English star Gareth Ellis rates the Wests Tigers' new found grit as more pleasing than spectacularly breaking his try drought for the NRL club with Monday night's match-winner.

Ellis grabbed a miracle Robbie Farah grubber to snatch a 26-22 victory over Manly at the Sydney Football Stadium, also bagging his first four-pointer for the Tigers.

But it was his side's mental toughness in coming back from 20-4 down which suggested to the 28-year-old that they really had turned a corner after missing the finals every year since their 2005 premiership.

"The most pleasing thing is the way we showed character," he told reporters on Tuesday.

"Sometimes that sort of stuff doesn't come off and it can be a thorn in your side and that's what it's been like in the past.

"We've played some inconsistent football and probably pushing passes and things like that so it would be nice to sort of get a good mix this year of the flair plays like Benji (Marshall), (Tim) Moltzen, Robbie Farah play, but also having a bit of control in that as well.

"There's a lot of creativity in our halves and, with Robbie at hooker as well, he's like another half, so you're always going to get some tries like that, we've seen it in the past.

"But we worked hard to get back into the game and that's the key thing and that was just the icing on the cake."

Ellis was the Tigers' player of the year in his NRL debut season last year but couldn't avoid a nude run after failing to get across the line.

"It's taken a while, I've been getting a bit of stick from the boys last year for not scoring so it's nice to get one out of the way early and obviously in the circumstances as well it made it even more special," he said.

The Tigers' dramatic win was followed by more good news on Tuesday with prop Bryce Gibbs cleared of any serious thumb injury.

The club also announced a contract extension for front-rower Keith Galloway, who will now remain at the club until the end of the 2013 season.

"The club's been good to me so I thought as soon as they came up with a reasonable offer I was pretty happy to stay here and I'd like to finish off my career here if I could," he said.

The club's opening round win sets up a blockbuster against fellow week one winners the Sydney Roosters on Sunday at the SFS, which both clubs use as a home ground.

Brought to you by AAP © 2024 AAP