Sydney Roosters coach Trent Robinson says he was pleased with how Blake Ferguson coped with the occasion of facing former NRL club Canberra on Sunday.

Ferguson, who was sacked by the Raiders in 2013, starred in the 34-6 win, scoring a try, adding a try assist, four tackle busts and 125 metres before limping off in the second half with a foot injury.

He was seen leaving the ground on crunches, wearing a moon boot on his right foot.

The Roosters say he will have scans on the injury and it is their only fitness concern from the game.

Robinson says Ferguson handled the occasion of playing his former club well.

"Sometimes it can turn pear-shaped I guess," Robinson said.

"I have sensed guys at different times over the years not play against their old club well, not handle it well.

"Whereas Blake obviously did that."

Ferguson was shown the door by the Canberra board after going AWOL for several weeks and spent a year out of the game before being given a lifeline by the Roosters on a one-year contract.

Despite his fine performance, Robinson said the centre didn't go out to prove anything to the club that showed him the door.

"There's a lot of respect there for Canberra," he said.

"He knows he was the issue. Nothing to do with Canberra. There's a lot of respect there.

"It's not an anger or anything, which sometimes players play with.

"So it's easier for the emotion to keep in check. Sometimes you get signs in the week. They end up changing a bit - they either go quiet or they talk more.

"I talked to Blake about it. There was no difference in him."

Six of the Roosters' backline crossed for tries with Shaun Kenny-Dowall, Michael Jennings, Roger Tuivasa-Sheck, James Maloney and Daniel Tupou joining Ferguson on the scoresheet.

Robinson said he'd been pleased with the progress of Tuivasa-Sheck at fullback and he was growing into the huge hole left by the retirement of Roosters great Anthony Minichiello.

"He's doing some really good things, his placement is getting better," Robinson said.

"He's worked really hard on his defensive stuff and that has been really good.

"He's getting a real sense of where to be around Junior [Mitchell Pearce], Jimmy [Maloney] and the hookers, that's getting better.

" ... he's worked hard on being a defensive fullback ... I thought he owned the line. Roger has done that well and his attack is growing and getting better."

Canberra coach Ricky Stuart lamented his side's inability to keep the ball after making 14 handling errors that extended their rotten record at Allianz Stadium which has now seen them win just one of their past 17 visits.

"We didn't execute correctly and dropped five times in our first seven sets," Stuart said.

"You can't do that against a side of this quality. It's disappointing but we'll learn from it."

Meanwhile, Brisbane spoilt the party two decades ago and they did it again, holding off a big Warriors’ fightback for a 24-16 NRL victory in Auckland.

But the win came at a cost, with skipper Justin Hodges leaving the field with a hamstring complaint and expected to be sidelined for up to three weeks.

The Broncos also had Adam Blair go off with a thigh injury but the prop is expected to be available to face Gold Coast next week.

Brisbane were the Warriors’ first opponents when they entered the competition in 1995 and they were 25-22 winners that night.

In the 20th anniversary re-match on Sunday, it looked like they would run away with the contest when up 16-0 at half-time at Mt Smart Stadium.

Instead, they had to withstand plenty of pressure before Andrew McCullough scored with 30 seconds to go to seal the win for a 3-1 season record.

Coach Wayne Bennett gave his players plenty of credit for their defensive resolve.

‘‘They got two tries off bombs and we denied them on quite a number of occasions, which turned out to be the difference,’’ he said.

‘‘You want your team to be brave and gutsy and they were all those things today.

‘‘We lost a couple of key players in Blair and Hodges in a crucial part of the game, and they kept putting their hand up and grinding away and not giving the game away.’’

Warriors coach Andrew McFadden rued his youthful side’s inability to take their chances but said their fightback was pleasing after all the tackling they did in the opening spell.

‘‘We had our opportunities to win the game but we didn’t take them – we lacked that composure at the end,’’ McFadden said.

‘‘Our young kids are doing a great job but we got beat by a very good side, a very experienced side.’’

The defeat was compounded by injury to utility Ben Henry, who went off with a knee problem.

Henry, who has had knee injuries in the past, will have a scan to determine the seriousness.

The Broncos’ win was their first at Mt Smart Stadium since 2009, ending a run of four losses at the ground.

With Ben Hunt accurate with his kicking game, the visitors camped inside Warriors territory and profited with tries to Corey Oates, Lachlan Maranta, and Jarrod Wallace.

But the Warriors mounted a comeback with

Chad Townsend, Matt Allwood and Solomone Kata all crossed in the second half. - AAP