BEFORE their final home match at Carrara yesterday, Titans players spoke about how important a win would be for the NRL's newest franchise.

Not because it was the last time they would play at the stadium Christopher Skase built 20 years ago for the Brisbane Bears VFL/AFL franchise; Preston Campbell was the only player to express any sorrow about leaving the dilapidated venue where he began his career with the previous Gold Coast incarnation, the Chargers.

But for a group of players brought together from 10 different NRL clubs, Super League and rugby union, to make the finals in the club's debut season would be an historic feat that not even the mighty Brisbane Broncos had achieved.

With a 2-8 away record and their remaining two matches at Cronulla's Toyota Park and Olympic Park in Melbourne, the odds may still be against the Titans, but had they lost to the Roosters, their hopes would have ended.

"We had to win today to keep the dream alive," skipper Scott Prince said after the win. "We talked about … how important today was - playing at home and keeping the dream alive."

After the Titans had held off a Roosters comeback to inflict the first defeat of Brad Fittler's six-game coaching career, Gold Coast co-captain Luke Bailey said the desperation of the situation had prompted a lift in intensity from his teammates.

"We talked about the importance of this match, and I think we backed it up with a pretty decent performance," Bailey said. "Overall, I thought our defence was better than it has been over the last couple of weeks, but at this time of the season you've got to be on your game. There's only 160 minutes to go in the season, so hopefully we can string out a couple of more wins."

With referee Gavin Badger deferring nine times to video referee Chris Ward, yesterday's match seemed to last almost 160 minutes. But many of the calls were tough decisions.

Titans coach John Cartwright said the stoppages meant he used only eight interchanges, and the wet conditions ensured his side adapted a no-frills plan, despite the strike-power of Prince, Campbell, Mat Rogers and Chris Walker in his back line.

"We've got tries in us if we can get an even share of possession but recently we haven't been doing that. We've been letting in tries and giving sides back-up sets on us," Cartwright said. "It just doesn't augur well for us if we're giving the opposition the ball. We're not the biggest side in the world.

"But in general I think we've turned up pretty consistently, so I'm very proud of that and more happy for them that with only two games to go we're still alive. I know our for-and-against isn't the best and we've probably got to win both games but … I'd dearly love to be going down to Melbourne with a hell of a lot to play for."

Campbell said that even if they didn't make the finals the Titans could be proud of what they'd achieved and he believed they had built a strong foundation for the future.

"We had to win today to stay in with a hope of making the semis, so we knew we had to … play well and we did," he said. "No matter what happens now, people can say that we tried hard and did our best - a bunch of blokes who came together at the start of the season and put their all in to do well or make the semis in your first year really says how close we've all become and how much we want to win."