Time will tell if this is another mid-season mirage but the Warriors continued there upward trend by dispatching the Newcastle Knights at Mt Smart Stadium today.
First half tries to Tui Lolohea, Manu Vatuvei, and Ben Matulino helped the Warriors to a 14-8 halftime lead before second-half four-pointers to Solomone Kata and Jonathan Wright sealed the result.
The badly depleted Knights lost inspirational captain Kurt Gidley (thigh), former Kiwis enforcer Jeremy Smith (sternum) and prop Kade Snowden (neck) prior to kick-off before halfback Tyrone Roberts had to be assisted off the park with an ankle injury after just four minutes.
They refused to lie down however, with first half scores to Dane Gagai and Akuila Uate keeping them within range while late four-pointers to James McManus, and a second to Uate, left the door open for an unlikely victory.
The Warriors had no trouble gaining forward momentum and were organised in both attack and defence but despite leading throughout, errors and ill-discipline at key stages gave the Knights chances and basic defensive lapses allowed them easy points.
Warriors' halfback Shaun Johnson continued his mid-season purple patch, tormenting the Knight's edge defenders and kicking effectively both long and short.
The No7 split the line to lay on the opening try for Tui Lolohea and provided a pin-point grubber kick for wing Jonathan Wright to score the match-winner 12 minutes from fulltime, but was off target with the boot, managing just two conversions from five attempts.
Sam Tomkins and Manu Vatuvei were solid in their returns from injury, while NSW and Queensland representatives Ryan Hoffman and Jacob Lillyman backed up admirably following Wednesday night's State of Origin opener.
The hosts' early dominance saw them shoot out to an 8-0 lead through tries to Lolohea and Vatuvei, before the Knights hit back through Gagai.
They looked to have steadied the ship when mounting pressure allowed Matulino over for their third, but the Knights hung tough and struck a second time with Uate's first try making it 14-8 at the break.
Rookie Warriors centre Kata made his mark four minutes after the resumption, when he burst through two tacklers and stepped Gagai to dive under the bar for the Warriors' fourth with Johnson's goal stretching it to 20-8.
Newcastle maintained their resolve and built pressure through repeat sets before Korbin Sims hit a hole and threw a one-handed offload for McManus to cross, before replacement halfback Tyler Randall converted from touch to restore the margin to six inside the final quarter.
After what seemed an eternity, the Warriors returned to the Knights' end and it was Johnson's grubber for Wright that gave them breathing space before Uate ducked over from close range to set up a tense finish.
For just the third time since 2011, the Warriors now have three wins in a row following away victories over Cronulla and Parramatta, to consolidate their seventh-placed ranking on the NRL ladder.
The Warriors now look ahead to next Saturday's long-haul away trip to Perth's NIB Stadium where they will meet reigning premiers the South Sydney Rabbitohs.
Warriors 24 (Tui Lolohea, Manu Vatuvei, Ben Matulino, Solomone Kata, Jonathan Wright tries, Johnson 2 cons) Knights 20 (Dane Gagai, Akuila Uate 2, James McManus tries, Tyler Randall, Gagai cons)
- By David Skipwith of the New Zealand Herald
