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Newcastle have moved into the top eight after a 28-20 win over Brisbane at Suncorp Stadium on Thursday night.

Newcastle backed up after a four-day turnaround to beat Brisbane 28-20 and momentarily move into the NRL's top eight.

The return of halfback Mitchell Pearce inspired the Knights to an eight-point victory at Suncorp Stadium that has kept their finals hopes alive for another week.

Injuries have kept the star No.7 to just seven games in 2021 and Thursday night's was just his second game of the season with fullback Kalyn Ponga.

The 32-year-old scored a try of his own, but both playmakers created points around them for the win just four days after they beat Canberra.

"It's four points in four days," said coach Adam O'Brien.

"Eight hours on buses, that's a big effort in the modern game.

"A lot of emotion went into last week to get that win on the back of a couple of losses, so not only the physical toll but the mental toll.

"I was proud of the boys.

"There was some stuff there tonight that wasn't pretty that we'll fix up but it's hard to be critical of them at the moment."

With four weeks left in the season, the Knights are in a fight for a top-eight finish along with four other teams, including Cronulla, who they face next in round 22.

They'll need wins against Canberra, Gold Coast and then the Broncos again in the final round of the season to ensure their spot.

But if their win on Thursday night was anything to go by, the Knights are up for the fight.

For the first eight minutes, the Knights kept possession of the ball by forcing the Broncos into errors on their goal line.

Despite the seven straight sets, the Broncos held strong until they scored through Tesi Niu in their first chance at the other end.

But key for the Knights was not losing momentum after the setback, and the defence manned up to drive Payne Haas into touch on the kick return.

They struck back through Jake Clifford to take the lead as tries were exchanged to round off a 12-8 lead for the Knights at the break.

Tyson Frizell busted through soft middle defence to run 50 metres and set up the first try of the second half, with Barnett and Enari Tuala extending the Knights' lead to 28-8.

For the second week in a row they survived a late scare as the Broncos ran in two tries in six minutes to Xavier Willison and Herbie Farnworth with seven to play.

"There's lots of fight in this side and lots of evidence of it," said Broncos coach Kevin Walters.

"We lost which no one is happy with, but some more pleasing signs on what we're building at the Broncos."

Meanwhile, there was concern for Hymel Hunt after he took a heavy knock from Keenan Palasia in the first half and failed his HIA.

Palasia was penalised for the shot, which could come under scrutiny from the NRL's match review committee on Friday morning.