Brisbane have moved into the NRL top eight with a thumping 34-12 win over struggling Gold Coast.
The Broncos ran in six tries to two, including a first-half double to Kotoni Staggs, to leapfrog Newcastle into eighth position on 19 points after 18 games.
For the second-consecutive week, teenage prop Payne Haas ran more than 200 metres, while fellow forwards Matt Lodge and David Fifita were hugely influential through the middle in Saturday evening’s first half.
Another young forward, Patrick Carrigan, played 60 minutes off the bench and finished with 31 tackles and 158 metres.
It’s a far cry from Brisbane’s position after three-straight defeats in June when the Broncos had slumped to 14th.
“We’ve worked really hard to give ourselves a chance but we’re certainly not getting carried away,” coach Anthony Seibold said.
“We’ve got six games to go. We’re only three-quarters of the way through the season.
“We didn’t get too pessimistic or too down on ourselves when certain people were bagging us. We’re not going to get too carried away now.”
The only sour notes for the Broncos were lock Tevita Pangai Jnr being placed on report for a heavy tackle on Phillip Sami and a groin strain for veteran Alex Glenn which ruled him out of the second half.
Pangai was sin-binned as well as being placed on report after catching Sami with a shoulder while tackling the Titans’ centre after he’d fielded a kick.
Seibold was bemused by the referee’s response and was confident the Tongan international wouldn’t be in danger of missing Friday’s clash with top-of-the-table Melbourne at Suncorp Stadium.
“I thought it should have been a scrum and a feed to us,” Seibold said of the Pangai incident.
“He didn’t get off the floor. Tevita didn’t hit him before he’d landed and Sami didn’t go off.
“If he’s charged … I don’t want to make comment but I don’t think he’ll be charged.”
Defeat leaves the Titans rock bottom with just four wins in a woeful 2019.
Interim boss Craig Hodges, who said he knew nothing about his own future amid reports the new Titans’ coach might be announced early next week, said basic errors at crucial times continued to undermine the team’s efforts.
“At the moment, when two teams are competing, we’re the first team that releases the pressure valve,” Hodges said.
While Sami came through his initial head injury assessment, he failed to return for the second half after self-reporting in the dressing sheds.
The Titans also lost winger Dale Copley late in the game to a hamstring strain, which is likely to sideline him for a few weeks and possibly the remainder of the season.
While Brisbane host the Storm in a huge test of their finals credentials, Gold Coast are away to reigning premiers the Sydney Roosters on Sunday week at the SCG.
