Brisbane have focused on getting their defensive structure right for Sunday's NRL clash with a desperate Newcastle.
A desperate Newcastle will need to rock up to Suncorp Stadium on Sunday with their A game to give coach Wayne Bennett an upset win over his former NRL club Brisbane.
With a wet track on the cards, the side which controls field position and gets into the grind best will most likely emerge the victor.
Brisbane have had a week of soul searching after crashing back to reality following a 34-10 loss at the hands of Melbourne last week.
Outplayed in every area of the game, Brisbane have upped their defensive intensity this week in anticipation of Newcastle coming at them through the middle with big men Kade Snowden and Willie Mason off-loading.
Coach Anthony Griffin on Saturday played down an arduous training run early in the week calling it a "conditioning session" but it was clear the players were pushed defensively to get their mindset right for Sunday's high stakes clash.
"I'm not to worried about the (premiership) points, the vital thing for us is that our effort is there," Griffin said in regard to 36 missed tackles against the Storm, 12 more than they have been averaging a game this season.
"Last week was something that was not acceptable for all of us the way we competed."
Like most coaches Griffin's focus has been addressing the shortcomings after Melbourne exposed them with six tries, rather than worrying too much about Newcastle.
"All the things we pride ourselves on, we need to be looking for them tomorrow," he said.
Newcastle return under Bennett desperate to get their stuttering season back on track and Griffin believes the Knights have enough fire power in the forwards to help pave the way for classy backs Darius Boyd, Akuila Uate and Jarrod Mullen.
"Their two big guys Snowden and Mason give them a lot of grunt through the middle and they can get a ball away," he said.
"They're really very dangerous at the back with Boyd, Mullen and Uate in particular so we'll need to kick-chase really well and try and make them earn their field position instead of letting them have cheap metres."
Prop Scott Anderson trained with Brisbane on Saturday morning with Dunamis Lui still battling the affects of a stomach bug.
Bennett has kept a low profile going into the clash but Brisbane are expecting he will have his players switched on with a simple game plan.
Brisbane lock Corey Parker, one of only a handful of Broncos players coached by Bennett said he always expects a tough game up against his former mentor, especially when he's under the pump.
"In the back of your mind you know Wayne is coaching them," he said.
"You've got a lot of pride in your jersey and you want to perform hard when you wear it, but I guess you want to perform extra hard when Wayne is the coach of the other team."
