Broncos hand Titans first loss with big derby win

The Broncos set a new club record en route to earning their first win of the year on Sunday, as they handed a 44-4 defeat of local rivals the Titans in Brisbane. 

The result marked the three-time premiership winners' biggest ever NRLW victory and was the largest ever loss the Gold Coast have suffered since entering the NRL Telstra Women's Premiership. 

Kiwi Ferns centre Mele Hufanga did much of the damage with a four-try effort which equaled her club record mark set last year, while skipper Ali Brigginshaw was at her playmaking best as she laid on two assists and played a prominent role in several other four-pointers. 

Having been well beaten in both of their games through the opening fortnight, Scott Prince's side were boosted by the injury return of star players Gayle Broughton and Shenae Ciesiolka, along with the availability of new recruit Stacey Waaka, who took the field less than two weeks on from winning an Olympic gold medal with the New Zealand sevens team in Paris. 

Brisbane dominated the first half proceedings, completing 17 of 18 sets and running in four tries to the equal the number they'd managed to score in the prior 140 minutes of the season, all while holding their opponents to nothing at the other end. 

After Julia Robinson burned the Titans down the left flank for the opening try inside five minutes, Destiny Brill burrowed over from close range for a try which doubled the lead following Romy Teitzel's second conversion. 

After having further tries ruled out due to a forward pass and obstruction, Hufanga got over for her first after receiving a late offload from Tazmin Rapana following some quality build up from Broughton. 

Minutes later it was a near carbon copy late ball from Rapana which gave Hufanga her second and the Broncos a 22-0 lead at the half. 

After Brigginshaw regathered her own bomb amidst a sea of Titans jersey, the veteran No.7 handed off to Hayley Maddick who dotted down for Brisbane's fifth. 

When they eventually did get over the line with half an hour to play, the Gold Coast had the effort ruled out by a Bunker review. 

A line break from golden girl Waaka on the next set advanced Brisbane down field and after moving the ball to the opposite side Brigginshaw put Teitzel over for a try which she also converted. 

Hufanga's next, a long-range effort this time, followed before the Titans got one back through Lauren Brown with 20 to play. 

A fourth for Hufanga put an extra exclamation mark on the performance and saw her equal the club, and NRLW record, for most tries in a game for the second time in her career.