the break after Ferguson scored their third try after supporting Copley's line break.
Whatever Wayne Bennett said to his troops during the break failed to inject life back into the Broncos. Careless defending continued after the restart and a calamitous play soon lead to the Roosters' fourth try of the night. A harmless kick by centre Shaun Kenny-Dowall wasn't defended by Brisbane and Ferguson leaped above his marker to bat the ball back inside to his centre, who supplied the finishing touch.
It was endemic of a rusty night for Brisbane who carved open space in attack with considerable ease but too often ruined their own chances with errors amid little pressure. After a few failed it attempts, it took Broncos' centre Tom Opacic to wrestle his way through a tackle and over the line to bring them back into the contest, making it 22-10 midway through the second half.
However, it mattered little after Boyd Cordner crashed over to secure the unlikely win for Roosters before Copley put the icing on the cake with his second try against his former club after bullying his way past a tackler.
Darius Boyd scored a late consolation for the visitors who now find themselves stuck in the congested, volatile and insecure territory of the middle-order teams fighting desperately for a top-eight finish.
Bennett said the key to bringing his team out of the form slump – "it is what it is" – and back into contention was "getting our best players on the field."
