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Martin Taupau celebrates his second try against the Rabbitohs at ANZ Stadium.

They've only won one out of their last eight matches but Wayne Bennett knows his troops must be switched on for Sunday's clash against the lowly Wests Tigers.

Four months ago the Broncos and Tigers were sitting in contrasting positions on the Telstra Premiership ladder.

The Tigers sat in sixth spot heading into the weekend of Round 3 after wins against the Titans and Dragons, while Brisbane occupied 11th position after overcoming the Sharks following their opening round 36-6 defeat by the Rabbitohs.

Fast forward to the conclusion of Round 18 and the Tigers have only won three games in 14 rounds of football, leaving them languishing in second last place on the ladder.

The Broncos, meanwhile, are cantering towards their fifth minor premiership having only lost three out of their 16 games this season.

Despite sitting pretty at the summit of the ladder and having negotiated the Origin period without tasting defeat, the Broncos boss says his side won't take the Tigers lightly.

 

"These games are always harder to play because you know they can hurt you and you can get beaten by them," Bennett said.

"You never know what the Tigers can throw at you… It's always a big challenge.

"They've been a bit mixed obviously and had a couple of good wins when they have won them so we've just got to be on our game.

"They've got a couple of players who are exciting and a couple of forwards who are really good."

The young Tigers are quickly running out of growl after starting the season with so much promise, although the emergence of the destructive back-rower Martin Taupau has provided Tigers' fans with some positives to cling on to for the remainder of the season.

The 25-year-old Kiwi has played in all of his club's games this season averaging 115 metres, 29 tackles and four tackle busts.

Taupau played in all of the Tigers' games last season and now has 61 NRL appearances to his name after only playing 21 games for the Bulldogs over four seasons.

Stemming the influence of the 190-centimetre, 112-kilogram wrecking ball is simple according to Bennett, who is looking forward to watching his team play their first and only afternoon match in Brisbane this season.

"Tackling him is plan number one," he said.

"He's a wonderful player to watch and I enjoy watching him play. He's great and excites people.

"The Tigers are an exciting team – they do some wonderful things with the ball. Under the daylight in dry conditions induces good football and I hope we can play some as well."

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