Vanquished Bulls coach Frans Ludeke marvelled at Queensland's skill and ball retention as the resurgent Reds stamped themselves as genuine Super 14 title threats on Saturday night.

Ludeke lauded how well the Reds executed their high-risk game plan to run and stun the defending champions 19-12 in a dramatic Suncorp Stadium encounter.

A 26,669-strong Brisbane crowd left the ground in raptures, predicting the triumph will be a launching pad towards a first finals campaign in nine years for the perennial battlers.

Queensland captain Will Genia produced a sensational display at halfback to lead his team into the top four as they successfully ran the monster Bulls pack off their feet for 70 minutes of a helter-skelter affair.

A gracious Ludeke said the pace-setting Bulls, denied set-piece opportunities, would take plenty out of their two-tries-all loss as the Reds produced the best ball retention game they had encountered.

"The Reds played fantastically," he said. "We were out of the game in terms of possession.

"It was an expansive style but their retention was spot on, definitely one of the best continuity performances I've seen in a long time and they deserved the win.

"To have the ball that long and to keep it off the opposition and to keep it was something to see so you have to count them in (as a title contender).

"We couldn't get our strengths into the game."

Queensland's sixth win of the season, and certainly their most memorable, sees them leapfrog NSW (28 points) into fourth place on the Super 14 table with 30 points.

The victory was tarnished with a suspected ankle ligament injury to stalwart lock Van Humphries, who stood extremely tall to outpoint Bulls skipper Victor Matfield.

But none were better than Genia who did everything, including setting up Queensland's first try with the vision and execution to put rangy flanker Scott Higginbotham on an 80m race to the line with a counter-attacking kick.

"I thought it was (speedy winger) Rod Davies out there," Genia said post-match.

The Reds second try was also a stunner, with Will Chambers fading into a gap and then flick passing on for Anthony Faingaa and Digby Ioane to put Davies over for a 19-7 lead midway through the second half.

Dominating possession, Queensland were unlucky not to race up a comfortable lead such was their dominance for the first hour of the match.

But the Bulls scrambling defence, including a Morne Steyn ankle tap on Davies and great last-ditch defence by fullback Zane Kirchner, and several last passes just going astray kept the visitors in the game.

Queensland's pack were even winning scrum penalties and scrum feeds off resets by bullying the exhausted Springbok-laden Bulls forwards.

The visitors also lost a rare lineout for Davies try.

But a schoolboy error, allowing the ball to roll straight out of the scrum tunnel, allowed Pedrie Wannenburg to crash over for an extremely tense final 10 minutes.

The Bulls were camped in the Reds quarter at the death and veteran hooker Sean Hardman was hugged by all and sundry when he forced a ruck penalty in the final minute.

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