After losing both home matches to start their campaign, the Cowboys headed to Suncorp Stadium on Friday night in search of confidence and a stiff dash of self-belief. They left on the wrong end of a 44-22 hiding that has left their season in tatters after just a handful of rounds.

Those who embrace the notion of a premiership window would be forgiven for thinking the one the Cowboys had been peering out for the past few seasons, in between cursing referees, may be about to slam shut. Paul Green has a to-do list a mile long if he is to right this ship.

And he must do it in the face of a statistic that makes for sombre reading for the already downtrodden Cowboys faithful, who won't be able to invoke any conspiracy theories after this disastrous showing, which featured a handsome 40 missed tackles.

Since 1954, when the mandatory grand final was introduced, no team has lost the first three games of a season then taken the loot at season's end. With matches against Melbourne, Penrith and Souths in the pipeline, the mountain gets steeper by the week.

Nothing should be taken away from the Broncos, who have rebounded strongly after an opening round humbling from the Rabbitohs to post back-to-back wins, with fullback Jordan Kahu turning in his best game in the NRL to star for the home side.

Justin Hodges tortured the Cowboys defence all night while others like Josh McGuire chose to go straight through a Cowboys defensive line that was flimsy at best and lacked any sort of resistance close to their line.

Talk about the treatment of Johnathan Thurston had dominated the pre-match conversation but only served to mask the real concerns about the Cowboys, who had fallen to the Roosters and Knights in Townsville to start a season many thought would finally see them go very close to contesting a second grand final.

Brisbane seemed a decent enough hit-out to get back on track but Wayne Bennett's men took up the running from almost the start, although the Cowboys nearly struck first when Jason Taumalolo had a try disallowed on account of Gavin Cooper's obstruction.

Wearing heritage jerseys featuring crisp white collars - a reminder of the good old days when Brisbane used to play in the daytime - the Broncos hit back through Ben Hunt, then McGuire, then Lachlan Maranta, Corey Parker, Maranta again, Andrew McCullough, Hodges and Kahu.

It would be eight tries in all, with the Broncos racing to a 32-6 lead by halftime and putting the result beyond any real doubt by the time they tucked into the first batch of oranges.

McGuire missed the final 60 minutes after failing a concussion test, while Hodges was having his temperamental hamstring iced.

Cowboys prop Matt Scott was put on report with eight minutes to go for a high tackle on Adam Blair.