Storm's Papenhuyzen breaks ankle in Broncos defeat

He was immediately sent to hospital with a suspected compound ankle fracture and faces another long recovery period.

The 2020 Clive Churchill Medal and premiership-winning fullback shattered his kneecap into 10 pieces in July of last year, returning against Gold Coast in round 26 this season after a 405-day absence from the NRL.

"(He's) in a whole heap of pain and it's a suspected broken ankle," coach Craig Bellamy said.

"I can't imagine how he's feeling at the moment.

"The amount of work he put in to get back to playing again, then get back into the NRL too.

"It wasn't a great night anyway and it made it a lot worse."

Papenhuyzen was just starting to get back into his groove when disaster struck at Suncorp Stadium.

He was making a tackle when he reached for his lower right leg in agony.

Play stopped for minutes as he was carefully placed on the medicab and taken off.

Melbourne No.6 Cameron Munster was devastated for his teammate and good friend.

"I feel sorry for him. I probably saw (the ankle) out of the socket," Munster told the Nine Network.

"It is sad news for him and the club ... It is a bad injury run for him but hopefully he'll come back and we will see the Pappy that we know. We are fully behind him and I will make sure he is right tonight."

The Storm were completely outgunned by Brisbane, the Broncos' first win against them at the ground since 2009.

"Our first half was really poor; we'd done well to be 8-0 at halftime, it could have been 20-0 at halftime," Bellamy said.

"I'm not sure how we can come into this game and play like that.

"We just looked like 17 players thrown together on the night and 'good luck'.

"Our attack's been humming along OK, but tonight it looked like they just met each other in the dressing room before the game."

Melbourne will now face the winner of the Sydney Roosters and Cronulla in a knockout semi-final next weekend.