After slumping to their sixth loss of the season, Broncos coach Ivan Henjak said schoolboy errors and not the Israel Folau saga were to blame for Friday night's home loss to the Knights.
Making a stunning 12-point comeback just before half-time, Brisbane looked like world beaters running over four tries in just over 11 minutes with Ben Te'o securing a double.
But complacency got the better of the Broncos when they trotted back onto to Suncorp Stadium as the Knights - led by captain Kurt Gidley - bashed and battered their way up the middle to ground three unanswered tries and secure two desperately needed points.
A disappointed Henjak said after the match: "We're just not doing it for 80 minutes … errors killed us. The start of the first half wasn't good either and the start of the second was even worse."
"I know we have an inexperienced No.9 (Alex Glenn) and No.7 (Ben Hunt) but some of those errors are not through inexperience there were some real fundamental ones."
"If we make them we need to defend them a lot better than what we are doing."
In the build-up to Friday night's must-win clash media speculation regarding the future of Folau was tipped to be a major distraction for both the young Broncos superstar and his team-mates, but Henjak said he thought Folau and the team coped well under the spotlight.
"I can't tell you what was going on with Izzy inside his head, but the rest of the team no there wasn't a distraction," Henjak said.
"I thought he was good it didn't look like it affected him."
The Queensland Origin star's deadline to opt-in for an extension on his Broncos contract was due on Friday, but with no official statement on his future being made the 21 year-old will effectively become a free agent at the end of the season.
Henjak said he would like to know sooner rather than later Folau's plans which would give him time to devise his next course of action for the struggling outfit.
"I'm sure he'll tell us and his management will tell us when they're ready," he said.
"(Hopefully) sooner rather than later would be nice, so we can all move forward."
Tasting victory for the first time at Suncorp since 2004, Knights coach Rick Stone was rapt with his side's ability to win on the road and heaped praise on Gidley who is sure to be in the mix for a Kangaroos jumper when the Test squad is announced on Sunday.
"It's tough, there is no doubt about it winning away from home is getting even tougher in the NRL," Stone said.
"We knew we had to come here and we knew we were facing a proud club that performs well at home particularly on Friday nights."
"They've had a great history of doing that and we knew the job wasn't going to be easy, so anytime you take away two points from Suncorp you're going to be happy."
"Kurt's been an incumbent player and he's had a good Four Nations tour and he's only been back a couple of games, but the way he led his team tonight I thought was outstanding."
"If any team is looking for a utility player then they don't have to look past Kurt Gidley as one of the best in the world."
Newcastle will be looking to continue its run when it hosts the Gold Coast Titans next Sunday, while the Broncos will be hoping they can pick themselves up in time to face the Storm in Melbourne.