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Wests Tigers have defeated Canterbury 28-16 on the Gold Coast with Ken Maumalo scoring a double to keep their slim NRL finals hopes alive.

Wests Tigers have inflicted further pain on NRL cellar dwellers Canterbury with a 28-16 win on the Gold Coast.

Mid-season recruit Ken Maumalo scored his first double for his new club as the Tigers kept their slim finals hopes alive with their seventh win of the season at CBUS Super Stadium on Sunday.

"It was a scrappy win but getting two points, especially after the last couple of weeks where we've sort of showed signs and let things go, it was good to see the boys dig in and get to the end of the game," Tigers coach Michael Maguire said.

"Scrappy as it was, they know that they can be a lot better."

The loss is the Bulldogs' seventh on the trot and leaves them six points adrift at the bottom of the ladder with four matches left in the season.

The Tigers remain 13th on the ladder, four points outside the eight and needing to win three of their final four fixtures and have other results fall their way to have any hope of ending their 10-year finals drought.

The Tigers struck first via a barging run from Luciano Leilua in the third minute.

The Bulldogs responded when Nick Meaney scooted past some weak Tigers defence from dummy-half on his own 30m line before combining with Jake Averillo and then finishing off the move in the ninth minute.

Back-to-back tries by hulking winger Maumalo opened up a 12-point lead for the Tigers but a late handling error allowed the Bulldogs to cut that margin to six when Corey Waddell scored just before the break.

The Bulldogs were their own worst enemy early in the second half, dropping the ball in the opening set before a penalty allowed the Tigers to take the margin to eight.

When Tommy Talau soared over a static Bulldogs defensive line in the 48th minute to haul in an Adam Doueihi kick, the Tigers were out to a 26-12 margin.

"We had an awful start to the second half," Bulldogs coach Trent Barrett said.

"Error, error, error. I don't think we had the ball really for about 20 minutes. Our own individual errors and ill-discipline really hurt us.

"In the second half we had our chances to still win the game but again, that's something that the players as individuals have got to learn ... you can't win football games making those errors."

Bulldogs enforcer Dylan Napa was placed on report in the second half for a high shot on Tiger Thomas Mikaele, while Jack Hetherington was sin-binned and placed on report late in the game for a high shot on Alex Twal.

Barrett said Hetherington's penalty came across as being based more on his reputation than the actual offence.

"I think he's been put on record about six times, but no charges," Barrett said.

"It's something we've got to address; you can't tackle high but, yeah I didn't think it was deserved of the 10 minutes."

The Tigers face another struggling outfit in North Queensland next weekend while Canterbury play the Warriors.