Hunt from the Broncos and Monaghan for the Raiders, but with both sides muscling up in defence the scoreline remained unchanged until the 59th minute.
Forced back to their line and scrambling to defend, the Broncos were eventually found short on their left hand flank, where an unmarked Daniel Vidot was the recipient of a fine cut-out pass from Josh McCrone.
At 18-4 ahead, the Raiders looked set to pull away, but Brisbane weren't going down without a fight and when Yow Yeh crossed in the 67th to capitalise on some good build up from Josh Hoffman, the crowd of 38,872 were on their feet.
The Broncos were suddenly running with momentum, and minutes later Matt Gillett made it a two-point game when he crashed over to score from a blind-side overlap
Invigorated by their closest contest in weeks, the Broncos were fighting hard in the final ten, and kept themselves alive with a four-man gang tackle to take a try-bound Dugan over the sideline with nine minutes to play.
Eventually though the lead was too great to haul in, and the Broncos ended their season with a fourth consecutive loss.
Brisbane
Tries: McCullough, Yow Yeh, Gillett
Goals: Parker 2
Canberra
Tries: Vidot 2, Dugan
Goals: Croker 3