A 9,799 strong crowd at Tamworth's Scully Park was treated to a stirring come-from-behind victory by the Wests Tigers over the Gold Coast Titans on Saturday evening.
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Looking to atone for their 51-6 drubbing at the hands of the Parramatta Eels in round 6, the Tigers found themselves in an early hole against the Titans, trailing 14-0 inside the first 20 minutes.
However, a hat trick from Mahe Fonua helped the Tigers surge passed the Titans and secure a 30-14 victory.
Tigers coach Michael Maguire said he had belief his side could turn around the 14-0 margin.
"One thing I do have with this group is a lot of belief and it was really great to see them show that belief in one another," Maguire said.
"Six days ago we were in not a nice place as a team but to see them climb out and do the things that we have been practising for quite some time now was the key.
"Our big one now will be to build consistency around that performance."
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The win may have come at a cost for the Tigers, with five-eighth Josh Reynolds suffering a possible medial ligament injury to his left knee early in the first half.
In his place, Ryan Matterson impressed for his side, earning himself man of the match honours as well as an Anzac round medal.
"Josh, at the moment they will have to just assess him, they seem to think it might be a medial," Maguire said.
"He ran around there after half-time to see how it was, but it wasn't right so I guess we will just have to wait for a scan."
Titans coach Garth Brennan said his side didn't respond well to the momentum swing caused by the Tigers near half-time.
"There was a string of penalties against us, the weight of possession against us and we just didn't handle it well enough," Brennan said.
"We gave away too many penalties through poor discipline trying to get our way back into the game."
While having a big-time atmosphere, Saturday's game still maintained a strong local flavour with Tamworth native Ashleigh Dallas performing the national anthem.
On the field, the region's stars of tomorrow got their chance in front of the massive crowd with North Tamworth and Dungowan's under-eight teams playing a showcase match.
At half-time, the fastest under-18 players in Group 4 got to strut their stuff in a relay race from try line to try line.
The Gunnedah Bulldogs proved to be the fastest team on the night.
The Tigers will now turn their attention to a clash with the first-placed Sydney Roosters, while the Titans will look to bounce back against the North Queensland Cowboys.