Brisbane delivered a seemingly fatal blow to Canterbury’s NRL finals hopes with a slick 42-12 victory at Suncorp Stadium on Thursday night.

It was a must-win for the Bulldogs, who looked in the mood to spring an upset after scoring the opener through Marcelo Montoya just six minutes in.

But they were completely overrun after that point, conceding six consecutive tries as the Broncos ran riot in front of 24,267 supporters.

The Bulldogs were starved of possession in the second half and the only time they touched the ball between the 53rd and 68th minutes was when Josh Reynolds copped an Anthony Milford kick to his stomach.

Making a mockery of suggestions they would struggle to back up from their first five-day turnaround of the year, Brisbane used the first game of the post-Origin period to play themselves back into form.

Des Hasler’s men had no answers to their attacking onslaught, with the defeat leaving them stranded in 13th place, four points adrift from the eight with only six rounds to play.

While Brisbane were sluggish out of the blocks, they well and truly found their range after Newcastle-bound Tautau Moga levelled things up in the 22nd minute, capitalising on a handy break from Andrew McCullough.

They scored twice more – through a terrific Ben Hunt run-and-gun effort five minutes from the break, and then Jordan Kahu on the siren – to go into the sheds 16-6 ahead.

Then the Broncos took things up a few notches, and the floodgates opened.

Kodi Nikorima, Josh McGuire and Roberts each scored tries within a blistering seven-minute stretch from Brisbane.

Roberts’ try was the pick of the bunch, burning through the line and past a lazy Bulldogs defence, before returning to complete his double on right on fulltime.