Brisbane weakened Newcastle's tenuous grip on a top-eight berth, but their 26-6 win at Ausgrid Stadium may have come at heavy price with star centre Justin Hodges in danger of missing the remainder of the NRL season.

Hodges, who scored one of the Broncos' five tries, lasted just six minutes into the second half before limping to the bench with his third hamstring injury of the season.

He cut a forlorn figure as he sat on the bench, with the very real prospect that his season could be over given his last hamstring tear kept him sidelined for six matches.

The Knights, now level with ninth-placed South Sydney with two rounds remaining, didn't escape unscathed either, Junior Sau going off early with an ankle injury and Matt Hilder taken by ambulance to hospital with a nasty gash after a head clash with teammate Joel Edwards.

The double blow left the Knights with just 15 fit players for more than half the game.

But even when they had their full complement they struggled to contain a Brisbane side that would have won by more if not for their own wastefulness.

They were lucky to get on the board first when video referee Steve Clark needed double figure looks at replays to award Peter Wallace a try, but there was no doubt when Sau made a defensive blunder as Hodges crossed for 8-0 after 14 minutes.

It may have been karma for the first try when what looked a legitimate Josh McGuire try was pulled up for a forward pass, while Chris Houston was sin-binned when he denied Jack Reed a four-pointer by taking out the burly centre without the ball.

The opportunity to put the undermanned Knights to the sword instead became Newcastle's invitation back into the contest, with Akuila Uate cutting the deficit to just two points after Gerard Beal had spilled a clearing kick.

The Knights pushed hard after the restart with some strong carries and looked like they had locked it up, only for skipper Kurt Gidley to be held up over the line after a dazzling 20-metre run.

Instead of motivating the home side, it signalled the beginning of the end, with Jharal Yow Yeh taking an intercept 90 metres to push the Broncos out by 10 just minutes later.

It was one three second-half tries for the visitors with Alex Glenn and Ben Hunt also going over to leave the Knights with just a 32-point lead in points differential over the Rabbitohs, who they meet in the final round.

While more will be known after scans, Broncos coach Anthony Griffin is hoping Hodges' injury may not be as bad as first feared.

"He's obviously disappointed, he's a bit down, but the initial diagnosis is not too bad," Griffin said.

"I don't think it's a tear at this stage, he just felt it tighten up on him and he just wanted to get off."

Of the performance, skipper Darren Lockyer said the second 40 minutes went some way to making up for the first.

"The last 25 minutes of that first half was rubbish really - we just went looking for the easy option," Lockyer said.

"To our credit in the second half we came out and played with a bit more discipline and we ended up doing it easy in the end."

While Newcastle coach Rick Stone did his best to focus on the job at hand, it was clear there was still some concern for Hilder.

"It's a significant cut ... our doctor's been working with us for 23 years and he's never not stitched up one of our players," Stone said.

"It's the first time he's sent someone to hospital to get stitched.

"We still control our own destiny, we've got two games to win to make the semi-finals and we've worked really hard to get ourselves in this position and we're not giving up hope."

Brought to you by AAP © 2024 AAP