Josh Hannay labelled young gun Zane Harrison “the real deal” after he steered the Titans to a monumental victory, while Ivan Cleary believed his side lacked “killer punch” on Saturday.

The Gold Coast broke a seven-game losing streak against Penrith with their 19-18 win, which was also the first time since 2023 the Titans had secured victory after scoring 20 points or less.

Harrison played a starring role in the comeback win, assisting two crucial tries before slotting a field goal with 10 seconds remaining on the clock.

WHAT’S GAMBLING REALLY COSTING YOU? Set a deposit limit. For Free and confidential support call 1800 858 858 or visit gamblinghelponline.org.au.

Watch every game of every round of the Premiership Season LIVE with no ad-breaks during play on FOX LEAGUE, available on Kayo Sports | New to Kayo? Join now and get your first month for just $1.

And that moment was not a surprise for Hannay who was full of praise for his rising No.7, who was practicising his field goals on Friday ready for that big moment.

“We see Zane train and prepare every day with composure. Everything we’ve seen from that kid from day one of pre-season is that composure that you saw tonight,” he said.

“It’s one thing to do it at training but it’s another to do it in front of 20,000 against the Panthers right?

“The try assists, the field goal. It feels funny saying this, but it doesn’t surprise me. He’s the real deal. It’s a special night for him and he’s going to have a lot more of those moments.

“He’s a really measured, smart young person and he wants it, he wants it badly. He wants to be really good and he works hard at it.

“Then he was kicking field goals at training yesterday, he was preparing for that moment, it doesn’t just happen. The good ones prepare for those moments.”

Hannay was also not surprised his team were able to grind a victory out after leaning into “our footy and our connection”.

Get all the latest NRL news, highlights and analysis delivered straight to your inbox with Fox Sports Sportmail. Sign up now!!!

Panthers suffer rare upset loss | 04:16

And it was a win that marks a change of fortunes for the Titans, who went down to the Tigers in Round 15 but secured a win against the Broncos a week earlier.

“Again it doesn’t surprise me that we were able to do that tonight. It wasn’t an outlier that sort of effort, like these guys have been busting their arse most weeks,” Hannay said.

“Across the season we might have got it wrong a couple of times, we’ve come off the field and gone, ‘that wasn’t us’ and so it’s not, we don’t get carried away.

“We’ve got the Dogs in six days, and you’ve just got to go again, we get to enjoy this for a few minutes tonight, but the reality is we go again in six days.

“But gladly we’ll be at home again, so I’d like to think our people will come out and support us.”

Meanwhile, a frustrated Ivan Cleary was left perplexed regarding his side’s red-hot start to the contest, scoring two tries inside 12 minutes — before an ugly fade.

“We did start well, yeah, I think we just lost the killer punch, the killer instinct, whatever you want to call it,” Cleary said.

“We just kind of did enough and it wasn’t enough, that’s probably the best way to explain it.”

MORE ORIGIN NEWS

‘NATHAN NEVER DOES THAT’: Shock Cleary sight shows everyone is missing the point

REVEALED: Madge act that left Blues players ‘in tears’… and how it exposes NSW’s real ‘problem’

WHO’S SAFE, WHO ISN’T: Verdict on every Blues player as axe to be swung

Harrison slots match-winning Field Goal | 03:38

Cleary was also asked if he saw this loss as a “glitch” in their season, with Penrith still sitting clear outright leaders over the Warriors.

“I don’t see it as a glitch. Definitely, it’s part of the journey, long season and all that sort of stuff, yeah. I don’t know,” he said.

“There would be a lot of things you could consider, but ultimately, you know, we’re about high performance and tonight wasn’t good enough.”

Star fullback Dylan Edwards echoed his coach’s sentiment, saying: “But like coach said, we just lacked that bit of kill, I think. That little bit of extra energy at times sort of pushes them over the edge when we get a chance.

“Yeah, like credit to them, they held their gloves up and scrambled well and yeah, it did hold us up a couple of times.

“But if we just have that little bit more of a kill in us, then we could have turned some of those holds up into tries.”