Two steps forward, three steps back, or in the case of the Warriors, three places on a congested NRL ladder - after they were left red-faced and scoreless for just the fifth time in their history by a ruthless Sydney Roosters outfit yesterday.
Reality bit hard for Andrew McFadden's side against the NRL's best defensive team at Allianz Stadium. Three consecutive wins and a rise into the top four had confidence levels cranked up to 11 as they headed across the Tasman in search of finals credibility.
What they got was a rude awakening as to their true place among the premiership landscape; with the four tries to none defeat exposing some glaring deficiencies in their play.
Three quick-fire converted tries in 10 minutes to Aidan Guerra, Blake Ferguson and 2016 Warriors signing Roger Tuivasa-Sheck, blew the game wide open midway through the first half.
A fourth soon after the resumption, to Man of the Match and former Warrior James Maloney, sealed the Tri-Colours fifth consecutive win.
Despite working their way back into the grind through the final half hour, the visitors were outgunned in most areas.
"I was really disappointed with that try after halftime," said McFadden. "It really nullified any chance of us making a comeback but I was really happy with how we kept scrambling and fighting to the end.
"When you've got a completion rate of 50 percent you're generally going to be on the wrong side of the scoreboard so that's what happened to us in that first half.
"Against the best defensive team in the comp it was going to be a long road home from there."
The hosts overcame the loss of Kiwis flyer Shaun Kenny-Dowall pre-game, following his arrest on numerous domestic violence charges, while NSW State of Origin back-rower Boyd Cordner was rested.
The Warriors were also understrength, without veteran wing Manu Vatuvei, Blues back-rower Ryan Hoffman, and centre Konrad Hurrell for a second week, but they failed to raise their game to compensate.
The discipline, ball control and game nous that defined recent wins over the Titans, Raiders and Storm went out the window, with errors and penalties ruining their attack and gifting the home side momentum after an evenly matched opening quarter.
The Roosters were intent on cramping Warriors milestone man Shaun Johnson, with the halfback lacking composure and unsteady throughout his 100th NRL match. Urgent line speed and aggressive tackling limited his options and restricted the Warriors go-forward.
"We struggled as a group. We didn't really build any pressure," said McFadden. "We wanted to be more patient than that so I know the halves will be critical of themselves and they'll get a fair bit of learning out of it."
The Roosters first and third tries came from kicks - Jake Friend grubbering for Guerra to plant the ball down, and Tuivasa-Sheck wrestling a high ball from Tomkins to score under the bar, while a one-on-one miss from Solomone Kata saw Ferguson dive over.
A sideline run from Michael Jennings gave Maloney the fourth in the 43rd minute, and although the Warriors found some backbone through the late stages, their confidence will take some massaging ahead of Saturday's home appointment against Manly.
"We know what works for us," said McFadden. "We're probably going to have to make some adjustments but that's the coach's job and I know the players will bounce back next week."
ROOSTERS 24 (Aidan Guerra, Blake Ferguson, Roger Tuivasa-Sheck, James Maloney tries, Maloney 4 cons).
WARRIORS 0
