Brisbane coach Wayne Bennett has acknowledged they will need to lift their game to keep pace with the NRL’s best.

The Broncos were shown up by Parramatta last weekend in a 28-14 loss.

And Brisbane were dealt a further blow when Andrew McCullough suffered a season-ending knee injury.

However, the return of Corey Oates will help their push for a top-four finish.

Oates will play for the first time since June 24 in Saturday’s clash against Gold Coast, after he was hospitalised with a staph infection.

Set to replace David Mead in the 18, the hulking Queensland Origin winger will add size and class to a Broncos side trying their best to plug the gap left by McCullough.

The Broncos have won the past six against the Titans and boast a better record against their south-east Queensland rivals than any other club, with 17 wins from 22 encounters.

Part of a log-jammed top eight, Bennett hopes that form line continues but has called on his side to match the intensity levels shown by the Eels last weekend.

“No doubt about that (the stakes are higher),” Bennett said on Friday.

“We need to pick ourselves up a little bit and progress that because in the next five weeks every game is important.”

Ben Hunt will replace McCullough at hooker, while Kodi Nikorima and Anthony Milford will combine in the halves.

“Ben’s our best option (at hooker) and has plenty of experience there,” Bennett said.

“He’s a tremendous runner of the ball, hopefully he can do something for us.”

Benji Marshall trained with the reserve squad at times on Friday, while Herman Ese-ese featured in the main group.

But Bennett indicated there would be no further changes to the squad.

Gold Coast coach Neil Henry revealed Ashley Taylor has been carrying a sore leg this week, but the halfback trained on Friday and will line up against his former club.

The Titans will wait on the fitness of Kevin Proctor, who was named in Tuesday’s initial squad after missing last Sunday’s loss to Wests Tigers.