Key three: Broncos dominant in Macca's Local Derby

Titans fans, we know it is a tough read when the team from up the road take the win.  Tonight, Brisbane were just better.  The Broncos set up the game with a 28-point first half and kept their foot down in the second half to claim the honors in the Macca’s Local Derby.

The Titans came into the match with the better recent record, having claimed the last three against the Broncos but in their all-black jersey in front of home fans in Brisbane the Broncos snapped their own run of poor recent results with a strong win.

Jaimin Jolliffe showed he was up for the challenge and embraced the extra minutes that came with a starting role, while Klese Haas played arguably his best game of the season from the bench.  With a double tonight, Alofiana Khan-Pereira moved to 49 career tries from just 51 NRL games.  Arama Hau also grabbed his first NRL try.

The Titans were better in the second half, but almost all of the highlights belonged to the Broncos in this one.  Here are some positives from tonight in our key three.

Beau keeps hand up for Queensland

In a well beaten side, Beau Fermor was again the Titans best.  He made a try saving tackle in the first half, looked for offloads when he could and had his hand up to run the football at every possible opportunity.  As always with Beau, the effort was well and truly there for all to see.  After making his Origin debut off the bench in game one, Fermor didn’t do his own chances of a recall any harm with another strong performance.  Will it be enough to force his way into the starting side for the Maroons for game two?  We’ll have to wait until Monday when Billy Slater names his team.

Mullany grabs chance in second game

This was just NRL game two for Sean Mullany.  The 25-year-old has grabbed his chance this year and managed to add to his debut game with a local derby appearance.   He’s spent most of the season in the Hostplus Cup playing at lock, so to slot into a full game of NRL at hooker is no easy task.  In his NRL debut (round five against the Dolphins), Mullany managed just 15-minutes from the interchange bench.  Tonight it was 62-minutes in the middle.

Looking ahead to next week at Cbus

Ok, less about tonight and more let’s look to next week.  It’s a Friday night at Cbus Super Stadium next up for the Titans as we host the Manly Sea Eagles.  Manly are coming off a loss to Newcastle and both teams will be desperate to notch a win.  There’s plenty happening at this game, making it a great night out if you’re on the Coast next week.  Working with cancer charity Canteen and our partners The Lottery Office, we hope to break a record at half-time for the most bandannas worn in a single place.  There’s wrestling pre-game and plenty of other activity to make this an entertaining night out.