The Brisbane Broncos head to the Townsville, with the North Queensland Cowboys looking to upset their archrivals. Join The Roar from 7:50pm (AEST) for live scores and coverage of the match.
Johnathan Thurston’s form has improved considerably over the last fortnight, as North Queensland came from behind to defeat Newcastle and were within six points of the third-placed Sydney Roosters.
The spotlight will be on Thurston to deliver the Cowboys another miracle in his last-ever Queensland derby, although the key is matching the Broncos through the middle and creating enterprising play to fatigue their big park.
If Jake Granville can work effectively from the ruck, the Cowboys can turn the Broncos inside out and create a massive upset.
Despite having secured a spot inside the top eight, Brisbane are in a precarious position following a loss to the Bulldogs last week.
Wayne Bennett’s men have been inconsistent in recent weeks, conceding a heavy loss to the Warriors before posting 50 points on the Panthers and grinding out a win against the Sharks.
Bennett has shaken up his backline, with Darius Boyd returning to fullback, moving Jamayne Isaako to the wing and prompting Gehamat Shibasaki to debut at centre in place of Jordan Kahu. Tevita Pangai Jr has been dropped to the reserves while Josh McGuire is suspended.
The Broncos and Cowboys’ last meeting saw Brisbane win 24-20 in Round 2 this year. These teams have taken part in some classic battles in recent years, six of the last eight meetings being decided by four points or less, including the 2015 NRL grand final, when Thurston slotted the premiership-winning field goal in extra time.
The Broncos have won just once in their last five visits to Townsville, their solitary win coming last year.
Prediction
Johnathan Thurston will help his side to an upset win, with a field goal.
Cowboys by 1.
Join The Roar from 7:50pm (AEST) for score updates and debate in our live blog.
Emcie
Roar Guru
That's not what I said at all
canetoad
Guest
lol Emcie, do you think Broncs are going to start dominating the Cows next year with Thurston out?
AJ
Guest
Gee the broncs got some great decisions go their way and still couldn’t win they’re struggling big time
Griffo
Guest
Possibly the least impressive if his siblings.
Concerned Observer
Guest
Consider it tall poppy syndrome, the Broncos are a successful club with a big fan base and while not getting obvious favouritism they do get one or two good calls especially at home simply because they’ve got a crowd of 25 000 plus behind them which is much more influential then say... the roosters where it’s 2 people and a particularly vocal pigeon or the Cowboys where, based on most of us on here is a collection of people who just want the pain to stop Plus we’re all biased, of course we’re gonna miss the the calls going our way
Matt P
Roar Rookie
What else did you expect from a cloaca like Gould?
Simba
Guest
Righto legend. You say the comp is set then list 50% of the top 8 as potential winners. Go to bed little man.
Griffo
Guest
It's actually good to see the bottom teams getting some wins. Brings back a bit of respectability to the wooden spoon race!
Matt P
Roar Rookie
I'm happy to admit we should've closed out that match regardless of what calls did or didn't go our way, and we didn't deserve the win with our display in the last stages. I'd just like a bit more consistency from the fanbase, who seem to have different opinions on decisions based on what jersey the players are wearing. If the situations tonight had been reversed the same old crowd would be on here giving it to us, like every game the Broncs have won this year. GG though, good game to watch.
Concerned Observer
Guest
of course Lodge’s was a try, Thursto can complain all he wants but Clifford made a choice to ignore lodge and go after the outside man giving (gifting?) Lodge a big gap to run through, Taumalolo probably wouldn’t have made it either way And time to take a deep breath and accept that the Broncos had a lot of chances to put away my Boys and no one stood up. I agree that the play the ball penalty sucked but the Referees have been consistent on that all year and you can’t blame the Ref for Milford then kicking on the 3rd, nothing was on and it showed he wasn’t willing to just grind it out for maybe five more minutes. Then Scott, LoLo and McLean came on and they just retreated. I know that’s a lot to stop but shouldn’t be impossible for a team aiming for a deep run in September Hopefully Bennet uses this to try and focus them a bit more
Adam
Roar Guru
It was an absolute hatchet job.
Emcie
Roar Guru
Meanwhile on Fox, Kent is going all out to defend Hook and the story doesn't seem to be holding up as well anymore with Hooper bringing in a bit of a middleground perspective
Emcie
Roar Guru
hmm, trade ya
Penrith Punter
Roar Guru
I like Penrith's draw - Titans and Knights to hopefully restore confidence and fire in attack and then good tests against the Warriors in NZ and Storm in Melbourne to finish.
Griffo
Guest
I can tell you, I was there. It was round 26 last year. Cowboys showed heart but Broncos had a comfortable win. A late fightback from the Cowboys gave them a chance at making the finals at the expense of Manly if Penrith had have won, which didn't happen and Manly didn't end up winning by enough thanks to a late comeback from Penrith but thankfully the dogs got the job done against the Dragons. That was the only time in the last 9 matchups that it wasn't close.
Matt P
Roar Rookie
Then so be it. Like he said, if we can't do anything the next couple of matches, we're not doing anything come finals time anyway. Least this way we'll actually know what we need to do.
Emcie
Roar Guru
Bronc's weren't at their best either. At any rate Broncos always lift for both those sides and you get more out of good footy then average footy
Rellum
Roar Guru
They are doing a right royal hatched job on Hook. Gus had a go at him when he sacked him, Hook stood up for himself and then Gould has the hide to bag him out for doing that. It is one giant long Gus platform.
Muzz
Guest
Entertaining game.
Emcie
Roar Guru
It'll be interesting to see who steps up in Thurstons place next year, I honestly can't remember what it was like having a Broncos derby without him there