Brisbane 34 Newcastle 22

Michael Ennis could not be chicken-winged into submission yesterday - at least, not until after the game. Instead, the Brisbane hooker made Newcastle defenders look like turkeys en-route to his finest first-grade performance, before ducking the media on the orders of his coach, Wayne Bennett.

A Newcastle product, Ennis haunted his former club with a 22-point haul including two tries and a perfect seven-from-seven goals as the competition leaders notched a 34-22 win.

But as valuable for the Broncos was Ennis the Menace's slingshot-style runs out of dummy half; he continually either burst into open spaces or found them for support players. His kicking game was also top-notch.

But it seems Bennett didn't want Ennis to get too excited by his five-star display and told him to zip it on the way to the team bus. Bennett was happy, though, to give him a rap. "It's just lovely to see Michael play like that … we've all been waiting for that," he said.

We may assume from yesterday's match that on a dry track, Brisbane are a vastly superior team to the Knights - but in wet weather, Newcastle are specials.

As the warm sunny afternoon gave way to darkness, Brisbane pounced, scoring two late tries in the first half to take control at 26-8.

The rain started coming down during the break and the Knights' ineptitude was almost completely washed away in the following 40 minutes of showers.

Both sides ran in five tries, and none have been able to score more in a game against the Novocastrians this year despite their 2-3 win-loss record. The Knights would have had many more yesterday but for their last-pass madness.

On two occasions, the Broncos watched as Newcastle fumbled with the line beckoning, then crossed at the other end a minute later.

Centre Keith Lulia's pass to Cooper Vuna, with a lone defender and the tryline in sight, hit the winger's arm before he had it raised in anticipation for a catch. Moments later, Ennis had his first try, following a midfield break by David Taylor.

Then, just before the break, Lulia dropped the ball on the last tackle close to the line, and Karmichael Hunt stepped his way through, dummied around Kurt Gidley and scored under the posts.

The sky rumbled and the crowd grumbled, but Newcastle were reborn as they made a late charge. An intercept try by Brisbane skipper Justin Hodges sealed their fate with 12 minutes left.

"We just got a bit lucky before half-time," Bennett said. "There wasn't much between the two teams."

The coach also called for Hunt to regain his Test place at fullback for the Centenary Test next month, with much talk that the Australian No.1 jumper will go to either Melbourne's Billy Slater or Manly's Brett Stewart - who replaced Hunt last year after the Bronco was injured.

"Karmichael's playing as far as we're concerned … he is the incumbent. I've worked with the Australian selectors before and if you've done the job for them in the past, they are always keen to put you back if you're playing well.

"I do [regard him as the incumbent] in the sense that he missed out because he was injured in that last Test [against New Zealand]. That was virtually the grand final teams that went in that Test, so this will be a different make-up."

BRISBANE 34 (M Ennis 2 J Hodges 2 K Hunt tries M Ennis 7 goals) bt NEWCASTLE 22 (K Gidley 2 C Paterson 2 C Houston tries K Gidley goal) at EnergyAustralia Stdm. Referee: S Hayne. Crowd: 21,614.