Broncos vs Dolphins Prediction: Back the champs at 9/4 in the Battle of Brisbane

| Thursday 26th March 2026, 12:38

Thursday 26th March 2026, 12:38

After finally getting off the schneid in their Grand Final repeat against the Melbourne Storm, the NRL champion Brisbane Broncos face the Dolphins in a Queensland derby clash at Suncorp Stadium on Friday (19:00 local, 09:00 GMT, Sky Sports Action).

Both sides have registered 18-14 comeback wins from 14-0 down already this season, but one of them will have to take the initiative here. My Broncos vs Dolphins predictions are below with Betfred’s match odds and the latest team news.

Broncos vs Dolphins Betting Tips

Broncos by 1-12 @ 9/4
Dolphins Under 21.5 Points @ 13/10

*odds correct at time of publishing

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Broncos vs Dolphins Odds

The champs are favoured for the win here, with Betfred pricing them at 8/13 to get over the line in 80 minutes. That implies a 61.9% probability.

You can get 7/5 about the Dolphins, while it’s 16/1 to go beyond regulation time.

The Broncos give up 3.5 points on the two-way handicap, with the Dolphins 20/21 to make the most of the edge and Brisbane 5/6 to beat the deficit.

Team News

The big loss for the Broncos is Payne Haas, who has a shoulder injury so misses out. It’s Xavier Willison who will come in for the Rabbitohs-bound front-rower.

Adam Reynolds looks set to return at scrum-half having sat out the win in Victoria last week with a rib injury. If he’s fit to start, that will move Ben Hunt back to the subs’ bench.

Rugby League Odds

Kristian Woolf may well go with the same 13 which trounced the Sharks in Round 3, and he has the luxury of bringing back Tom Flegler off the bench following a rib problem.

Francis Molo’s return from suspension gives him a chance to come on as an interchange too.

Broncos by 1-12 @ 9/4

The Broncos finally got on the board in Round 3 when coming from behind to beat the Storm (where have we heard that one before?)

That followed defeats to Hull KR in the World Club Challenge and then both the Panthers and Eels in the Premiership, but having finally got off the mark one has to expect them to start getting back on track.

The Dolphins’ season so far can be broken into two 120-minute blocks, with their high-scoring loss to the Rabbitohs first up having been followed by a slow start against the Titans which saw them fall 14 points behind.

After coming back to win that one, they were healthy victors against the Sharks last time out. That means they should head into the Battle of Brisbane with some real confidence.

It should be a close thing, but I simply can’t look beyond the champs. They’re never out of games whatever the deficit, and they showed their resilience once more in Melbourne last time out.

The 9/4 about a win of up to two scores seems generous given that their last four victories have fallen within this margin.

Broncos vs Dolphins - Winning Margin 1-12

Broncos by 1-12

9/4

Bet Here

Odds correct at time of publishing.

Dolphins Under 21.5 Points @ 13/10

There are spells during which it seems impossible that the Dolphins will score anything below 50 points per game. Woolf’s side have so much strike that they are forever a threat.

But they have been a bit of a rollercoaster proposition so far, and up against the reigning kings I believe the value lies in tipping them to fall slightly short of the bracket attack-wise.

The 13/10 price implies a 43.5% chance that they’ll fall short of 22 points, and I’m happy to take that on.

Broncos vs Dolphins - Dolphins Total Points 21.5-24.5

Under 21.5

13/10

Bet Here

Odds correct at time of publishing.

You can read all our latest Rugby League Betting Tips at our dedicated Betfred Insights Rugby League content hub.