Friday has two NRL matches with the first game for Round 10 is between Brisbane Broncos and Gold Coast Titans with the opening kick to commence at 7:40pm local time. The game is to be played at Suncorp Stadium with the favourite for the match being Brisbane Broncos. View our NRL live scores, odds and results for the game between Brisbane Broncos and Gold Coast Titans.

Where and when: Suncorp Stadium, Friday May 16, 7:40pm

Odds Comparison:

Brisbane Broncos	1.32	1.33	1.32	1.33	1.32	1.33
Gold Coast Titans	3.50	3.45	3.45	3.45	3.50	3.45

All odds are subject to change. Odds listed are correct at the time of the latest update.

Preview:

The Broncos fell to their fourth loss from their past five matches when defeated by the Cowboys in Townsville last week, 27 – 14.

The Broncos were behind 14 – 0 inside of the first 20 minutes of the game as the home-side dominated the early play.

It wasn’t until the back end of the first half that the Broncos started to get their share of possession and their chance to claw back some of the deficit however, they were unable to penetrate a committed Cowboys defence, who for this period of the game, were without Johnathan Thurston who had left the field with a head-knock.

In fact, it wasn’t until seven minutes into the second stanza that the Broncos got on the board via halfback Ben Hunt, who crossed for his sixth try of the year and then for his seventh twelve minutes later, to give the Broncos a shot at 14 – 10 but the Cowboys held and produced two tries inside of the last ten minutes to run out deserved winners.

As in their previous losses, none of them by a margin of seven points or more, it wasn’t a case of the Broncos playing poorly but it did highlight the importance of a good start.

As they did against Souths in round 8, they were behind early and that places them under undue pressure. Compared to their earlier wins of the season where they were scoring first and early, it gave them the momentum and confidence needed to go on with the job.

Speaking of poor starts, the Titans also experienced the wrath of the South Sydney side last week and were stunned early, trailing 22 – 0 inside of the first twenty minutes.

It was a position the Titans could not came back from and for the second time from three games this year, they lost heavily 40 – 18.

Whilst it was only the third loss for the Titans this year, it was an opportunity lost to stamp themselves as genuine contenders for this year’s premiership.

They’ll be looking to redeem themselves this weekend and repeat their round 6 victory over the Broncos (12 – 6).

That win was only the second victory the Titans have had over the Broncos in ten matches since 2009 – both of them when playing at home. When having to travel up the M1 to Suncorp, the Titans have won one from eight – with that win coming way back in 2007.

The Titans have lost their last seven matches at Suncorp but will by buoyed by the fact that even the Broncos have struggled their this year, winning just one from four however, the losses were all by small margins and decided in the final minutes.

The stats point to a Brisbane victory here and think only a better start to the match than they’ve had the past fortnight is needed to see them win here.

Teams:

Brisbane Broncos:
1. Ben Barba 2. Daniel Vidot 3. Jack Reed 4. Justin Hodges 5. Dale Copley 6. Josh Hoffman 7. Ben Hunt 8. Josh McGuire 9. Andrew McCullough 10. Jarrod Wallace 11. Alex Glenn 12. Corey Parker 13. Matt Gillett. Interchange: 14. David Hala 15. Ben Hannant 16. Corey Oates 17. Todd Lowrie 18. Jake Granville

Gold Coast Titans:
1. David Mead 2. Kevin Gordon 3. William Zillman 4. Brad Takairangi 5. Anthony Don 6. Aidan Sezer 7. Albert Kelly 8. Luke Douglas 9. Beau Falloon 10. Nate Myles 11. Mark Minichiello 12. Dave Taylor 13. Ashley Harrison. Interchange: 14. Matt White 15. Luke Bailey 16. Cody Nelson 17. Paul Carter 18. Mark Ioane

News:

Confusion may reign at Gold Coast in the wake of Greg Bird’s two-game ban but Brisbane coach Anthony Griffin believes the answer is simple – don’t lift in tackles.

Titans mentor John Cartwright on Thursday supported Bird’s call that players are confused about what they can do in tackles following the NRL’s crackdown on dangerous throws and lifting in the wake of Alex McKinnon’s career-ending spinal injury.

He felt Bird was treated too harshly despite successfully having a grade three dangerous throw charge downgraded at the judiciary on Wednesday night, cutting a potential six-week ban to just two weeks.

“I still think he (Bird) was a little bit hard done by but two weeks is better than six,” Cartwright said.

“Clarity over a lot of things is probably what’s needed for the players.

“I probably feel for them a bit. We’re changing a lot of rules recently regarding tackling.

“It’s a pretty simple game and we seem to be complicating it a little bit.”

After being ruled out of two NRL games and the May 28 State of Origin opener, Bird claimed there was “no black and white” on how to tackle any more.

However, Broncos coach Griffin believed it was clear what the NRL expected from players.

“I think everyone understands now that you can’t lift,” he said.

“I don’t think there is any confusion in that.

“From time to time there is going to be confusion in gradings whether they are high tackles or shoulder charges or whatever.

“The confusion him (Bird) and his club (may have) applied to the grading and they were vindicated – I am happy to go with that.

“But I think everyone understands you can’t lift in tackles.”