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A fired up Corey Thompson had to walk away from his teammates after the wrong play cued the curtains to fall on the Titans’ premiership hopes.

And league legend Gorden Tallis believes Thompson had “every right” to react the way he did, while the response from other players showed a “stronger message.”

Trailing by one point with 30 seconds left on the clock, the Titans had one last chance to keep their season alive.

They spread the ball right, where destructive second-rower David Fifita was waiting with his hand in the air ready to take advantage of a two on one overlap. But that’s not how it went down.

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Halfback Jamal Fogarty passed onto centre Patrick Herbert. One more pass to Fifita would have set up a very likely try, another pass to Thompson on the wing would have been a sure thing.

Herbert ran towards the line and was stopped by Daniel Tupou before attempting to flick the ball out the back. It went behind Thompson and over the sideline.

Huge relief rushed over the Roosters as they hugged and celebrated the win, while the heartbroken Titans tried to come to terms with just how close they came to a semi-final.

“What Drama, what agony for the Gold Coast Titans,” Fox League commentator Warren Smith said to sum up the full-time scenes.

“That was an emotional rollercoaster I think for everybody here at the ground and it was one pass... that’s why we love and hate the game,” Tallis added as Fox League’s sideline commentator.

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Thompson was seen with his hands out saying something to Herbert, who was kneeling on the ground, before walking away to blow up.

“F***ing bulls**t c***s,” is what he appeared to say.

Tallis couldn’t blame the workhorse winger for responding the way he did — and believes the rest of the team’s reaction was a telling sign of how they truly felt.

“I think the way Corey reacted, he had every right to react like that because if (Herbert) passes the ball the Titans are playing next week,” he told Triple M on Sunday.

“And I think that says it all, his teammates, their reaction to (Herbert), no one ran over to pat him on the back, so I think that there’s a stronger message in that.”

Tallis — who is an ambassador for the Titans — does however feel for Herbert who no doubt is stewing over the costly play.

“I don’t know what to do because I reckon he knows that he’s blown it, I reckon he knew he blew a chance for all of his teammates to play finals,” he said.

“He’s going to see that replay, he’s going to see it for the next five or 10 days and I know that loss cut me and I’m not over it yet so I couldn’t imagine (how) the players (feel).

“Until they get back to pre-season and start winning some games, I think that loss is going to be really fresh.”

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The Daily Telegraph’s Paul Kent believes the moment was a case of Herbert being selfish, the he just simply was overawed by the moment.

“I got the impression that he actually panicked a bit,” Kent told Triple M.

“Rather than saying ‘I can score myself’ and not pass to the two unmarked players around him, I just think the situation, the last seconds of the game, they score and they win, it just overwhelmed him and he almost just went into a mental shutdown and just hung onto the ball.”

Thompson took to social media after the game to clear up any concerns.

“All love for my brother. Love playing outside you, we grow and move on,” he wrote on his Instagram story.

But his blow up divided the opinion of fans and pundits.