Gold Coast winger David Mead scored one of the tries of the NRL season to help the struggling Titans to a gutsy 20-16 victory over Cronulla, but the win was soured by a suspected broken arm to their captain Scott Prince.

The Titans haven't had much to celebrate this year, but Mead's freakish skills - combined with the team's resolve in defence at Toyota Stadium on Saturday night - was encouraging.

But in the end, the brave win was soured when Prince sprinted off the field with eight minutes to go, holding his left arm, which he'd broken before, gingerly out in front of him after a tackle gone wrong.

Cronulla captain Paul Gallen made his return from a calf injury, but will have worries of a different kind this week after being put on report for lashing out with his feet late in the first half.

With the scores locked at 4-4, the game sprung to life in the 29th minute when Gallen committed the offence when in possession and rucking the ball off his own line.

Debut referee David Munro penalised the NSW skipper for raking his foot back at Beau Henry's face as he attempted to get up to play the ball.

The Titans five-eighth had just tackled him around the legs and hadn't yet cleared the ruck.

Whistleblower Munro said: "That's my job," when Gallen argued he was just trying to get Henry out of the way.

Prince kicked the first of two penalty goals for the night, before playing a support role in one of the most incredible tries of the season for a 12-4 halftime lead.

Prince kicked deliberately over the top for Mead, 20 metres out from the Sharks line, but it appeared certain the ball would bounce over the sideline.

But the flyer stuck one hand out and miraculously grabbed the ball out of thin air, all while managing to tip toe inside the chalk and touch down - for his second try of the night - in the right corner.

Tries to John Morris, Ben Pomeroy and Ricky Leutele kept the Sharks in the match until the final hooter but, in the end, a William Zillman second-half try and Prince's penalties provided enough of a buffer for the Titans to record the first win by any Gold Coast side at Toyota Stadium.

Prince will almost certainly miss the rest of the season, but Titans assistant coach Steve Murphy insisted the night was still one to savour.

"Bitterly disappointing for Scott but tremendous reward for effort for 17 guys who contributed. I thought they were fantastic," said Murphy, filling in for John Cartwright who watched the match from his hotel room after feeling dizzy during the day on Saturday, following appendix surgery last weekend.

Murphy described Mead's second try as "freakish" and "amazing".

Veteran Luke Bailey said the result was the highlight of his year, as his side fights to rid themselves of the wooden spoon.

"One of the toughest ones I've been involved with," he said.

"Obviously, it's too late but you can't take that away from us."

Sharks warhorse Gallen said he couldn't believe he was put on report, as he reflected on another failed season.

"He had hold of my leg and I was just pumping trying to kick out and it was just bad timing," Gallen said.

"It might have looked bad but there was definitely no intention ... I thought we were going to get the penalty because he had hold of my leg while I was trying to get a quick play-the-ball.

"We've got no one to blame for another year being over. It's just tough."

Sharks coach Shane Flanagan said blown opportunities cost his side the match and any faint hope of making a late run for the top eight.

"We were all over them there at different stages and just didn't come up with points and it was very, very frustrating," he said.

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