While their injury-plagued, back-to-back wins over Penrith and the Dolphins have shocked and delighted NZ Warriors faithful, coach Andrew Webster admits he's not that surprised at how his understrength line-up have responded.
With a long list of players already unavailable for selection, Webster was hit throughout the week by withdrawals from the team originally named on Tuesday, starting with prop Addin Fonua-Blake's stand-down for violating protocols.
Centre Rocco Berry was never likely to recover from his finger injury, so five-eighth Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad was moved to his place, but also dropped out through illness on gameday.
Fullback Taine Tuaupiki was summoned away for the birth of his first child, so Chanel Harris-Tavita, Moala Graham-Taufa and Ed Kosi were all brought into a drastically reshuffled backline that had Dallin Watene-Zelezniak at the back.
Despite the body count, Webster sensed something special was about to happen from the mood in the changingroom.
"So proud of them," he beamed. "Such a squad, such a team tonight.
"The 17 guys that took the field were so together, so confident in each other, so much belief. If you had seen our dressingroom before the game, you'd probably understand that was no fluke tonight - they were really confident in each other.
"It was just unbelievable energy. They looked at each other and were excited, and literally believed they could beat a top-four side tonight.
"There's so much cool stuff going on - every time something goes wrong for someone, there's an opportunity for someone else and everyone's genuinely happy for that."
By gametime, the starting line-up was six places different to the one originally named, making for a busy exchange of phone calls on Sunday morning.
"The 'Rock' one wasn't that late, because he was having an operation and we were hoping the swelling would come down, but he was no chance and we probably knew that one early,"
conceded Webster.
"Charnze was this morning, so there was a phone call to Moala saying he was making his club debut, which would have been nicer face to face, but still a really nice moment. With Taine, the labour was long and probably still going, so that was a late one too... we had Kosi come on the wing.
"It wasn't straightforward, but no-one panicked, no-one seemed to get worried and they got more excited, if anything. My parents are over at the moment, we were just hanging out, making call after call and making sure we had everything covered."
Graham-Taufa, who made a fleeting NRL first-grade debut for Sydney Roosters as a teenager, enjoyed a formal jersey presentation, despite his late call-up.
"We wanted him to enjoy the moment, but no-one panicked, no-one seemed worried," insisted Webster. "It was just a different preparation.
"Te Maire [Martin] texted me and said, 'What's going on here?' Honestly, when they all entered the ground, you could tell they were all excited to play with each other, which is what we want."
With a bye week looming, the results create an interesting dilemma for Webster, who will likely have many of his stars back for the next game against North Queensland.
Players like captain Tohu Harris, Shaun Johnson, Roger Tuivasa-Sheck, Wayde Egan, Kurt Capewell, Fonua-Blake were all part of a five-game winless slump, before their replacements pulled the season around against Panthers and Dolphins.
In Johnson's absence, Martin has come out of his shell as a playmaker, working in tandem with Dylan Walker, who stepped in for Harri at lock.
"We're just going to make sure more people don't train and play after the bye," quipped Webster. "We'll have as much disruption, then go out and win.
"We're going to train hard - we'll enjoy a couple of days off for the bye and go to North Queensland. We'll enjoy a couple of days with family, then rip back into training and get our confidence through training."
