Scott Hill gatecrashed Gorden Tallis's Brisbane farewell to lead Melbourne to a 31-14 victory over the Broncos in their NRL qualifying final.

Storm five-eighth Hill masterminded a second-half blitz to set up the win in front of 31,100 at Suncorp Stadium.

It was a sad send-off for retiring Brisbane skipper Tallis, who was playing his last match in front of his home fans.

In what was supposed to be celebration, Tallis was forced to endure a miserable farewell lap of his favourite ground after the match.

Brisbane will remain alive in the finals as long as both the Bulldogs and the Roosters win their matches but the result puts heat on St George Illawarra, which could be eliminated if either the Cowboys or Raiders cause an upset in the remaining qualifying finals.

Down 8-0 at half-time after a dreadful opening stanza, Melbourne clicked into gear after the break with four unanswered tries in 20 minutes to lead 20-8.

The Broncos hit back through Brent Tate to get within a converted try with 14 minutes left but the Storm showed great composure to close out the game.

Wily halfback Matt Orford bamboozled the home team's defence in the 70th minute to run past four players on his way to scoring the clincher.

Orford then rubbed salt into Brisbane's wounds with a 25m field goal.

Hill, who had a hand in four tries, fittingly put the final touches on the six-tries-to-two stunner with a brilliant flick pass to send Mark Geyer over.

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