Wests Tigers 20 Gold Coast 18

WESTS TIGERS were singing yesterday. In tune and from the same song sheet.

Yes, passes stuck, kicks found their mark and their defence against the Titans was a vast improvement on their effort of a week earlier. But that's not why they were singing.

They were singing, literally, and that's the most significant part of yesterday's win. The Tigers were allowed to sing the team song.

It was significant because last week they were not. After beating Newcastle 38-26 - that's right, beating - coach Tim Sheens banned them from the post-game ritual, then bagged them. The message, clearly, hit home.

"It was a real kick up the bum, winning and not singing it, but we needed it," hooker Robbie Farah said. "And we came out [yesterday] with a lot of intensity."

Five-eighth Benji Marshall added: "It was shattering, but Newcastle weren't at their best and I think we thought we were better than we were.

"We watched the tape during the week and we saw that."

Marshall was at the top of Sheens's hit list, and he revealed yesterday he fronted the coach last Monday after reading the comments.

"Yeah, I went to see him, what his point of view was," Marshall said. "But he'd had a go at a couple of other players as well. I don't think he was singling me out. I wasn't happy, but I'm a grown man. I can take the good with the bad. Me and the coach, we have a good relationship. He doesn't intimidate me.

"No one likes to cop a spray off the coach. I was a little bit shattered, but that's the life of professional sport. It was a kick up the arse. It really revved me up. I did a lot of work in defence at training and they [the Titans] came at me a couple of times and I thought I handled it well.

"I wasn't happy but he's the coach and I think he's been through this a lot of times. Sometimes, maybe a spray is the best thing for me."

Still, Sheens wasn't absolutely content with their performance, saying: "The fact that we had a 14-point lead and got nearly run down worries me. But still, they're the competition leaders, and they weren't going to be easily beat. We didn't let the Leichhardt thing try to win us the game."

The Leichhardt thing certainly helped, though. The ground was pumping, as it was for their last start there against South Sydney in round 24 last year. Sheens admitted the side owed the fans who turned up to watch them get belted by the Bunnies.

There was biff, and a bit of old-world sledging from Scott Prince, the former Tiger, who was booed every time he found himself in the game.

The crowd of 17,493 lapped up every minute - renewing claims that three games a season at the ground is far from enough for those fans.

"In a perfect world, we'd be here for six and at Campbelltown for six," said Farah, who schooled Corey Payne, Mathew Head and Danny Galea about the merits of Leichhardt during the week. "Five teams are playing at ANZ Stadium. Clubs lose their identity there, especially when you play there in front of 10,000 or 15,000 people and there's 60,000 empty seats.

"When you come here, you see the history of the place. It's just that sense of playing for the jersey … There at the end, after we let them back into the game, the crowd really got us home. If we played this game at ANZ Stadium, it might have been a different result."

They needed the help in the end, because the Titans stormed home after trailing 20-6. The Tigers had excuses. The flu went through the players earlier in the week, they lost Liam Fulton to a shoulder injury during the game, and Farah and Marshall were clearly still underdone following injury problems.

Marshall was solid. His first kick found the back fence, his second flew out on the full, and he seemed to scuff his third, but it found Ben Te'o, who scored. That alone showed it was going to be the Tigers' day.

"It was one that we blew," Titans coach John Cartwright said. "We just didn't play well. That's the bottom line. Defensively and courage-wise we were great … [but] you don't win premierships on courage alone."

WESTS TIGERS 20 (R Farah B Hodgson B Te'o tries B Hodgson 4 goals) bt GOLD COAST 18 (B Bowen P Campbell A Cannings tries S Prince 3 goals) at Leichhardt Oval. Referee: S Hayne. Crowd: 17,493.