His side were the beneficiaries from a penalty count which flirted with a record in the modern era, but Rabbitohs coach Michael Maguire was still lamenting the refereeing after South Sydney stumbled to a shock loss to NRL strugglers Gold Coast.
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The hosts shaded a 14-10 penalty count dished out by whistle-happy referee Ashley Klein - a mirror of the final scoreline - but Maguire had serious question marks over a crucial second-half try for the Titans.
Stand-in Gold Coast captain Will Zillman jinked his way over six minutes into the second stanza after Mark Minichiello, celebrating his 250th NRL game, appeared to floor Adam Reynolds in the lead-up.
Kevin Gordon's match-winner 13 minutes from time condemned the hosts to rare back-to-back losses.
"I've got to say we didn't play well, but a couple of their tries [I thought] were obstructions and it comes into play all the time," a flu-ridden Maguire said.
"I'm not quite sure what the ruling from that was. But we didn't play well and we need to cop it on the chin and prepare for our next game."
South Sydney skipper John Sutton challenged Klein in the aftermath of Zillman's try, but to no avail.
"After watching the replay it was similar to the first try when a runner took out our inside player," Sutton said. "It created a hole and I thought they were definitely both worth a look."
The match threatened to be remembered for the most penalised game in NRL history, which stands at 26 for the Manly-Warriors clash in 2006. But Klein didn't blow a penalty in the last 15 minutes as the Titans repelled a late Rabbitohs charge.
Apart from a whopping penalty count, both sides committed an astronomical 27 errors in the best advertisement there has been for standalone Origin matches.
"If you don't hang onto the ball any team can get beaten," Maguire said. "You just can't win games if you're handling like that ... it doesn't matter who you are."
Maguire brushed off injury concerns to George Burgess, Kyle Turner and Adam Reynolds, who played the last 40 minutes with a heavily strapped knee after breaking an NRL record for scoring in all 69 matches he's played.
The trio have an extra week to recover courtesy of the bye before travelling to Pirtek Stadium to take on the Eels.
Luke Burgess has an nervous wait after being placed on report for a high shot on Titans prop Matt White.
