James Roberts comes back to haunt old club as Brisbane Broncos hold out Gold Coast Titans

• As it happened: Titans v Broncos

The only thing worse than losing one of your best players to the rich team up the road is when he comes back and carves you to pieces. James Roberts' first visit back to Robina was a good one, as it was for the Brisbane Broncos, who sit on top of the NRL ladder after another narrow victory.

It wasn't quite the 21-20 blockbuster of their golden point victory over the Cowboys last Friday night but Brisbane had to dig deep enough to repel the Titans 24-16, who despite the loss are a better team than most people are prepared to admit.

Back with a vengeance: James Roberts of the Broncos scores against the Titans. Photo: Getty Images

With Tyrone Roberts missing and Greg Bird doing his best out of position at five-eighth, they lacked the game management to finish it off late despite a strong surge in the second half that had them within six with just over five minutes on the clock.

But the night really belonged to Roberts, the centre with blistering speed who couldn't sprint away from the Titans quickly enough after his management found out someone at the club had forged his signature on an altered contract.

Luckily, he only had to travel to Brisbane, where Wayne Bennett wooed him with top-billing in place of Justin Hodges and the promise of a potential premiership, which at this point looks a fair chance of coming true.

Out of position: Greg Bird of the Titans had a hard night. Photo: Getty Images

He can shoot from the mouth but backed it up with a dominant first-half display that helped the Broncos get away to an early double-digits lead, on which they steadily built before edging away when it mattered.

A good crowd of 21,080 had arrived hoping to see him fall on his face. Instead, he sliced them open on a number of occasions to give long-suffering Titans fans a reminder of exactly what had swaggered out the door.

His try after just two minutes capped off a rotten half hour for the Titans that began when veteran prop David Shillington suffered a hip injury during the warm-ups. He would sit it out, meaning the Gold Coast lost some serious muscle before a ball had been kicked in anger.

High five: The Broncos are looking for their fifth win of the season. Photo: Getty Images

Then a mix-up from Ben Hunt's kick gave the Broncos an early sniff, with Roberts making a mockery of the defence of John Olive to cruise over and score, urging the crowd to keep the noise down for good measure. It was a stinger.

The returning Corey Oates was nearly over in the opposite corner not long afterwards and would have added to his tally if it wasn't for a crunching tackle from David Mead, who whacked the big Bronco into touch with a try-saving special.

That seemed to give the Gold Coast a sense of purpose, even with makeshift five-eighth Bird's bumbling kicking game letting Brisbane off the hook. By the 15-minute mark, the visitors had enjoyed some 70 per cent possession.

Big hit: Nene MacDonald of the Titans is tackled. Photo: Getty Images

Roberts was like Freddy Kruger coming back to terrorise the kids on his old street. He bolted through again and probably should have just hit the gas, instead stopping and propping to hand off to Anthony Milford, who couldn't get the handle and turned it over.

Hunt picked a good time to discover his running game, burrowing over in the 23rd minute to make it 10-0, although Mead struck before the break to make it 10-4.

Tries to Jordan Kahu and Kodi Nikorima made it 22-4 until the unlikely hero Zeb Taia helped himself to a double to get his side within six points with 10 minutes to play but Corey Parker penalty would kill any hopes of a miracle comeback.

Brisbane coach Bennett was happy just to get over the line in 80 minutes this time out: "Coming off a big win last week, it's hard to back up and get a good win ... they're good this team, they did a good job.

"We got the job done. Got the two points."

Meanwhile Titans coach Neil Henry was glad his side put up a fight, rather than cave-in to last season's beaten finalists. 

"If we stay resilient like that we'll win a few games, just not tonight," he said. "It is significant it didn't blow out to 30 or 36.

"We just haven't gone into our shell, I just think we need to back ourselves a little bit earlier than that."