After crushing the Sydney Roosters 50-14 in their opening-round match at Allianz Stadium, the Broncos headed immediately to the airport and boarded a flight to Wellcamp Airport in Toowoomba.
While flights were suspended in and out of Brisbane and Gold Coast airports on Thursday afternoon due to the impending arrival of the cyclone, the Broncos were given special permission by the Queensland premier's office to make the last-minute dash home.
"The team flew into Wellcamp Airport in Toowoomba at about 11.30pm before boarding a bus back home, getting in at 1.30am," Brisbane CEO Dave Donaghy said in a statement.
"We are extremely grateful to the team at Wellcamp for opening up their gateway to Brisbane for us to allow us to get the team and staff back to their families.
"We would also like to sincerely thank the NRL, broadcasters and the Roosters for working with us to ensure we could leave the stadium as quickly as possible after the game."
Broncos skipper Adam Reynolds completed his media commitments minutes after fulltime, as the team prepared to travel to Bankstown in southwest Sydney to meet their charter flight.
Reynolds said his team, who ran in nine tries including a Selwyn Cobbo hat-trick, put the looming cyclone out of their minds to deliver the emphatic 80-minute performance.
"We checked in on them (our families) early, and then we got 80 minutes to worry about out there," Reynolds said post-match.
"Everyone is doing fine back home at the moment. We had a job to do here for 80 minutes, and now we can turn our attention to getting back home and being with our families.
"I don't think too many people have been through a cyclone, so for us it's about getting home as soon as possible and being with our loved ones and making sure that we're all OK."
Their cross-town rivals the Dolphins are also in Sydney with the NRL relocating their Friday night battle with South Sydney from Brisbane's Suncorp Stadium to CommBank Stadium.
The Dolphins will make their way back to southeast Queensland on their own chartered flight out of Sydney Airport on Saturday morning.
Qantas, Jetstar and Virgin announced they wouldn't operate flights to and from Brisbane, Gold Coast and Ballina airports until at least Sunday morning.
Three Dolphins players - Mark Nicholls, Kodi Nikorima and Kenny Bromwich - stayed behind with their young families when the players flew from Brisbane to Sydney on Wednesday night.
The Reds travelled from their round two Super Rugby Pacific match last weekend in Perth direct to Christchurch in New Zealand to face the Crusaders on Sunday, with their travel plans locked in long ago.
Coach Les Kiss gave players his blessing to return home midweek but Queensland captain Tate McDermott said the team would run out as per program.
"No-one's headed back, the (Reds) organisation in general has been really good for our families back home and they're safe," the Test halfback said.
"The timing of it obviously for our families wasn't ideal, but the boys have dealt with it really well.
"In our downtime there's a lot of calls to and from back home in Brissy, checking on our loved ones, but we've got a job to do on Sunday and and we're really looking forward to that challenge."
