Both South-East Queensland rugby league teams are quietly confident heading into their crucial weekend clashes.

The Gold Coast Titans and Brisbane Broncos continued their preparations before flying out to take on their southern rivals.

David Lather reports.

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TRANSCRIPT

The Titans are looking to continue their strong form when they come up against the Newcastle Knights at Energy Australia Stadium this Sunday afternoon.

The Gold Coast are yet to win on the Knights home turf, and are weary of a side that came back to topple the Brisbane Broncos last week.

Ashley Harrison, Titans Forward: “They sort of fly under the radar a bit, but they seem to be getting some wins against some good sides, so definitely a danger game for us.”

The Titans are confident they can break the hoodoo if they reproduce the form that has seen them defeat premiership contenders Manly and Penrith in the past fortnight.

Trevor Gillmeister, Titans Assistant Coach: “I dead set think if we play the way we can play, mate we’re a big chance of beating them.”

The Gold Coast sit alone in second place on the ladder.

Meanwhile, the Brisbane Broncos are positioned at the other end of the table and are preparing to take on a fired up Melbourne Storm.

Fellow strugglers Cronulla have the bye, meaning a Broncos loss could mean they sit last out of all the teams competing for the title.

The Broncos believe this weekend is the best time to play the Storm, who have eight players attempting to back up after representative football.

Corey Norman, Broncos Back: “It’s going to be a hard match on Friday, you know they’ve got seven something players in there, and it’s going to be really hard for them to back up so this is probably the perfect time to get them.”

The match is being played at Melbourne’s new stadium, and Brisbane are hoping a change of surroundings will mean a change of fortune.

David Lather, QUT News