Nathan Fien's men ran in six tries to one but, make no mistake, it was their effort without the footy that proved the key factor, frustrating he Tigers into error and making them pay at the other end.

It came on an afternoon where last-placed Dapto threw a monstrous spanner in the top-two works with a 16-4 win over competition leaders Wests at Parrish Park.

The Canaries lead 6-4 at halftime and held the Devils scoreless in the second stanza to claim their first win of the season while handing the defending premiers the first loss of theirs.

It saw Thirroul re-claim top spot on the ladder with their 54-20 win over Berkeley, setting up a monster clash with Collies next weekend.

Fien remains the first to say his side is yet to click into top attacking gear, but was once again pleased with their turn-up in defence.

"Our goal-line defence in particular has been good all year and it had to be today because we had to do a mountain of work on our own try-line," Fien said.

"We turned them away, we scrambled well and did enough defensively to give ourselves a chance. Our defence at the moment is giving us opportunities to be in games.

"We've got some special players who are able to make some special plays at times to get us over the line. Once again, a little bit of polish is just missing at times.

"There were probably steps in the direction but we're not quite there. In the big games down the stretch we're going to need to nail that stuff."

Saxon Onur crossed three minutes in to open the scoring for the hosts, but the Tigers leveled up 10 minutes later through Lachlan Peachey.

Tries to Jiye Ellis and Josh Constable in consecutive sets gave the Dogs a 12-point cushion at the break before Brad Manton's intercept try 11 minutes after the resumption effectively put the match to the bed.

Paul Roberts and Josh Dowel also got across before fulltime to seal the win. It wasn't without positives for the Tigers but coach Gav Lennon said patience with the ball continues to prove his side's achilles heel.

"We're playing like a very highly strung side," Lennon said.

"We're not willing to take a step back and just work for something. Everything needs to be here and now and it really shows in our dropped ball.

"We've got our structures we just need to control what we're doing. Their energy off the line was great, they were up in our faces the whole time and we just tried to go around them.

"That intercept try that pretty much sewed the game up for them was the perfect example. We could've done things a bit better but instead we take the cheap option, they run a hundred metres and the game's gone.

"If we bottle the good things we do we know we can compete with anyone, but it's a matter of putting it together for 80, not five minutes at a time here and there."