Broad, Australia's pantomime villain after his failure to walk at Trent Bridge earlier this year, dismissed Rogers for one with the first ball of his second over and returned three balls before the break to send Watson packing for 22.
Australia opener David Warner, though, was just eight runs away from a half century after a morning of good judgement and some aggressive strokeplay.
He will resume after the break on 42 with his scoreless captain Michael Clarke, who earlier won the toss and put his team into bat on a fine, sunny morning in Queensland.
Broad, branded a "smug Pommy cheat" on the front page of the local Courier-Mail newspaper on Thursday, was greeted by a chorus of boos when he came on to bowl in the second over.
His first ball was not quite the disaster that England's Steve Harmison experienced in 2006 but a no ball that Warner brutally pulled for four was certainly not the start he was looking for.
The first ball of his second over, though, came up high off the Brisbane track and when Rogers tried to ride the bounce, it flew off the splice of his bat to Ian Bell at gully.
Warner had earlier made a statement by hitting a four off the first delivery he faced from England's most feared bowler, James Anderson, while a well-executed uppercut off Broad for another boundary was another signal of his intent.
It was Watson who performed the welcoming rites for Chris Tremlett, preferred to Boyd Rankin and Steve Finn as England's third quick, by cutting the tall paceman's third ball to the boundary through point.
With the Australian pair looking reasonably comfortable, England skipper Alastair Cook brought on Graeme Swann but Warner, after blocking the spinner's first ball, smashed the second back over the Englishman's head for four.
Watson, whose preparations were disrupted by a hamstring injury, had always appeared less comfortable than his partner but looked like riding his luck until Broad again found some bounce in the last over before lunch.
The all-rounder pushed at a ball he could have left and edged it to Swann at second slip, swatting his bat in frustration at the manner and timing of his dismissal.
There was a slight scare for England earlier when Anderson cut up a couple of divots diving to stop a four close to the boundary.
Despite the echoes of Simon Jones's fall in the corresponding test in 2002, when the England bowler ruptured his knee and was ruled out for the series, Anderson shook off the tumble and saw the session out.
England's Matt Prior kept wickets all morning without any obvious discomfort after passing a fitness test on a calf strain.
England, who won the first series of this year's double header 3-0, are chasing a fourth successive Ashes triumph and a first victory at the Gabba since 1986.
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