NRL

The promoter's dream pits master mentor Wayne Bennett against Kevin Walters, the man he shared five premierships with as coach and player at the Broncos between 1992 and 2000.

Former Broncos Jamayne Isaako, Tesi Niu, Brenko Lee and Kodi Nikorima will be out to get one over on their old club as the Dolphins look to continue their fairytale start to their debut season.

After a gutsy golden point victory on the opening night of the season, few could have predicted the Storm would stumble against the Bulldogs and Titans, conceding 64 points across the two games and lacking the defensive steel that has been their trademark.

The absence of superstar five-eighth Cameron Munster with a finger injury has clearly been a factor but coach Craig Bellamy has built his phenomenal success around a 'next man up' culture and won't be using the absence of the mercurial No.6 as an excuse.

The Bulldogs caused an upset win over the Storm with new recruits Viliame Kikau and Reed Mahoney showing their worth at AAMI Park to help give Cameron Ciraldo his first win in charge of the blue and whites.

Wests Tigers only have themselves to blame for surrendering two matches at Leichhardt Oval in the past fortnight with their expansive style of play coached by Tim Sheens in the summer clearly not working in the early stages. 

The Broncos trailed 16-8 at halftime and the scores were locked at 18-18 until the 71st minute but they finished too strong to ensure an epic build up to the historic clash with their new cross-town rivals on Friday night. 

The Dragons opened the scoring through winger Mat Feagai in the sixth minute but they were on the back foot in the opening exchanges as Selwyn Cobbo had a try disallowed and Kotoni Staggs scored.

Led by star halfback Shaun Johnson, the Warriors overcame an early deficit to pile on five tries to two to secure their first win outside New Zealand since downing Canberra 21-20 at Redcliffe in Round 8 last season.

Johnson combined with five-eighth Te Maire Martin to have a hand in three of his side's tries as the Warriors capitalised on a dominant forward performance built of the back of a high completion rate.

The Titans trailed 24-18 at the break before overcoming the error-prone Storm in the second 40 minutes, with star off-season recruit and chief playmaker Kieran Foran impressing, despite spending 24 minutes on the bench after being substituted in a surprise move by coach Justin Holbrook. 

Even in his more limited role, Foran set up a try and laid on two line breaks, which included helping rookie winger Alofiana Khan-Pereira to a first-half double. 

North Queensland will be hurting from last week's derby loss to the Broncos, which also saw them lose Scott Drinkwater (three games) and Peta Hiku (two matches) to suspension. 

The Warriors meanwhile were left to rue poor execution in the final quarter of their 20-12 loss to the Roosters on Saturday, after they had battled on valiantly in the face of losing Jackson Ford (head knock), Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad (head knock) and Josh Curran (hip).

The Titans came back to earth at Kogarah on Sunday after an impressive start to the season while Melbourne copped more injury concerns in their loss to the Bulldogs but were otherwise beaten on enthusiasm. 

Craig Bellamy's men hold a dominant record against the Titans, particularly at Cbus Super Stadium, and with a few stars slated to return, they'll want to correct their efforts last week.

A second-half double from Paulo helped lift the Tricolours to victory, but only after they survived a wild finish which saw the Rabbitohs score with two minutes to play, setting up a hail Mary two-point field goal attempt from Latrell Mitchell which fell short of the posts. 

Earlier South Sydney raced out to a 10-0 lead after 15 minutes and dominated the opening proceedings at Allianz Stadium.

Niu scored twice in the first half before his third with 12 minutes to go looked to have put the result beyond doubt, only for Felise Kaufusi to then be sent to the sin bin for a late tackle which saw him put on report for the second time in the game at McDonald Jones Stadium.

It set up a nervous finish, before Isaako's double inside the last five minutes saw Wayne Bennett's side get past a stubborn Knights side who had three players appearing at NRL level for the first time, with a bench that had just 18 total games of first-grade experience.