The once feared Broncos who shared some epic battles with the Raiders on this very ground a quarter of a century ago are now but a shell of their former selves.

They're a damn good side this Green Machine, and one of the NRL's most balanced teams.

Brisbane obviously resembles nothing of a litmus test, but they were challenged in this one, for 40 minutes at least, and easily shrugged the Broncos aside with a 30-0 blitz in the second half. They didn't quite escape unscathed though - coach Ricky Stuart did himself a back injury and was unable to attend the post-match press conference.

Canberra has now won four from five since their general Josh Hodgson went down with a season-ending knee injury, quietly going about their business to stay within striking distance of the top four.

If it's not Nick Cotric finishing off a backline move, it's Jordan Rapana flying through the air to acrobatically ground the football inside the corner post (disallowed on this occasion).

Or it's John Bateman slipping through the defensive line and feeding the most reliable of support players in George Williams. Or unflappable captain Jarrod Croker kicking through for Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad.

Were it not for a few disallowed tries in the second half, Canberra may well have piled on 50 points in a single half of football. They needed nowhere near that many to overhaul the 8-6 half-time deficit.

For half of this game, Brisbane found some respite from the endless pillorying this season from hell has generated.

Raiders hardman John Bateman said during the week these embattled Queenslanders would be his side's most dangerous opponent all year and that rang true during the first half as Brisbane found solace on the football field, temporarily escaping the crises that are seemingly tearing the club apart.

This looked nothing like the team which has just the one win in 11 matches since the restart and which boasts an NRL-worst defence, more porous than the club's adherence to COVID-19 protocols.

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Peter Gentle was deputising for embattled coached Anthony Seibold, and the Broncos came out breathing fire against a jaded looking Raiders.

It was their best 40 minutes of a horror week. And then Canberra rediscovered their mojo, and put this one to bed in the blink of an eye sending Brisbane back into the furnace.

"There's been a lot going on but that's no excuse, we prepared as best we could," Gentle said.

"It's pretty hard in Brisbane to shield players from any sort of media, it's pretty ruthless up there. We put our hands up, we did the wrong thing. We had to own it.

"We had to come in and put a performance and for 40 minutes we did."

The strangest moment in this one came 25 minutes in when the Raiders challenged a handling error while defending their own line.

Jack Wighton was shown not to have touched the ball while defending from marker, but Bunker official Steve Clark then encouraged the referee to penalise the Raiders for a marker infringement, before realising he possessed no such power and retracting his comment.

Another weird occasion in a bizarre season, but one that ultimately had no bearing on the outcome. The Raiders march on.