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St George Illawarra have ended a poor 2019 season on a high with a 24-16 victory over Gold Coast in Englishman Gareth Widdop's final NRL game in Australia.

St George Illawarra have momentarily taken some heat off coach Paul McGregor with a 24-16 victory over Gold Coast to finish a disappointing 2019 NRL campaign on a high.

McGregor's future has been a hot topic, particularly since former Penrith supremo Phil Gould's appointment to lead a review into the club's football department.

But the Dragons did just enough on Saturday night to fend off an improved Titans outfit at Cbus Super Stadium and secure one last win for Warrington-bound star Gareth Widdop and retiring journeyman Jeremy Latimore.

"He's the most gifted player that I have got to coach in my journey," McGregor said of Widdop.

"The legacy he is going to leave behind is obviously going to be a good one."

Ahead of an off-season during which no shortage of hard questions will be asked, McGregor embraced the review and looked ahead to turning the tables in 2020.

"In life, you get obstacles in your way and you have just got to make sure you work through them," he said. "We have got some very good players in this team."

It was the Titans who struck first in front of a home crowd of 11,274 fans when Jai Arrow burrowed over between the posts in the 14th minute.

In a scrappy contest, befitting of its bottom-of-the-table status, the Dragons picked up the pace either side of halftime with a pair of impressive tries, starting with a Jonus Pearson long-range effort from a seemingly routine scrum movement.

Soon after the break, Corey Norman proved the beneficiary of a Luciano Leilua offload just as the impact forward was being bundled out of play by six Titans.

From there, the game opened up dramatically with a series of end-to-end phases, as momentum shifted back and forth, but two Ben Hunt tries in the final 15 minutes sealed the deal for the visitors.

The first of those paved the way for Gareth Widdop to bring up the 1000th point of his NRL career in his final game before returning to England to play for Super League club Warrington.

Titans veteran Michael Gordon was not so fortunate, his side slumping to an 11th-straight loss despite the fullback pulling off successive try-saving tackles on opposite sides of the field.

"I thought that was a fantastic effort. That summed him up perfectly," said departing Gold Coast interim coach Craig Hodges.

"I think the biggest shame of the whole evening was that we couldn't get a win for him."

The defeat means the Titans will not only take the wooden spoon but finish their worst season with just four wins.