Brisbane will roll out their new-look spine against Gold Coast on Saturday knowing they need to lift to keep pace with the NRL's best.
Shown up by Parramatta last weekend in a 28-14 loss, coach Wayne Bennett has demanded a higher intensity from a team already dealing with the loss of hooker Andrew McCullough.
Ben Hunt will do his best to fill that void against the Titans at Cbus Super Stadium, while the return of Corey Oates will also fuel the push for a top-four finish.
Oates will play for the first time since June 24, after recovering from a staph infection that hospitalised him.
Set to replace David Mead in the 18, the Queensland Origin winger will add size and class to the Broncos side.
Brisbane 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."
Hunt will give the Broncos speed out of dummy half but McCullough's defensive presence will be dearly missed.
"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.
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.
Jarryd Hayne will start in his preferred fullback position, where he scored the Titans' only points in the loss to Wests Tigers.
That ended Gold Coast's finals aspirations, but they will still be desperate to win and avoid a record seventh consecutive loss to their south-east Queensland rivals.
STATS THAT MATTER
* Darius Boyd ran for over 200 metres, busted seven tackles, made two try assists and one linebreak in their last meeting.
* The Titans have scored 24 of their 72 tries from kicks (33.3 percent), the most in the NRL, and conceded just nine tries of 82 (11 percent) from kicks, the lowest in the NRL.
* Brisbane have won all 11 matches this season when scoring more than 20 points, and eight of 12 when scoring the first try.
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