While they fell short on the NRL scoreboard Brisbane coach Anthony Seibold said his team's performance in their opening round loss to Melbourne was a "benchmark for effort".
In his first match at the Broncos helm since switching from South Sydney, Seibold had to rally his troops from a 10-0 halftime deficit with his players starved of ball in the first half.
They scored two second half tries through Corey Oates to get within four points before a late try sealed a 22-10 Melbourne win.
"We showed a lot of resilience and grit," said Seibold, who replaced Wayne Bennett.
"One thing we learnt was that that was a benchmark for effort.
"The effort was extremely high to get ourselves back in the game."
He said the Broncos didn't match the Storm in field position and possession, with the ineffective kicking game of halves Kodi Nikorima and Anthony Milford not helping.
Centre James Roberts was forced off after just five minutes with a back injury but a highlight for the Broncos was the return of Matt Gillett, who hadn't played since fracturing his neck in round five last season.
Playing at lock rather than his usual position on the edge, Gillett got through a mountain of work clocking up 50 tackles.
"He had a pretty good shift - he worked his backside off against a pretty fair forward pack," Seibold said.
The coach felt that overall it was good starting point for his team against last year's losing grand finalists.
"I'm under no illusions about the challenge in front of us," he said.
"We're looking to take small steps and I felt we showed a lot of resilience and grit to hang in there for a pretty tough old battle."
