Brisbane survived another lethargic second half to maintain a spot in the NRL top four despite a less than convincing 38-18 win over Penrith at CUA Stadium.

The scoreline somewhat flattered the Broncos, who scored late tries through Karmichael Hunt and Justin Hodges to see finally see off the Panthers, who closed the gap to just six points midway through the first half having trailed 24-6 at half-time.

It was a performance which would have left Broncos coach Ivan Henjak far from thrilled.

The game looked as good as over after 40 minutes, but led by inspirational skipper Petero Civoniceva and some blinding speed from NSW Origin hopeful Michael Jennings, the Panthers stormed back into the contest.

With Brisbane seemingly content to sit on their 18-point lead, the Panthers went to work with Jennings scything his way down the western touchline before finding Shane Elford in support for a try a minute after the restart.

Brisbane's lethargy extended from their defence to their attack as passes hit the deck with alarming regularity, before Civoniceva produced a brilliant offload which bounced off the shoulder of Lachlan Coote into the hands of Jennings to make it 24-18.

Civoniceva was tormenting his former teammates as he came up with another flick to send Masada Iosefa galloping downfield, Hunt stopped his run with a powerful shoulder charge which jolted the ball loose.

The hit knocked the stuffing out of not only Iosefa but also the Panthers charge, as Corey Parker converted a 66th-minute penalty to extend the gap to beyond a converted try before Hunt and Hodges sealed the result.

Broncos winger Antonio Winterstein produced a first-half double to put the visitors in a commanding position at the break, a half in which former Panther Peter Wallace did his NSW chances no harm with two try assists.

Winterstein was more than a touch lucky to get his first four-pointer after video referee Bill Harrigan ruled in his favour despite the young flyer appearing to lose the ball as he touched down on a Hunt kick.

Gordon replied with a four-pointer in the corner but his perfect kicking record to start the season ended at 23 when his conversion sailed wide before Winterstein got on up on his opposite number by leaping high to grab his second.

Hodges snatched an intercept for his first shortly after before Alex Glenn touched just after the half hour for what appeared to be a match-winning advantage.

The win improved Henjak's record to 5-1 in his first season in charge of the Broncos, but the rookie coach admitted the second half fade-outs were a worry.

"It's always a concern when you let teams back in - we know what's going wrong, we just need to find a solution to it," Henjak said.

"I thought we addressed (the problem), but we haven't fixed it yet obviously."

Skipper Darren Lockyer claimed the issue was more mental than technical.

"Just defensively our intensity and our attitude just drops off for segments of the game," he said.

"It'd be nice to put 80 minutes together - at the moment we're probably stringing 60 together."

Civoniceva said he knew the Panthers would struggle to finish over the top of the Broncos after giving up such a big start.

"Our first half effort really cruelled us," he said.

"Our lack of respect for the ball that first half, we were playing obviously one of the top teams in the competition - you just can't do that and they made us pay."

Broncos hooker Aaron Gorrell was placed on report for a second half lifting tackle while Panthers centre Brad Tighe suffered a torn pectoral muscle.

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