In the build-up to Sunday's match against Cronulla Sharks, NZ Warriors coach Andrew Webster spoke extensively about round five being a litmus test for the entire competition.
With injuries starting to test squad depth and struggling teams searching for answers, now was the time to prove they're a quality team, he said.
The 'Great Escape' against the Sharks left no doubt where the Warriors now stand, as they sent an emphatic statement to the rest of the competition that this squad is unlike any to emerge from Mt Smart Stadium for a long time.
With the Sharks up 20-0 and seemingly cruising in front of their home crowd, the Warriors refused to go down the path many of their predecessors would have.
Instead, they regrouped, shouldered arms and inched their way back into the contest with smart, accurate and composed rugby league, before Shaun Johnson put on the finishing touches with a (highly contentious) final-minute penalty.
Warriors fans still had to endure one last-gasp penalty from Nicho Hynes, which mercifully sailed wide, sealing one of the most famous wins in club history.
With their team 4-1 and sitting in second on the NRL ladder, Monday morning has seldom felt sweeter for the Warriors faithful.
"We're a different club," said Webster, after the 32-30 win. "We just don’t want to sit on the bottom.
"We don't want to make excuses for anything. We want to have a crack.
"I know everyone keeps talking about [the past] and it's fair enough, I suppose, because everyone is thinking we'll fall over soon and after 15 minutes, they probably thought today was the day, but the boys had different ideas.
"The boys' attitude and never giving up is just something different. It's crazy how good it is.
"They just never gave up."
Facing a 26-12 deficit at the interval, Webster insists there was still a clear sense of self-belief amongst his players, as he addressed them in the sheds.
"Nobody is going to write an article this week that we went in, and ripped the doors off the sheds or anything like that," he said. "That wasn’t going to work.
"We just went around the room like we normally did. It was exactly the same half-time as normal… we just spoke about details and what we had to fix.
"Right at the end, we spoke about, 'Do we believe? Every time we've gone down there, we've scored.
"'Every time we hang onto the ball, we build pressure... every time we defend a set, we look good. If you do that, boys, we're honestly a big chance here'."
The comeback was the second-biggest in the Warriors' 28-year history, bettered only by their fightback from 21 points down to sink Canberra Raiders in 2021.
Even for Webster - who won two Grand Finals as an assistant coach with Penrith Panthers - it was "one of the best wins I've ever been a part of".
"We keep making it hard, but we must love it for some reason," Webster joked. "I don't know why and I'm looking forward to an 80-minute performance, but the one thing I’ll leave here with today is that this was one of the best wins I've been a part of - for different reasons.
"That is that they never gave up. At halftime, we felt really good about it.
"We clawed our way back a bit before halftime and, as a staff in the box, we were really calm. We walked down and left the sheds with a bit of belief and the rest is history."
No player better embodies his team's transformation than Johnson, 32, whose performance was a continuation of his resurgent form, where he's wound back the clock to the halcyon 'Magic' days of his prime.
The veteran half was at the centre of everything positive against the Sharks, playing a hand in three tries, scoring one himself, kicking expertly and slotting all six of his shots on goal, including the gamewinning penalty - amid challenging rainy and windy conditions, no less.
He's also arguably defending better than he ever has in his 13-year NRL career.
"No-one was running shapes at Shaun today, because they knew he could hold his gloves up," noted Webster. "The way he got us around, the way he stuck to the plan... he didn’t go away from it when we were behind.
"He didn’t try to throw it around. He was, like, 'This is what we've decided the plan was’, he stuck to it and we got results from it."
What Webster valued most was how his half lead from the front, seizing the reins from the injured Tohu Harris to drive his team's epic reversal.
"Shaun has become this unbelievable leader," he said. "He's always been a fantastic player.
"His leadership in the last couple of weeks around what he wants for the team, the way he leads with his action around tough stuff... he doesn't care about the criticism or people saying he should retire, or he's not good enough.
"Shaun just cares about what the dressingroom and the staff think about him. That's how he plies his trade and he's earning respect every day because of it."
The Warriors now travel to Newcastle, where they'll try to record their second victory of the season against the Knights on Sunday and extend their win streak to four games.
Join Newshub at 8:15pm Sunday for live updates of the Warriors v Knights NRL clash
