The Warriors have dropped to seventh on the NRL rugby league ladder after failing to hold off a fast finishing Broncos side, the Auckland club going down 28-20 at Suncorp Stadium.
Two second-half tries to Warriors back-rower Ben Henry gave the Warriors a 22-18 lead with 30 minutes remaining but the Broncos fought back with winger Dale Copley bagging a brace of tries in two minutes to give his side the match-winning lead with 13 minutes remaining.
The Warriors attacked desperately through the dying stages but were unable to engineer a breakthrough against an under-siege Brisbane side, who put aside a disrupted build-up that saw three players demoted midweek for breaking team protocols, to post their first win in four starts.
The result ends the Warriors' own three-game winning run.
The Broncos leapfrog them to sixth on the competition ladder.
Both sides remain locked on 22 points with the eighth-placed Storm, ahead of a chasing pack of four teams - the Cowboys, Dragons, Tigers, and Eels.
Coach Andrew McFadden now faces a difficult test in getting his side back up for next Sunday's blockbuster against competition leaders Manly, where a loss could seriously jeopardise their place in the top eight.