NZ Warriors have claimed their third straight NRL victory, dispatching St George Dragons 48-18 at Wollongong.
Winger Dallin Watene-Zelezniak scored a career-best four tries in the match, with star halfback Shaun Johnson again pulling the strings.
A knock-on from Dragons winger Mikaele Ravalawa saw the Warriors open the scoring inside six minutes, with Watene-Zelezniak strolling over for his first.
Just a few sets later, the Warriors seemed to score again through opposite winger Marcelo Montoya, but the bunker penalised Jackson Ford for obstruction.
Despite the Warriors' early dominance, three errors inside the opening 12 minutes gifted the Dragons possession and the hosts made them pay. Silky fullback Tyrell Sloan showed tremendous speed to burn centre Adam Pompey and put the Dragons in the lead.
Sloan continued to be the Dragons' most dangerous threat on attack, but his putdown was as good as it got for the hosts in the opening 40 minutes.
The Warriors found the tryline on three more occasions before the break for a 20-6 halftime lead, with Johnson heavily involved. Montoya wouldn't be denied a second time, with the five-eight finding his winger with a clever cutout pass, before he wrestled over for the try.
A Johnson grubber-kick then saw Bayley Sironen collect and touch down, although replays suggested his grounding wasn't clean.
Ford put the icing on a dominant first half with a try of his own, after ripping the ball from teammate Dylan Walker to spin away and score underneath the goalposts.
Early signs of the second half suggested a Dragons comeback was on, after Zane Musgrove crossed for the try, when Marata Niukore was sin-binned.
Watene-Zelezniak crushed any hopes of a turnaround, after he grabbed his second with an acrobatic finish in the corner.
Johnson then turned to play receiver, after a strong run by prop Addin Fonua-Blake released his halfback for a simple putdown.
Watene-Zelezniak turned down an easy opportunity to grab his hat-trick and instead freed Rocco Berry to score a four-pointer just minutes later.
The Dragons would find some resolve through Michael Molo, who grabbed his first try of the season, but it did little to halt the Warriors charge.
Watene-Zelezniak grabbed a well-deserved hat-trick and then found the tryline a further time for good measure for a career-first.
In an almost action replay, the winger crossed twice in two minutes to seal an emphatic win for Andrew Webster's team.
NZ Warriors 48 (Watene-Zelezniak 4, Montoya, Sironen, Ford, Johnson, Berry tries; Johnson 6 conversions) St George Dragons 18 (Sloan, Musgrove, Molo tries; Lomax 3 conversions)
