Proud Queensland coach Phil Mooney praised the character of his gutsy young Reds after they threatened a Lazarus-like comeback in a Super 14 cracker in Hamilton.

But Mooney could only rue bad luck and poor finishing as the Chiefs got out of jail amid the carnage of the electrifying match with a 32-20 win at Waikato Stadium.

Down 24-3 at halftime against the in-form home side, and with three men injured and one sin-binned, the Reds looked dead and buried before producing a major scare.

The 2007 wooden-spooners showed they had regained the passion in their maroon jersey to power back with three tries in 12 minutes to trail 24-20.

Queensland continued to carve up the defence in the classic encounter but lacked the finishing nous as the Chiefs escaped through a momentum-halting intercept.

Powerhouse No.8 Sione Lauaki virtually killed off the comeback when he chanced his arm by intercepting a Quade Cooper pass and running and stumbling 60m to the line.

It was effectively a 12-point turnaround as centre Morgan Turinui, already with two tries under his belt, was unmarked and had support on the right-hand sideline.

A frustrated Mooney rated it the most painful loss of his first season in charge which has reaped only three wins and a draw from 10 games but provided far more positive signs.

"I'm extremely disappointed," he told AAP.

"That one probably cut the deepest because I thought that was a game we were the better side.

"We put so much into it and that was a game on another night we could have won by 20.

"But I'm just extremely proud of the way we fought back under trying circumstances, a long way behind and with people injured.

"It shows there's a lot of character in the squad and a lot of desire and these blokes are playing for each other."

While the Chiefs find themselves in the top four, the Reds finished with halfback Ben Lucas (knee), winger Peter Hynes (ankle) and flanker John Roe (shoulder) all in doubt for Friday's clash with the Blues in Brisbane.

Lucas is the most worrying, sparking a halfback crisis for Queensland with skipper Sam Cordingley still hampered by a calf problem and replacement Will Genia, superb in the comeback, nursing a sore ankle.

Winger Digby Ioane also made a major impact off the bench, including a try in the fightback, while departing hooker Stephen Moore played one of his best in his 50th match for the Reds.

Queensland were unlucky to be denied at least two bonus points when the television match official knocked back a pick-and-drive try to lock Van Humphries which the Reds believed should have been awarded.

Mooney was upset after the match that South African referee Craig Joubert failed to sin-bin six Chiefs infringements within their quarter while the Reds fullback Clinton Schifcofske did get yellow-carded just before half-time.

While Schifcofske was watching from the sidelines, winger Lelia Masaga scored his second try from a Stephen Donald grubber to stretch the lead to 17.

Donald and Masaga both crossed in the first nine minutes as the Chiefs took a 14-0 lead before Queensland controlled play for the next 20 minutes and made several in-roads through the defence.

But the Reds lacked the pace and vision shown by the Chiefs to finish their chances, stopped just short of the line three times and bundled into touch a couple more.

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