Gold Coast have ruined the anticipated Leichhardt comeback of former captain Robbie Farah with a 30-12 win over the Wests Tigers.
Scores were locked at 12-all after almost an hour on Sunday when Titans fullback Michael Gordon gave his side the lead with a penalty goal.
Tries to AJ Brimson and Anthony Don in the final 20 minutes silenced a sellout crowd that had hoped to celebrate the emotional return of Farah and injection of fellow mid-season signing Moses Mbye.
And despite a late mini-break by Farah that got the sellout crowd of 16,984 into a frenzy, many of them walked out early as the Titans joined the Tigers on 14 points – six adrift of the top eight.
The defeat for the early-season surprise packets, who also had five-eighth Josh Reynolds battling a shoulder injury for most of the match, extends their losing streak to four.
Almost 700 days after Farah farewelled the Tigers faithful by drinking beers while sitting on the ground’s famous scoreboard, the veteran turned back the clock with a vintage performance.
Three times the former NSW State of Origin captain broke into the backfield, and finished the afternoon with three tackle busts, two offloads and a try assist.
Mbye also impressed with a team-high 158 metres and six tackle busts, but it wasn’t enough as a gritty Titans outfit went toe-to-toe before coming through in the clutch.
Titans forward Jai Arrow, who was arguably his team’s best, sealed the win with a 78th minute try.
Farah was intent on delivering on his return to the club from the kickoff, making two of the first three tackles and playing a hand in what should’ve been an early try to Corey Thompson.
Instead it was another veteran Tiger in Chris Lawrence who kick-started the scoring when he sent Kevin Naiqama on a 60-metre dash to the line, only for Ryan James to respond under the posts minutes later.
The locals roared again when Reynolds finished off another long-range try off a Farah break, but the visitors again hit back through Ash Taylor to keep scores locked at halftime.
Tigers forward Michael Chee Kam was on report for a first-half crusher tackle on Dale Copley.
