Almost four months ago, Edward Kosi's NRL career seemed in tatters.
As NZ Warriors plummeted to their worst-ever defeat - 70-10 at the hands of Melbourne Storm on Anzac Day - the young winger was probably the worst of the worst, dropping passes, misfielding kicks... his first-grade inexperience utterly exposed.
Fast forward to the present and Kosi, 23, is virtually unrecognisable as the same player. Over his past four games, he has gathered seven tries, including a hat-trick in the rematch against Melbourne and a double in victory over Canterbury Bulldogs last weekend - both at Mt Smart Stadium.
"That just comes off the hard work that the big boys do in the middle," deflected Kosi. "The things they do in the middle and the spine put us boys on the edges away.
"The easy part is being able to pin the ears back, go for the corner and put it down."
As another season draws to a close without reaching the playoffs, Kosi has provided the Warriors with something tangible to draw hope for next year.
"He's got that jersey at the moment, it's up to him if he wants to keep it or not," said interim head coach Stacey Jones. "He got our Player of the Day a couple of times there.
"From where he came from after that Storm performance to where he is now, it's a credit to him. He's worked hard at his game, got himself in the team and established himself."
Kosi's improvement has forced Jones to shift veteran Marcelo Montoya into the centres, opening up a spot on the flank for his white-hot tryscorer.
None of that seemed possible after the Anzac Day massacre, when Kosi was consigned back to the Redcliffe reserve grade side to rebuild his game - and his shattered confidence.
"When I went back to Redcliffe for those 9-10 weeks, most of my work-ons were little things like effort plays," said Kosi. "In that Anzac game, as they were pouring on points, I felt like I went into my shell.
"Those errors I made in the Anzac game were easy fixes... like catching the ball."
At the time, Kosi's showing was compared to a similar nightmare performance by former Warriors star Manu Vatuvei against Parramatta Eels early in his career. Vatuvei bounced back to become the club's all-time leading tryscorer and the first NRL player to score 10 tries in 10 consecutive seasons.
Obviously, that challenge now lies ahead of Kosi.
"I feel like my confidence has come back from playing at Redcliffe," he said. "I felt like I had a couple of good games and was able to build to my first game back against Parramatta.
"I just simplified things, not worrying too much about other people's jobs and just focusing on my own job."
Kosi has retained his spot against North Queensland Cowboys at Townsville.
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