The Sydney Roosters have slipped on a Wests Tigers-shaped banana skin in a shock 25-24 loss that could prove fatal in their pursuit of the NRL's minor premiership.
Halfback Jock Madden was the hero for the Tigers on Sunday, kicking a 79th-minute field goal to snap an eight-game losing run.
The Tigers' finals hopes ended months ago and they were ranked $10 outsiders at the Sydney Football Stadium.
But led by co-captain Api Koroisau, Benji Marshall's side produced one of the upsets of the season to turn the make-up of the top four on its head.
With two rounds remaining, the Roosters (38 points, +162) sit third after blowing a golden chance to move clear of the ladder-leading Warriors (38 points, +295) and second-placed Penrith (38 points, +294).
In further bad news for coach Trent Robinson, lock Victor Radley was placed on report and failed to finish the second half as he underwent a head injury assessment.
The Tigers had every reason to not aim up on Sunday, especially when prop Alex Twal was ruled out with a head knock inside 60 seconds and Roosters winger Billy Smith touched down after just three minutes.
But unlike the past few months when they would have gone to water, the Tigers stood up for themselves.
Patrick Herbert was credited with three try assists in the space of eight minutes as the journeyman centre set up Jeral Skelton for a double either side of a short-range try for Tony Sukkar.
Skelton's second in the 26th minute stunned the stadium into silence, but Madden's inability to kick any of the three conversions meant the Roosters only trailed by six.
Smith grabbed a second on the stroke of halftime with Sam Walker converting both of the winger's tries to make it 12-12 at the break.
The Tigers kept the Roosters at bay before Samuela Fainu was able to offload to Jahream Bula, who drew Cody Ramsey and set up Solomone Saukuru.
Koroisau — handed kicking duties after Madden's three misses — converted, before starting and finishing off another spectacular move that edged the Tigers further ahead.
Koroisau looped round to the left edge and played a short side with Saukuru and Junior Tupou, who passed back in field where the Tigers hooker was in support.
After Koroisau converted his own try, Koroisau booted a 40/20 to put his side straight back on the attack.
The Tigers were unable to take advantage of the leg-up in field position and after Luai gave away a penalty, Robert Toia crashed over for the home side.
Walker rattled the conversion into the left upright, meaning the Tigers had to defend an eight-point lead with 15 minutes left.
Roosters winger Mark Nawaqanitawase dropped the ball over the line, but offloaded to Walker, who scored in the 72nd minute and cut the deficit to two points.
After Hugo Savala was tackled off the ball, Walker tied the game with a penalty with less than five minutes remaining.
And the Roosters looked destined to find a winning play but an unforced offload from Naufahu Whyte put the Tigers on the attack with barely 90 seconds left.
Radley was ordered off for a concussion test which gave Madden time to pick his spot and strike the match-winning field goal.
Earlier, Cronulla snapped a shocking two-game losing streak to revive their NRL top-four finals hopes with a potentially season-saving 30-22 win over the lowly Gold Coast.
The victory was anything but convincing as the Sharks recovered from an eight-point second-half deficit to prevail at Skilled Park on Sunday.
Quietening some doubters, Cronulla will nevertheless bank the priceless two competition points and move on after staying in the hunt for an all-important double chance in the looming finals.
No team in NRL history has won the premiership from outside the top four.
