As a centre, Adam Doueihi sure makes a pretty good five-eighth.
The 22-year-old has revelled in his return to the halves to prove the difference as the Wests Tigers ran out 42-24 NRL winners over Brisbane at the Suncorp Stadium on Sunday.
Tigers coach Michael Maguire needed someone to stand up after three straight losses to keep their faint finals hopes alive.
And Doueihi duly delivered, tearing Brisbane's left edge apart to set up five tries and ensure the Tigers triumphed in a Suncorp Stadium shootout.
Trailing 24-20 in the 51st minute, the Tigers remarkably scored four unanswered tries as Doueihi ran amok in a stunning return to the halves after featuring in the centres the past six games.
Match: Broncos v Wests Tigers
Round 18 -
home Team
Broncos
15th Position
away Team
Wests Tigers
12th Position
Venue: Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane
Maguire made sure to credit Doueihi's dazzling effort to his teammates, grateful for the buy-in by the ex-Rabbitoh and fellow playmaker Moses Mbye, who moved to the bench and dummy-half duties to accommodate the spine shake-up.
"Adam definitely, it was good to see him come back in," Maguire said.
"He's been in the background working on his game as he does. Moses has done some great things in the halves for us as well but I made the change and it was good to see the boys jump into that."
Overall the Tigers ran out eight tries to four winners with Tommy Talau and David Nofoaluma grabbing doubles.
Nofoaluma shot to No.1 on the Tigers' all-time try scorers list, taking his tally to 86 and overtaking Chris Lawrence and Benji Marshall in the Suncorp points-fest.
More importantly the Tigers' sixth win means they are now just one win outside the top eight after the stirring victory.
"There's a massive opportunity in front of us," Maguire said.
"We've spoken about what we want to achieve. We've learnt plenty of harsh lessons and some great lessons about what we need to do."
With a shimmy and a step, Talau has his second
Brisbane meanwhile crashed to their fifth loss in six games with just four wins for the season.
Adding injury to insult, they lost back-rower TC Robati in just the first five minutes to a severely corked thigh.
After Brisbane enjoyed an 18-10 halftime buffer, the lead changed three times before the Tigers sealed the match with their late four try burst through Talau (61st minute), Nofoaluma (68th), debutant Junior Pauga (70th) and NSW fringe player Stefano Utoikamanu (73rd).
Nofoaluma breaks Wests Tigers' try-scoring record
After trailing by eight at the break, the Wests Tigers hit back hard with two tries in three minutes as Daine Laurie showed no ill effects from a head gash that forced him off the field in the 38th minute.
The livewire fullback first ran off the ever present Doueihi to slice through in the 43rd minute.
Laurie then made a stunning 70m bust before the Tigers again cut through Brisbane's left edge for Talau to crash over in the 47th and suddenly the visitors were up 20-18.
Talau was only slotted into the centres on Sunday to replace James Roberts who is stuck in a four-day COVID hold.
The rollercoaster ride continued when Brisbane regained the lead 24-20 after Kotoni Staggs scored in the 50th from a Jordan Riki break.
But the Tigers sealed the deal with their remarkable finish.
Big Stefano seals it with a steamroll
Both sides traded blows in the first half before Brisbane landed a telling body shot just before the break to lead 18-10.
The Broncos' NSW forward Payne Haas picked up where he left off from an impressive State of Origin campaign, producing a sublime offload for Thomas Flegler – his Queensland rival in game three – to score in the 38th minute.
The Tigers had only just started reorganising their defence after Laurie went off in the 38th minute with a knock to his head that was gushing claret after catching Flegler's knee in a tackle.
Maumalo leaps high to get Junior Pauga his first NRL try
Brisbane earlier raced to an 8-0 lead after Corey Oates crashed down the left sideline and Jamayne Isaako potted an 11th minute penalty.
But the Tigers hit back through Luciano Leilua in the 15th minute after he ran off Doueihi in the 15th minute.
Riki pounced on a Tyson Gamble grubber in the 17th minute to make it 12-6 for the hosts but Doueihi was at it again soon after for the visitors; he put Nofoaluma over in the 30th minute with a clever cut out pass to keep the Tigers in the game before his superb second half stole the show.
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