What hinted at an encouraging season-opening display ultimately descended into a familiar pattern for NZ Warriors on Saturday.
Fighting back from a 12-0 deficit, the Warriors led 16-14 with 30 minutes to play and had all the momentum on their side against a disjointed St George Dragons outfit.
But the familiar combination of errors and indiscipline eventually came back to haunt them, including one glaring opportunity to build on their slim lead, when Shaun Johnson's 40/20 was squandered by the halfback on the first tackle of the set with an errant pass.
That seemed to set the tone for the rest of the contest, as the Dragons feasted on their opponent's errors - many of which came in their own red zone - to score 14 unanswered points and run away with a 28-16 win.
Warriors coach Nathan Brown - although pleased with his team's more "positive brand" of play - knew they simply gave the Dragons too many chances.
“We were up 16-14, then we missed a chance there from play one on a scrum,” Brown said.
"For the whole game we had a fair number of errors and we never really quite got our game going.
"It was quite clear for everyone to see that we want to play a much more positive brand of footy this year and we’re trying to find the balance of when to do it and when not to.
"We certainly never made the Dragons work hard with the way we controlled the ball and that type of stuff."
Sparked by Johnson and omni-present forward Josh Curran, the Warriors showed glimpses of the free-wheeling, expansive play that was once their hallmark.
But all too often, those bold attempts at creativity descended into sloppiness and inaccuracy, putting themselves under pressure with unnecessary risk.
"When we got to 16-14, I thought that considering the amount of field possession the Dragons had, it was a good effort by the boys," Brown added.
"Then when we missed our chance, we lost our way a bit and we turned a lot of ball over.
"It was clear from the start that we want to play a positive brand of footy this year and we just didn't quite get it right at times."
Overall, Johnson made a promising start to his second campaign in a Warriors jersey, with his kicking game in particular offering a significant upgrade from last season.
He helped lay on a couple of tries - including a slick short ball to send Eliesa Katoa behind the posts - but also contributed to some of the more misguided mistakes his side made, most notably with a crossfield kick attempt for his winger from inside his own 10m line at a critical stage of the contest.
"Shaun had some positives," Brown assessed. "Plenty of blokes had some positive points and some negative points.
"We probably had some blokes who were below where they'd like to be, which is hard at this level.
"But Shaun had some positive stuff and it’s always easier for your half when you're making the opposition work a bit harder as well."
Forward Josh Curran was one of the few individual standouts for the Warriors, who will be desperate to regain the services of suspended Reece Walsh and Matt Lodge against the Titans next weekend.
"We didn't tire their defence much. What we created was some nice play from the boys to create what they created off the back of their defence being pretty fresh at times.
"Obviously we got to a stage where we were under some heavy fatigue, due to our own inability to build some pressure."
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