Fans in Sydney had no live footy to watch on Friday night, but Queensland put on one hell of a show for those watching at home.

Wayne Bennett and his Dolphins did well to push the Broncos for as long as they did.

The supercoach said it was “incredible” they were still there slugging it out after losing halfback Sean O’Sullivan to a suspected pectoral tear and Kodi Nikorima to a head knock.

“Our halfback was gone, our hooker was gone, yet we are still in there at 14-12 – incredible,” Bennett said. “After 10 minutes [Tesi Niu] was gone [with a leg injury], but he stayed for the whole game.”

Any comeback ended three minutes from full-time when Brisbane centre Kotoni Staggs raced 100m to score, sealing the 18-12 win before pointing to the Suncorp Stadium turf and barking to the crowd: “Our f---ing home”.

It will take some time to develop a genuine hatred between the Broncos and the NRL new kids. At least the Dolphins did not muck around, proving themselves to be no easybeats in the top flight.

Broncos coach Kevin Walters said of the Dolphins: “They’re a tough bloody side, and they gave us a tough game. It wasn’t a great spectacle, it was a tough game of footy, the margin was tight, which kept everyone on their seats, including both coaches. Although Wayne has seen a lot of those games in his 1000-game career.”

Bennett added: “We’ve set a standard now, there were 50,000-plus [fans] here tonight, there will be 50,000-plus the next time we play because nobody would have left here tonight disappointed in either side.”