Brisbane's State of Origin demons have come home to roost with the Broncos suffering their third one-point defeat of the year, this time at the hands of the Wests Tigers.

The Tigers had come to Suncorp Stadium missing Aaron Woods and Robbie Farah, while Brisbane's ranks had been cleaned out as they took the field minus Corey Parker, Darius Boyd, Sam Thaiday, Josh McGuire, Corey Oates and Matt Gillett.

But they still had their gun playmakers Ben Hunt and Anthony Milford, although neither would cover themselves in glory on an error-riddled night for both men, while Hunt's wonky kicking would prove costly for the Broncos.

Mitchell Moses, on the other hand, delivered on a night to remember for the Tigers, knocking over what would be the winning field goal with five minutes to play.

Tigers coach Jason Taylor said his side had embraced the sense of urgency as they felt their season slipping away. Now with wins over Newcastle and Brisbane, they are back in the hunt.

"We talked at the end of our game last week... one win, that's nice. We just had to back it up. That was an 80-minute effort for us tonight and they've been pretty rare for a while for us. That was great," Taylor said.

"The competition was going to slip away if we didn't get our act together. We responded."

When asked if Brisbane's missing fleet of Origin stars would get the inevitable blame for their defeat, he said: "I don't care if we won because they had them out. We probably did. We got the two points."

Wayne Bennett had little to add to his side's woes on Friday night, simply saying his inexperienced outfit was out-enthused and probably flattered by the final scoreline.

"The other team turned up to play. The other guys dominated field position and ball control. It gives them an advantage. I'm not disappointed in them. It was a tough ask. We'll get on with the job," he said.

The Tigers took a 12-8 lead into the break as they ran in a pair of first-half tries, with Elijah Taylor (19th) and Tim Simona (31) putting the visitors ahead after Greg Eden gave Brisbane the early advantage.

Jordan Rankin nudged them out to 14-8 with an early second-half penalty as the Tigers showed some resolve and patience to keep the Broncos pinned on their line and look vulnerable minus their best and brightest.

The pressure almost paid off. Tim Simona had a grubber from Luke Brooks bounce right into his chest and simply had to catch it and fall over for a try. He couldn't get the handle - it was a slow-motion car crash as he fumbled it for what seemed an eternity - and the points went begging.

To compound his error, just minutes later the Broncos were back up the other end of the field scoring a try of their own, with Hunt standing in the tackle and offloading for James Roberts as the deficit was cut to just two.

Brisbane might have retained their starting halves through Origin but Hunt and Milford were struggling to keep the structures intact without some of their favourite target runners and calming influences.

That pressure was compounding as Hunt skewed a midfield bomb to give the Tigers a good look at Brisbane's line with just over 15 minutes to play. A sharp shift out to Josh Addo-Carr resulted in the try and the 18-12 lead.

Composure was deserting Brisbane. Hunt's kicking game was proving unreliable and his restart went out on the full, gifting the Tigers a 50m penalty. Brisbane survived but Hunt had lost his focus, missing the tackle count and leaving it to lock Jarrod Wallace to try and clear the football.

More territory put the Tigers in prime position for a field goal and Moses stepped up to the plate, giving his Tigers a seven-point lead with five minutes on the clock and putting them in the box seat to see out the contest.

Brisbane weren't cooked yet. Finally, Hunt got one right and put his cross-kick right on the chest of Lachlan Maranta, who raced over to score and put Brisbane back within a point and with late momentum.

After a muddled set of six to try and position them for a final shot, Hunt got into good position for the field goal - but pushed it wide.