NRL: Titans beat Storm in thriller

Greg Bird of the Titans celebrates kicking a goal from a penalty to win the match. Photo / Getty Images

"Who'd have thought?"

That was Gold Coast coach John Cartwright's honest appraisal after his unheralded side climbed to the top of the NRL table on the back of a last-gasp win over Melbourne away.

A Greg Bird penalty kick with less than a minute left in the match broke the deadlock to seal a 28-26 win for the Titans at AAMI Park.

The Melbourne faithful were furious with the referees, booing them from the ground, while Storm coach Craig Bellamy was also seething, believing that Luke Douglas has lost the ball rather than it being raked out in the tackle by Cameron Smith and Ryan Hinchcliffe when his team conceded the decisive penalty.

"To me it was a disgraceful decision," Bellamy said.

"It was the fifth tackle and I'd be very, very disappointed if one of my players stripped that ball.

"It was a real bad call."

Cartwright was all smiles after his team's fourth win from five games and rated it as their best attacking performance of the season.

They crossed for five tries, all from different players, as they probed the Storm's suspect defence from all quarters.

They led 14-12 at half-time but just couldn't shake Melbourne, who levelled through a Smith penalty strike with eight minutes left on the clock.

Cartwright said he didn't see the controversial late penalty but he was delighted with his team's performance.

"Ball in hand it was the best we've played," Cartwright said.

"It was a pretty open affair and the effort was enormous."

When their lofty ladder position was mentioned, Cartwright said: "It's nice - who would have thought?"

It was Melbourne's second straight defeat since their previous home game, the fateful Monday night clash a fortnight ago when Newcastle's Alex McKinnon suffered a catastrophic spinal injury.

Storm forward Jordan McLean was suspended for seven weeks for his role in the three-man tackle on McKinnon.

McKinnon was acknowledged in a scoreboard message before play got underway, with the club wishing him well.

A hush fell over the ground when Titans hooker Beau Falloon was put on report with 10 minutes remaining after he up-ended Storm centre Will Chambers.

The Storm also earlier had reserve forward Dayne Weston put on report for a crusher tackle on gutsy Titans fullback David Mead.

Storm winger Sisa Waqa opened the scoring in the seventh minute when he ran on to a pin-point kick by halfback Cooper Cronk.

The pair repeated the feat in the 24th minute and Waqa could have had a hat-trick before half-time but dropped the ball as he tried to touch down.

The Titans extended their 14-12 half-time lead to 20-12 through Albert Kelly, who intercepted a Ben Hampton pass to dash 40m to the tryline.

The only downside for the Titans was an injury to centre Brad Tighe, who suffered a suspected AC joint injury while scoring a first half try.

It was Melbourne's second straight loss after being thrashed by the Bulldogs last round.

- AAP