Parramatta captain Nathan Hindmarsh declared Shane Shackleton's comeback from a horror injury the toughest he'd witnessed after watching the interchange forward grab the match-winning try in Sunday's 22-18 NRL win over Gold Coast.

Shackleton bagged his first four-pointer since 2009 with 37 seconds remaining, grounding the scraps of a Daniel Mortimer kick to snatch a disjointed victory at Parramatta Stadium.

It was also his first try for the Eels, who he joined last year before missing virtually the entire season when he ripped his hamstring from the bone in round one.

"It's the hardest I've seen someone work coming back from an injury like that," Hindmarsh said.

"By himself, day in, day out just doing what he needed to do to get on the field and I haven't seen someone that dedicated for a long, long time to get back on the field."

Shackleton 's 80th minute try gave the fast-finishing Eels a victory that had looked unlikely in a match the Titans led from the eighth minute.

But it was the Eels - minus suspended superstar Jarryd Hayne - who refused to give up, posting their third win for the season and leaving the Gold Coast struggling with just two wins from seven in 2011.

"I think I scored in '09 against North Queensland," Shackleton said. "I'm probably averaging about 1.5 a year, actually probably less."

The red-headed former Rooster agreed with his skipper's assessment that the comeback had been tough going.

"You had ups and downs," he said.

"I improved a lot in the early weeks so I felt good about that.

"Then you have your dark weeks where you're sort of plateauing a bit.

"It's still a work in progress, I'm not exactly where I want to be yet."

Parramatta scored the final two tries after the momentum shifted their way when Titans centre Bodene Thompson was penalised for moving off the mark while playing the ball in his own territory.

Forward Mark Minichiello then infuriated coach John Cartwright attempting a miracle offload on his own 40m line with the Titans leading 18-16 and less than three minutes on the clock.

Cartwright said his side should have closed out the match.

"A hundred times over," he said. "And full credit to Parramatta, they kept coming and they kept themselves in the game but that was inept from us."

"We just shouldn't have been in those positions."

Parramatta scored four tries to three, with Joel Reddy, Jacob Loko and Jeff Robson also notching four-pointers and Luke Burt booting three goals.

For the Titans, who led 18-10 after 51 minutes, Steve Michaels, William Zillman and Greg Bird scored tries with Scott Prince kicking three from three.

Hindmarsh said there was no doubt Shackleton would celebrate his try.

"We'll hear about it, don't worry," he said. "It'll be on replay somewhere."

Brought to you by AAP © 2024 AAP