Penrith have hit the top of the NRL ladder at the midway point of the season following a 36-14 win over Gold Coast on Saturday.
The Panthers' fourth win in a row lifts them to the No.1 position on points differential after 13 matches.
Sparked by dynamic hooker James Segeyaro (five tackle busts, 51 tackles) and young back-rower Tyrone Peachey (221 metres, two line-breaks, two try assists), the Panthers made the most of an error-riddled Titans' display to claim the six-tries to two victory.
After going into halftime with a narrow 14-8 margin after the home team had two tries disallowed in dying minutes of the half, the Panthers ran riot in the second term.
Isaah Yeo, Peachey and Jamie Soward all capitalised on Titans' errors to score tries before fullback Matt Moylan wrapped up the win with the final score of the game.
Panthers' captain Peter Wallace said there was something building west of Sydney.
"I definitely think there's a bit of confidence within the team at the moment," Wallace said.
"Obviously you get that with a few wins ... we need to play well every week, you can't have one week on, one week off.
"You can feel the excitement around town. It's a very rugby league community and I think everyone's pretty excited about how we're going at the moment."
The Panthers night was spoiled somewhat by injury concerns to Sika Manu (eye) and David Simmons (knee).
Manu managed to return to action in the second-half despite suffering a scratched eyeball but Simmons could be struggling to be fit for next week's home clash against St George Illawarra after a medial ligament strain to his left knee.
The Titans, competition leaders earlier this year, remain outside the top eight after their fourth straight loss.
Coach John Cartwright said his team had been harshly punished for their errors.
"I really don't think that scoreboard tonight indicated a true reflection of where the game was," Cartwright said.
"It was pretty hard fought and we made some dumb errors. Often you don't get punished with points when you make some dumb errors but they punished us three times and come up with 18 points from them."
