At least NZ Warriors held their line intact for five minutes this time... just.
Through a promising opening few rounds of the NRL season, when they have compiled a four-win, two-loss record, the Auckland team have maintained a worrying trend towards conceding the opening try in every game.
Worse than that, through the first five games, those tries came within five minutes of the opening kickoff. Last week, Cronulla Sharks had two four-pointers in that time.
If you're a punter, backing 'opposition try' for opening score seems a safe bet by now.
In their latest 34-24 loss to Newcastle Knights, the Warriors defence held a little longer than the norm - but only 25 seconds more - while still surrendering a two-try headstart.
"Our starts... there's a little bit more to them," explained coach Andrew Webster. "We're just piggybacking them out of trouble every game.
"We give 3-4 yardage penalties away, and we've just got to dig in and turn them away early, and just get some confidence from our defence.
"I feel like it's not from a lack of trying - it's the complete opposite. It's discipline and probably not thinking, because they're so keen.
"When you're piggybacking them out of trouble, it's often because you're going early, so we've just got to be smarter."
Webster's dilemma is drawing attention to the problem and having it prey on his players' minds, or ignoring it and hoping it just goes away.
"I didn't put it at the front of the boys' minds this week, because that's all I've done," he said. "I've put it at the front of their minds and driven it into them, and practiced it and done scenarios.
"I said, 'I'm not doing that this week'. We spoke about an 80-minute performance, rather than particular parts of the game... 'Let's just play our particular style of game for 80 minutes', rather than, 'Let's start well'.
"We'll work it out. Individuals are going to have to own those moments, because that's coming from discipline from individuals."
The other concerning habit emerging from the their performances so far is the need to rally late to rescue games. While that worked spectacularly well against Canterbury Bulldogs and Cronulla, the comeback fell short against Newcastle, despite closing to within 22-18 with 23 minutes remaining.
"I did feel a bit of deju vu, I'm not going to lie," admitted Webster. "I said to myself, 'If we win this one, I don't know if I'll be celebrating as hard this week'.
"I'm a bit frustrated at how it's always happening, but the boys never give up. You could be coaching worse teams - you could be coaching teams that give up.
"We don't give up, so I'm proud of that."
Webster knew his team's dream start would eventually hit a road block, as opponents figured them out and injuries hit home. He will likely face North Queensland Cowboys this week without acting captain Wayde Egan, who failed a concussion test, and half Te Maire Martin, who seemed to suffer a serious leg injury against the Knights.
On the positive side, captain Tohu Harris will be given every chance of a return from his knee injury, while former NZ Kiwis captain Dallin Watene-Zelezniak starred in NSW Cup, after tweaking a calf in warm-ups for the season-opener.
Join Newshub at 5pm Saturday for live updates of the Warriors v North Queensland Cowboys NRL clash
