Wests skipper Robbie Farah said he had no choice but to stand up for himself after copping repeated cheap shots from Titans hooker Nathan Friend after the pair were involved in a second-half bust-up in the Tigers' gritty 15-14 win on Friday night.
The Tigers moved into outright third on the NRL ladder after their sixth win in seven matches, surviving a late fightback by the visitors to hold on for a vital victory at Campbelltown Sports Ground.
The tight contest exploded into life midway through the second half with the home side leading 9-8 when players from both sides exchanged blows after Farah claimed he was head-butted in the scrum by Friend.
Titans back-rower Mark Minichiello earned himself 10 minutes in the sin bin for being the third man in and the Tigers scored a decisive try soon after to set up the win.
Farah played down his role in the incident and said he had to make a stand after being targeted by Friend all night.
"He (Friend) was at me all game, kept hitting me after I passed, so I had a little dig at him," the Tigers No.9 said.
"Then we packed into the scrum and he led with his head. I wasn't too pleased with that so I stood up for myself."
"It was a big game, third versus fourth so it was always going to be fiery."
"Sometimes the emotions do flow over but we got the penalty so it's good."
Titans coach John Cartwright refused to comment on the incident but Gold Coast skipper Scott Prince felt the decision was harsh against his side at such a crucial time of the match.
"It's called a scrum because you put your head in it, there must be a head-butt in every scrum," he said.
"It doesn't give him (Farah) the licence to throw the first punch."
"Our effort was certainly there but the 50-50 calls seemed to go one way on most occasions."
"It obviously makes life difficult."
The Titans had the better of the first half but squandered at least two clear scoring opportunities when both Kevin Gordon and Mat Rogers made handling errors with the try line wide open.
The sides were locked together at 8-8 just before the break when Marshall potted an audacious 50m field goal which ultimately proved the difference.
"I started off by saying 'what the hell is he trying to do?' and then it bounced off the crossbar and you say 'you beauty'," Tigers coach Tim Sheens said.
"Maybe the football gods smiled on us."
Cartwright wasn't feeling the same way as his Tigers counterpart though, especially after a Prince pass to a flying William Zillman was called forward late on, denying the winger a match-winning try.
"If they call them forward then we're going to have a lot of scrums from passes out of dummy half," he said.
"It was no more forward than what we see in three out of every six from dummy half in every set."
"But it was a tremendous effort by out fellas, they're a hard side to defend against but I thought we closed them down pretty well."