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Five-eighth Luke Brooks has nailed a late field goal to earn Wests Tigers a season-saving 29-28 NRL win over Canterbury.
Wests Tigers have kept their NRL finals hopes flickering with a last-gasp 29-28 win over Canterbury in a 10-try thriller at Bankwest Stadium.
Luke Brooks nailed a 33-metre field goal with two minutes remaining to break the deadlock after the Tigers appeared set to blow a 16-point lead against the competition cellar dwellers.
The heart-stopping victory propelled the Tigers up to ninth but still four points adrift of the top eight as they bid to break the NRL's longest finals drought.
The Tigers have finished painfully short in ninth spot the past two seasons and still require a minor miracle to scrape into the finals for the first time since 2011 despite Sunday's great escape.
With a horror run home, ninth place would be an admirable finish this time around.
Michael Maguire's men are the only side who will face the current top four teams over the closing six rounds.
They start next Saturday against back-to-back premiers the Sydney Roosters at Leichhardt Oval, then play Penrith, fellow top-eight hopefuls Manly and South Sydney before finishing against heavyweights Melbourne and Parramatta.
It's a wretch draw and the Tigers will almost certainly need to win all at least five games out of six to sneak into the finals.
"We know we can compete. It's up to us," Maguire said.
For now, the Tigers can savour getting out of jail against the Bulldogs.
It looked like being Benji Marshall's day early before his half-brother Jeremy Marshall-King threatened to steal the veteran playmaker's thunder with a key late play that appeared to have won Canterbury the rollercoaster match.
With the scores locked up at 22-all and the clock winding down, Marshall-King somehow managed to pop up a pass in the tackle for centre Kerrod Holland to crash over and give Canterbury the lead for the first time in the 68th minute.
But a Joey Leilua try four minutes later and Moses Mbye's conversion from out wide set up the grandstand finish - and the stage for Brooks to strike.
The frenetic finish looked light years away after the Tigers raced out to a 22-6 lead after half an hour.
Marshall had a hand or boot in three of the Tigers' first four tries - to skipper Mbye, winger David Nofoaluma and a first-half double for back-rower Luke Garner.
But two tries in three minutes, to centre Marcelo Montoya and debutant interchange forward Matt Doorey, had the Bulldogs suddenly back in the contest before further tries to Aiden Tolman and Holland briefly put Canterbury in front.
If he could send a chair flying across the dressing room when his side led the Warriors at halftime two weeks ago, who'd know what Maguire was capable of after seeing the Tigers squander a 16-point buffer in a loss with their season on the line.
Fortunately Brooks saved the day - and left the Bulldogs last, still behind hapless Brisbane on points for-and-against.
