The Gold Coast Titans have put on a brilliant display to claim a 20-point win over the Dragons at Kogarah.
The visitors opened strongly with an early try to Nene Macdonald.
The Papua New Guinean international scored off a Tyrone Roberts kick before Chris McQueen followed shortly after, off the back of an Ashley Taylor short ball.
» Watch the highlights and re-live the action here
After struggling to venture into the Titans’ end the Dragons finally struck with Timoteo Lafai batting the ball onto Kurt Mann, the winger stretching out to score.
The Titans hit back shortly after with Nathan Peats scoring after Agnatius Paasi offloaded to Zeb Taia who then shifted it onto Josh Hoffman, showing strong signs of footwork to send the hooker over.
It put the visitors in front by eight points at half-time.
David Mead extended the Gold Coast’s lead only moments into the second half after scoring off a Tyrone Roberts kick with Kalifa Faifai Loa failing to catch it seeing it end up in the hands of Agnatius Paasi who passed onto the Kumul to score.
Fellow Papua New Guinean Nene Macdonald crossed over for a second try in the 56th minute after intercepting Gareth Widdop to run the length of the field.
The Titans kept applying the torch with Anthony Don scoring with five minutes remaining before Kurt Mann crossed on the siren to grab a commiseration try.
The Red V never showed up going down 32-12 in the end.
The Titans now move into seventh position ahead of next week’s meeting with the Eels.
They could be without Greg Bird who was placed on report for a careless high tackle.
The Dragons, on the other hand, now look to be in serious danger as they prepare to take on the Wests Tigers next Sunday.
Tyrone Roberts and Zeb Taia were the standouts on the field with Agnatius Paasi and Leivaha Pulu also putting in spirited performances for the Titans.
Nene Macdonald, Konrad Hurrell and Ashley Taylor featured prominently while Euan Aitken and Joel Thompson were diamonds among the dross for the Dragons.
Final score
St George Illawarra Dragons 12
Gold Coast Titans 32
MVP Nominations
3 – Tyrone Roberts
2 – Zeb Taia
1 – Agnatius Paasi
Possession: 50% – 50%
Completions: 24/34 (71%) – 33/39 (85%)
All Runs: 173 – 187
All Run Metres: 1524 – 1822
Line Breaks: 4 – 5
Offloads: 8 – 12
Tackles: 366 – 377
Missed Tackles: 25 – 27
Penalties: 3- 4
Errors: 8 – 8
Alex L
Roar Rookie
What stuck out to me was how the mid season arrivals at the Gold Coast spoke about being happy at the club after the game, a far cry from the mess when Neil Henry became coach with players getting into trouble off the field and signings backing out on contracts. If they can keep their key players contracted, there's something building there.
Joe
Roar Rookie
I'd say Ash Taylor was instrumental in the win. His short kicking game is outstanding for someone so young. He surely has to be a shoe-in for Rookie of the year. Whenever he has been missing from the side the Titans don't go so well and when Roberts was out earlier in the year he took control of the team. I hope Titans make the 8 as they have been outstanding especially considering early season predictions of a wooden spoon. Neil Henry has done an outstanding job in getting this team to be very competitive this season and he should also be in the conversation for coach of the year.
Eddy
Guest
Gareth Widdop strikes again!