Michael Maguire praised West Tigers self belief after a Mahe Fonua hat-trick helped them to come from behind to beat Gold Coast 30-14 in Tamworth.

Just five days after being flogged 51-6 by Parramatta, the Tigers found themselves down 14-0 to the Titans after 20 minutes.

Also without five-eighth Josh Reynolds who left the field early with likely medial ligament damage in his left knee, the Tigers put on six unanswered tries to lift themselves back into the NRL’s top eight.

“One thing I do have about this group is a lot of belief in them and it was great to see them have belief in each other,” Maguire said.

“At 14-0, after five days ago, we weren’t in a nice place as a team.

“To see them climb out and do what we’ve been practising for quite some time now, that was the key.

The leaders came together behind the tryline and there were some words spoken there which were strong amongst the group.

“They wanted to work hard for each other.”

Man of the match Ryan Matterson impressed filling in for Reynolds at five-eighth, while Luke Brooks and Robbie Farah stepped up with the boot at the end of sets.

Centre Esan Marsters also produced plenty of magic to kickstart the Tigers.

He put Fonua over for his first try when he collected an offload from Matterson before producing a one-handed basketball-style pass for his winger to score.

He had one of his own before the break, stepping and pushing his way through three Titans defenders to help his team to an unlikely 16-14 halftime lead.

Fellow centre Robert Jennings also had tries either side of the break, before Brooks put Fonua over for two second-half tries to put the game beyond doubt.

The first came from a long cut-out ball from a rebounded kick, before grubbering for the chasing winger on the siren.

Just as impressive was the Tigers’ defence, though. They held out five-straight sets late in the match to win their fourth for the year.

In contrast, the Titans barely fired a shot after the opening 20 minutes, with coach Garth Brennan admitting halfback Ashley Taylor’s form had been “mixed”.

Winger Dale Copley was also forced from the field early in the first half with a possible quad strain, summing up an unhappy night.

“We just didn’t execute well at all. We were too sideways. We tried to force things – kicks on play three, forced offloads,” Brennan said.

“Things that aren’t part of our processes and we paid the penalty.”

Brisbane Broncos break through

Milestone man Anthony Milford has helped to steer Brisbane to a drought-breaking 29-6 NRL win over an injury-hit Cronulla at Suncorp Stadium.

Five-eighth Milford celebrated his 150th NRL game with a first-half masterclass, answering his critics on Saturday night as the Broncos ended a worrying four-game losing streak.

Milford set up two of Brisbane’s three opening-half tries and potted a field goal as the hosts stormed to a 21-0 buffer at the break and were never threatened against a Cronulla outfit struck down by injury.

The Sharks were behind the eight ball from the outset when they lost centre Josh Dugan (hamstring) before kickoff then star playmaker Shaun Johnson succumbed to a suspected hamstring complaint in the 22nd minute.

-AAP