Gold Coast Titans coach John Cartwright says a vocal Suncorp crowd's heckling of referee Ben Cummins may have swung Friday night's local derby Brisbane's way.

The Broncos dealt the Titans' finals hopes a knockout blow with a 25-21 golden-point win, after the visitors took a 14-6 lead to the break.

Cartwright's Titans were all over Brisbane in the first 40 minutes and seemed to get every line ball call from Cummins who was given a hot reception from the 39,757-strong crowd when he walked off the field at half-time.

It was a totally different story in the second half with Brisbane picking up the tempo and the penalties before virus-stricken skipper Darren Lockyer produced a freakish play in extra time to break a 21-all deadlock.

Asked at the post-match press conference if he thought the big crowd had got to Cummins, a disappointed Cartwright replied: "Someone did".

"We didn't get a penalty probably from the 35th minute mark and I didn't see much of a change in the tempo of the game the way we were playing."

Cartwright felt his players, magnificently led by courageous halfback Scott Prince and fullback Preston Campbell, had been the better team on the night which made the loss hard to stomach.

"They're shattered," he said.

"There's nothing you can really say.

"We sit there and watch and go through the heartbreak but they're the ones feeling the pain and when you lose like that, the pain is a lot worse."

Broncos coach Wayne Bennett didn't take exception to Cartwright saying his side was the better team on the night.

"I'm just happy to get the two points, I would have been happy to take one point," he said.

"I won't argue with him."

Bennett, who was in an unusual chirpy mood, said some of aspects of Friday night's win had given him confidence the Broncos could win the premiership in his 21st and final season with the club.

"The thing I liked about tonight was the way a lot of little things clicked for us and certain players," he said.

"David Stagg was back doing all the little things he hasn't been doing for a little while, Ashton Sims had his best running game and Ben Hannant was streets above where he has been for a couple of weeks."

"I saw a whole lot of little things with different players to give me a bit of confidence going forward.

"We have a number of players like Michael Ennis, Corey Parker, Darren Lockyer and Karmichael Hunt who have been pretty consistent most of the season but the other guys started to kick in and I thought they were the little things you look for."

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