While the obituaries were being prepared on Manly's premiership chances last month, coach Des Hasler knew better than to panic.
The Sea Eagles boss is no gambler but is au fait with the old sporting maxim about Melbourne Cups not being won in June, nor NRL premierships for that matter.
After watching his side lose four of five matches to slip to ninth, Hasler rode out the storm safe in the knowledge there was plenty of time left to get things right.
Back-to-back wins over Cronulla and the Tigers in the past fortnight have lifted Manly into fifth ahead of Monday night's clash with Newcastle at EnergyAustralia Stadium.
Talk is now centred on whether the Sea Eagles can win the competition, not if they'll make the top eight.
"Now that the rep season is over, sides that are vying for top eight or top four can really control their own destiny and build some momentum," Hasler explained on Wednesday.
"There were a few areas we needed to address and I think we've done that."
"The past two weeks we've been a little bit more solid."
"It's getting down to that stage of the season that you want to be building some momentum and getting a run at it and staying clear of injuries."
Hasler rates this year's race for the title 'the most open and even competition since I've been on the scene'.
"It's been that kind of competition. If you win, the top four and top eight can be turned upside down," he said.
"You've got to keep winning games and the rest will sort itself out."
Co-captain Jamie Lyon admitted the Sea Eagles had been struggling ahead of their two-match revival but was always confident the rut would be short lived.
"It is a tight competition and you've just got to be playing your best footy towards the end of the season," he said.
"Going into the semis you want to be playing your best."
"We weren't playing the footy I knew we could but we've had two wins and hopefully we'll keep improving and build on that."
Half-back Trent Hodkinson added: "You can definitely feel out on the field that we’ve turned the corner."
"You just feel confident in one another compared to previous weeks."
"It's a better feeling than it was."