Live: Payne Haas to captain desperate Broncos against Roosters

The Bulldogs roll up the middle of the field with quick play-the-balls galore.

Hooker Bailey Hayward gets on the front foot and skips out of dummy half, firing a cut-out pass out to Jethro Rinakama, who spins through the tackle of Zane Harrison to score out wide.

The Bulldogs look to strip the Titans for numbers with an early shift on their 20m line, but Josh Curran’s final pass to Matt Burton is called forward. Gee, that’s a dubious one. Seen plenty worse than that let go.

Burton belts the ball down the ground but for some reason Todd Smith doesn’t ping him for the extra 10 metres.

AJ Brimson dinks a grubber in behind and Beau Fermor scoops it up brilliantly in the wet. He looks certain to score but somehow Enari Tuala recovers and not only brings him down a metre short, but also forces the error.

The crucial first try of the second half is scored by the Titans as they capitalise on another Bulldogs error, finding Phil Sami on a short side to score out on the left wing.

Jayden Campbell hooks the conversion, so it remains 12-4 to the Bulldogs.

He’s been playing with a small tear in his calf muscle, and he’s just pulled up lame on a quick charge.

He’s straight off the field and up the tunnel as the Titans get the ball back thanks to a Jaeman Salmon error.

Mercifully, Canterbury doesn’t try to get too smart about it and just brings Bronson Xerri, a centre, off the bench.

It may seem obvious, but the Bulldogs have made a habit of tying themselves in knots in these situations in the past.

Keano Kini fumbles a Matt Burton bomb and the Titans start the second half as they did the first.

After a long delay to run the kicking tee out there.

Can the Coasters find a way back into this game?

Big Payne Haas has the captain’s armband for the Broncos with Adam Reynolds and Pat Carrigan sidelined.

It’s been a brutal contest, particularly for the Titans, who have spent most of the first 40 minutes pinned on their own tryline.

They’ve offered very little in attack as a result, with at least three really poor last-tackle options.

The Bulldogs are playing it perfectly, attacking with their defence and then kicking to corners to keep the Titans a long way from points.

Still, we saw the Titans bounce back from a similar first half last week, so let’s see if they can fire a shot after the break.

The Bulldogs are flinging the ball around in driving rain, but eventually the inevitable knock-on comes from Jaeman Salmon.

He threw his left shoulder into a tackle on Keano Kini, but gets up struggling.

And it looks like his right shoulder. He’s pointing to his right trapezius though. Hopefully it’s just a burner and he can run it out.

The Gold Coast hooker burrows in from dummy half and ends up with the ball on the tryline, but he came up short initially.

The bunker replays show it clearly, so the Dogs still lead 12-0. It’s been all Canterbury, so a 12-6 half-time score would have been a stunning result for the Titans.

It was an identical scenario against Penrith last week.

The Titans have a set deep in the Bulldogs’ half but they look woeful in attack, potentially exhausted from all their defence.

Regardless, the set ends with a cross-field kick out to Jaylan de Groot, who climbs up over Stephen Crichton and makes a great grab, but he loses the ball as Jethro Rinakama arrives late to the contest and lands heavily on the Titans winger.

Let’s hope it just knocked the wind out of him.

It’s pretty simple stuff on a left-side shift for the Dogs, with Stephen Crichton looking out the back to Matt Burton, but hitting Josh Curran short and the big man in headgear bursts through to score.

The Titans defence there won’t have thrilled Josh Hannay. They look exhausted and Zane Harrison was slow to release from the inside man.

Winger Jaylan de Groot was defending at centre with Jojo Fifita outside him. I wonder if they’re trying to keep Fifita defending out wide so he can be in the aerial battles.

We haven’t seen much exciting attack from the Bulldogs in 2026, but Crichton is already looking a little more dynamic at five-eighth, or at least different.

This time he kicks early for a flying Matt Burton.

Keano Kini gets across to cut it off, but hey, it’s something.

A high-tackle penalty against Leo Thompson finally gives the home side a shot over the 50m line, and they get their first tackle in Canterbury territory after the Bulldogs had 42!

But Arama Hau knocks it on right in front of the posts and the Bulldogs waste no time counter-attacking through Jacob Kiraz and eventually Josh Curran.

Another error on the last tackle.

This time, after five straight one-out runs to end up just short of halfway, they go right on the last.

Halfback Zane Harrison is in position to kick and back rower Arama Hau puts his head down ready to chase, but Harrison fires the pass out to an unsuspecting Hau, handing the ball back to the Bulldogs on the 50m line.

Hau looks at Harrison and says “my bad”, which it was, but Harrison looked right at him and still threw the pass.

It’s another repeat set for the Bulldogs on the Gold Coast tryline and this time it’s all the Titans’ fault.

Keano Kini appeared to have Lachlan Galvin’s grubber covered, but AJ Brimson, running back from centre, panicked and tried to bat it dead only to slap the ball into Kini’s face.

The Bulldogs regather the rebound, Jacob Kiraz goes within a metre of scoring and off the ensuing tackle the Dogs spin it left and Jethro Rinakama scores on a simple overlap.

The Titans haven’t got over halfway yet.

Stephen Crichton fires a superb flat pass out to his left centre replacement, Matt Burton, who looks destined for the tryline from close range, but he’s dragged down by Jojo Fifita and Keano Kini arrives late to knock the ball loose.