The Gold Coast Titans have ended the Wests Tigers' season with a come-from-behind 36-24 win in front of 20,102 fans at Skilled Park on Saturday night.
The Tigers scored two tries in the opening 10 minutes to take an early 12-0 lead before the Titans fought back to trail by four points at the break.
With their season on the line, the Tigers continued to play with a care-free attitude and it came unstuck in the second half as the Titans took full advantage of Wests errors to turn a 24-all scoreline with a little over 10 minutes remaining into a comfortable 12-point win.
Benji Marshall and Robbie Farah produced quality performances for the Tigers, but it was two crucial errors from kicks by Farah late in the game that led to the Gold Coast's vital final two tries.
While Wests can virtually start preparing for mad Monday celebrations, the Titans have kept their minor premiership hopes alive with a fourth straight win.
The Tigers achieved the start they were after when Marshall loomed up in support of full-back Tim Moltzen to complete a dazzling 65m opening try initiated by a superb short Farah pass.
Farah did it all himself for the Tigers' second try, ducking out of dummy-half and punching through a wall of Gold Coast defenders to somehow convince video referee Paul Simpkins that the ball had touched chalk.
Marshall piloted his second conversion through the posts to confirm a shock 12-0 lead for his side after just 10 minutes.
But any thoughts of a runaway Tigers' win were soon dashed by the brilliance of Titans dynamo Preston Campbell.
The 2001 Dally M winner skipped through the Tigers defence to set up a 16th-minute try for co-skipper Scott Prince, then eight minutes later, he dashed over himself to level this fast-paced contest up at 12 apiece.
Tigers centre Chris Lawrence was denied a try five minutes before the break with Titans' winger David Mead producing some desperate goal-line defence, but the visitors would eventually have the final say of the opening half when Moltzen drew in the defence to put winger Rhys Hanbury over in the left corner.
The Titans hit the lead for the first time in the match just after the break when Prince placed downward pressure on a loose ball under the sticks, emanating from his own deft grubber between two Tigers' defenders.
When Gold Coast utility Luke O'Dwyer was given the green light by the video referee in the 49th minute, the hosts appeared comfortable at 24-16 in front
But a determined solo effort by Farah from a penalty tap a couple of minutes later and Hanbury's second four-pointer of the night on the hour put the visitors back on level terms, Marshall missing with both conversions.
Farah's night took a turn for the worse in the 68th minute when he kicked out on the full on the halfway mark, allowing the Titans vital field position for what proved to be a back-breaking try for his side scored by Gold Coast five-eighth Mat Rogers off a Campbell grubber.
Rogers set up the match-sealer for centre Sam Tagataese a couple of minutes later to take the Titans out to a 34-24 lead before Prince capped the scoring with a late penalty goal.
Gold Coast Titans 36
Tries: Prince 2, Campbell, O'Dwyer, Rogers, Tagataese
Conversions: Prince 5
Penalty goals: Prince
Wests Tigers 24
Tries: Hanbury 2, Farah 2, Marshall
Conversions: Marshall 2