If the NRL marketing department had to pick a man of the match from Friday night’s Broncos-Dolphins blockbuster at Suncorp Stadium, it would have been a dead-heat between Tom Gilbert and Kotoni Staggs.

When Gilbert gave Broncos’ captain Adam Reynolds a touch-up after a poor kick in the first half, igniting some spirited push and shove by the two packs, and Kotoni performed his colourful ‘Our House’ routine following the game-sealing try, they could have been following a script written by Peter V’Landys with additional dialogue by Andrew Abdo.

The spirited performance of both sides set the wheels in motion for what will become one of the biggest rivalries in the game. One that deserves special annual event status, like the Anzac Day match or Magic Round. The Rabbitohs and Roosters might have their ‘Book of Feuds’ but the Broncos and Dolphins will have the ‘Battle for Brisbane’, and on Friday night Gilbert and Staggs showed that there is more to it than just ‘paper talk’.

There was real feeling between the players that went beyond the two points up for grabs and it is only going to get bigger. You think there was some hard contact on Friday night?  Just wait until Tom Flegler takes the ball up for the Dolphins against his old Broncos team-mates for the first time next season.

As for that crowd of 51,047, it was one of the biggest-ever for an NRL round at Suncorp Stadium and almost double the Broncos average from last season. Wayne Bennett was spot-on when he said, ‘There were 51,000 there tonight and there will be 51,000 next time we play. No-one went home disappointed.’

For the Broncos, who are back at Suncorp Stadium against the winless Tigers on Saturday night, it was a win that sees them sitting alone on the top of the ladder after four rounds for the first time since 2000.

For the Dolphins, it was a costly night that will stretch their reserves to the limit.

With Sean O’Sullivan and Tesi Niu out injured and Felise Kaufusi suspended, the competition newcomers will have their backs to the walls when they face the Dragons at Wollongong on Saturday afternoon – but then again, as they’ve shown us every time they’ve run out, that’s just how they like it.