Winger Edward Kosi has scored a try double to highlight NZ Warriors' rout of Canterbury Bulldogs to reward their patient fans at Mt Smart Stadium.
After four straight losses and 11 from their last 12 games, the Auckland club watched an 18-6 halftime lead disintegrate, but finished strongly with four unanswered converted tries to run out 42-18 winners in just their third appearance their spiritual home this NRL season.
Kosi, who dropped from favour after his horror display against Melbourne Storm on Anzac Day, has bounced back in spectacular fashion, with a hat-trick two weeks ago against the Storm at Mt Smart, another against South Sydney last week and two more in this latest appearance for five tries in three games.
But as this campaign flushed down the drain without even threatening a playoff push, the Warriors produced perhaps their best performance of the season, certainly their highest-scoring one, against a side that have shown some ability in recent weeks.
They scored first, when teenage centre Viliami Vailea ran off veteran half Shaun Johnson for a try, then winger Dallin Watene-Zelezniak stole a loose pass at his own end of the field and sprinted away in delight.
The Bulldogs bit back through fullback Jake Averillo, before Kosi brought up his first midway through the first half, capitalising on an injection of pace from his own fullback, Reece Walsh.
Ahead by 12 points at the break, the Warriors appeared to be cruising, but that's when they are at their most frustrating and so it proved again, as tries to half Kyle Flanagan and flying winger Josh Addo-Carr - a carbon copy of Watene-Zelezniak's intercept - brought the scores level at 18-18.
This trend has been commonplace through the Warriors' season, repeatedly surrendering leads and unable to respond, as their opponents steal another soft win... but this was not one of those nights.
Days after revealing his move to Melbourne Storm next season, second-rower Elisea Katoa showed the Warriors have probably let another uncut diamond get away, running off Johnson's shoulder to reclaim the lead for good.
Johnson was next to score himself, unleashing a sparkling throwback to his heyday as one of the competition's most dangerous runners, as he dummied through a gap and then again to fool Averillo on his way to the tryline.
Kosi soon had his second, benefitting from a delightful delayed pass from Walsh, while even prop Addin Fonua-Blake found time to break his tryscoring duck for the season, after Averillo could not muster a dangerous kick from half Daejarn Asi near his own posts.
Walsh converted all seven tries, including several from near touch.
The result was just the second win for club legend Stacey Jones - both at Mt Smart - since he took over as interim coach from Nathan Brown two months ago. While victory won't rekindle playoff hopes, it has brought the Warriors level with the Bulldogs and Newcastle Knights on the ladder.
And it will give diehard Warriors fans - 16,000 of them crammed into Mt Smart, despite their team's lowly standing - something to cling to until next season.
They have three more games in their schedule, including North Queensland Cowboys at Townsville next Friday and Gold Coast Titans at Mt Smart on September 3.
NZ Warriors 42 (Vailea, Kosi 2, Fonua-Blake, Johnson, Katoa & Watene-Zelezniak tries; Walsh 7 conversions) Canterbury Bulldogs 18 (Averillo, Addo-Carr & Flanagan tries; Burton 3 conversions)
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