An undermanned Brisbane Broncos have overcome several key absences to condemn Gold Coast to a seventh straight defeat.
In Saturday's earlier matches, Manly and the Sydney Roosters each scored convincing victories.
The Broncos — missing State of Origin quartet Corey Oates, Pat Carrigan, Kurt Capewell and Selwyn Cobbo as well as injured pair Payne Haas and Cory Paix — defeated the Titans 16-12 in Robina to move back to fifth on the ladder.
Despite an improved effort on their last start against Newcastle, the four-point defeat will only heap more pressure on Titans coach Justin Holbrook with his team second last, having won just three matches in 2022.
Brisbane started the brighter of the two teams but it was the Titans who dominated after finding their groove midway through the first half.
Livewire fullback AJ Brimson, who finished the match with 244 running metres, sparked the opening try when he plucked a Broncos kick off the ground out of the air and ran clear.
Despite Brimson being reined in 25 metres from the line, the Titans made the most of their field position when Tanah Boyd pounced on a Toby Sexton grubber-kick to score.
The Titans showed great resilience to deny a Broncos' raid with two minutes to go, including stopping former captain Ryan James when he threatened to barrel over from close range.
But the visitors were not to be denied and got themselves level right on the siren through winger Delouise Hoeter.
Jordan Riki's slick work to recover a loose kick allowed the Broncos to spread the ball to their left where Adam Reynolds's cut-out pass found Hoeter, who crossed in the corner.
The Titans came out firing at the start of the second half with Erin Clark and Herman Ese'ese in particular catching the eye.
That impressive start was rewarded in the 44th minute when Jaimin Jolliffe crashed over to restore the Titans' six-point lead.
An error by David Fifita gave the Broncos the chance to bounce back and they did not waste the opening, Jordan Pereira bouncing over the line in the 49th minute.
The Broncos hit the front for the first time five minutes later when Tyson Gamble's offload close to the line allowed Reynolds to score.
Zac Hosking thought he had scored his first NRL try to extend the Broncos lead in the 64th minute only for a video referee review to rule out the effort.
Phillip Sami believed he had got the Titans level in the 70th minute after getting on the end of another Toby Sexton grubber-kick but replays showed the centre had lost control of the ball just before grounding it and the try was ruled out.
Teenage debutant Sosefo Fifita had the home crowd on their feet with a 60-metre run in the 74th minute that started in his own in-goal but the hosts were unable to turn the 19-year-old's break into points as they narrowly failed to end their losing run.
Sea Eagles trounce Knights
Queensland State of Origin captain Daly Cherry-Evans has directed Manly to a handsome 42-12 victory over Newcastle at Brookvale Oval.
Three days after guiding the Maroons to their State of Origin series win, Cherry-Evans had a hand in three tries in a 10-minute period midway through the second half against the Knights that got his team back into the top eight.
The veteran halfback also took over the goal-kicking duties to boot six goals alongside his three try-assists, two line-breaks, a line-break assist and five tackle-busts.
There were some other heroes in the Sea Eagles side with winger Jason Saab scoring the ninth career double as part of his 21 runs for 218 metres, while forwards Andrew Davey, Lachlan Croker, Jake Trbojevic and Haumole Olakau'atu were damaging all night.
And then there was fullback Reuben Garrick with 19 runs for 233 metres.
But Cherry-Evans earned himself an early shower from coach Des Hasler, who brought him from the field with seven minutes left on the clock.
For the Knights, the finals in 2022 became an even harder prospect by conceding another 40 points following the 40-28 hiding by South Sydney a week ago.
Cherry-Evans's Queensland teammate Kalyn Ponga tried hard all night breaking five tackles, sending devious grubber-kicks towards the goal-line and running for 186 metres.
It was a tight affair for the opening 10 minutes but as soon as Manly scored — via a sublime Cherry-Evans pass to his right centre Tolutau Koula — the Knights replied.
Winger Dominic Young with the skills of a half, kicked inside for his number seven Adam Clune to ground the rolling ball.
At 6-6, the majority of plays were off the back of Ponga or Cherry-Evans trying to create something for themselves or their teammates.
But then an unlikely hero stepped up in Manly second rower Davey, who sprinted through a gap down the left edge in the 33rd minute to gift Saab his fourth try in five matches.
The Sea Eagles took a 14-6 lead right on half-time from a penalty goal due to Anthony Milford being sin-binned for holding back Garrick.
In the second half, and reduced to 12 players for most of the opening 10 minutes of the term, the Knights had further troubles losing Young to a rib injury.
But Ponga, who supported Lachlan Fitzgibbon and Enari Tuala through a hole in the 44th minute, scored the first points after the break.
Then it was Cherry-Evans's time to shine, handling twice with his five-eighth Kieran Foran, to put Saab over for his second.
At 20-12 the Sea Eagles had regained the eight-point gap they put between themselves and the Knights in the first half.
The Sea Eagles extended it to 36-12 in a matter of minutes with three quick tries to Haumole Olakau'atu, Andrew Davey and Christian Tuipulotu.
A try to hooker Croker — with three minutes left — showed how much the Sea Eagles never let their foot off the Knights throats.
Roosters storm home to beat Dragons
An astonishing individual performance from Joseph Manu has inspired the Sydney Roosters to a fast-finishing 54-26 win over St George Illawarra that snapped a four-match losing streak and keeps their finals hopes alive.
But the victory in Gosford looks to have come at a significant cost for the Roosters, with Billy Smith (knee), Sitili Tupouniua (knee) and Siosiua Taukeiaho (cheekbone) going down with injuries.
Moses Suli limped off for the Dragons just before half-time and did not return.
Both sides have designs on playing September football despite going into the round sitting outside the top eight.
With Luke Keary still missing through concussion, Manu shifted to five-eighth for just the fourth time in his career and wasted little time exerting his influence on the contest.
He first barged through the middle of the park and flicked the ball away to Victor Radley, who opened the Roosters' account against the run of play.
Five minutes later, Manu forced a drop-out with a kick to the in-goal area, and made the most of the ensuing field position by barging over from dummy half.
In the first half, Manu's efforts were matched by Dragons captain Ben Hunt.
Hunt brought his State of Origin heroics to the Central Coast, spinning out of the Roosters' goal-line defence for the Dragons' first try and then landing an inch-perfect 40/20 kick to lay the groundwork for their second.
The Roosters' hopes of working back into the match were dealt a blow when Smith injured knee, forcing Manu to shift between the halves and the outside backline.
The tight contest threatened to swing in the Roosters' favour when Dragons prop Aaron Woods was sin-binned for taking Sam Walker off the ball as he kicked from close range early in the second half.
The Dragons scored first while they were a man down but Manu's second try from dummy half was the impetus for a five-minute surge that produced two more tries for the Roosters and ultimately sealed the win.
The floodgates opened with the Dragons defence capitulating once the Roosters found their rhythm.
Playing back at five-eighth, Manu set the Roosters' eighth try up with a kick for Paul Momirovski and earned a well-deserved early mark.
The Roosters were down on numbers but mid-season recruit Matthew Lodge only made it onto the field for his club debut at the 50-minute mark.
He finished with 92 metres but threw an intercept pass that gave the Dragons a chance at storming back into the contest with 15 minutes to play.
The win will be crucial for the Roosters their hopes of playing finals football.
Had they lost, the Roosters would likely have needed five wins from their last seven games to play finals.
Five of those matches are against sides that started the weekend in the top eight.
ABC/AAP
