Brisbane coach Wayne Bennett has praised the enthusiasm of his Origin stars as the Broncos defied the most unsettling of preparations to beat the Bulldogs 19-12 at Telstra Stadium.

The Broncos claimed their fourth straight NRL win over the Dogs despite having six players backing up from Wednesday's State of Origin, and enduring a frantic 24 hours in which reinforcements were rushed in to Sydney following two late withdrawals.

Brisbane skipper Darren Lockyer, two days after leading Queensland to an Origin series victory over NSW at the same ground, made it an impressive double as he guided a patch-work Broncos from 6-0 behind early to victory on the back of 19 consecutive points.

Bennett reserved special praise for the attitude of Lockyer and his Maroons teammates in backing up from such a draining game on Wednesday.

"I've got to give great credit to Darren and some of the other players coming back from Origin, they make sure they come back with enthusiasm," an "elated" Bennett said.

"They've had a couple of great wins (with Queensland), so that helps them as well.

"And we know we're struggling a bit, and ... (the other players) look at these guys to see how they're feeling and it rubs off, they put on a brave face."

With the Broncos not playing again until Monday next round, Bennett said he would give his Origin stars seven days rest after the game.

The win, Brisbane's fifth of the season, lifts them to 10th spot on the ladder, while demoting the Bulldogs to 12th.

Dogs coach Steve Folkes lamented "three fairly contentious" refereeing decision which all went the Broncos way, but admitted those calls did not cost his side victory.

The first came in the 18th minute when Broncos lock Tonie Carroll barged over to level the game at 6-6. Video referee Graeme West awarded the try - correctly - after a question over an obstruction.

The Dogs then had a try disallowed by the video referee for obstruction when dummy-half Corey Hughes was ruled to have used marker Hazem El Masri as an illegal shepherd.

Folkes, who also questioned whether Adam Perry had the ball stripped over the line later in the game, said of the Hughes' no try: "Ian Lacy was offside standing right next to him. I thought it was a try.

"It's disappointing (the loss), but I can't fault the effort. They were trying their butts off."

Queensland centre Justin Hodges turned the game Brisbane's way just two minutes after Hughes' disallowed effort when he sprinted 65m to score from broken play, palming off Dogs fullback Luke Patten.

It earned the visitors their first lead of the night, 12-6, with winger Steve Michaels' try five minutes after the break giving the Broncos what proved a match-winning advantage.

Brisbane had six players backing up from Wednesday's Origin - compared to two from the Bulldogs.

But more unsettling was the flurry of late changes Bennett was forced to make after Darius Boyd (hamstring) and David Taylor (quadriceps) were late withdrawals.

Replacements John Te Reo and Clifford Manua were both flown in from Brisbane to Sydney as cover, with Craig Frawley already added after Queensland winger Brent Tate injured his knee against NSW.

Bennett made several positional changes, with Maroons fullback Karmichael Hunt only cleared to play on Friday morning after passing a fitness test on his foot injury.

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