New Zealand coach Ivan Cleary believes his side's courageous 12-6 disposal of Penrith may turn out to be the season-defining win that sees the Kiwis make a noise at the back end of the season.
The Warriors turned in one of the gutsiest defensive performances seen in the NRL for some time to keep the Panthers scoreless during a tense and tough second half at CUA Stadium.
Caned 11-3 in the penalty count and forced to come up with 70 more tackles than Penrith – including 59 in their own quarter – the visitors somehow kept the competition leaders from crossing their line.
Lock Micheal Luck made a staggering 62 tackles.
"I'm very proud. It was a great effort," coach Ivan Cleary said.
"The longer the half went on the better they got in terms of their defence."
"A couple of times I thought they were just about to give in but they never did so you've got to be pretty happy with that."
"There were blokes clearly out on their feet. (It was) a real good day."
The win lifts the Warriors into sixth spot, Cleary delighted with the rapid improvement of his young side in the face of a horrific injury toll this season.
"We've had our fair share of adversity this year so that's probably helped bind the boys together," he said.
"A lot of our guys are still finding their feet at this level. We're a work in progress but with each performance, especially a good one, they get a little bit more confident and get more faith in each other."
"There's a long way to go but it (the win over Penrith) gives you something to look back on."
"They should draw some confidence from this."
"There's a lot of footy to go but we're travelling reasonably well at the moment."
Captain Simon Mannering added: "It wasn't too pretty but it showed you how much we wanted that win."
"It was a hard day's work."
Penrith had enough ball to win five games but lacked composure and execution.
Time after time they entered the Warriors quarter seemingly destined to score, only for a mistake, poor option or desperate defence to stop them in their tracks.
Coach Matthew Elliott offered no excuses, preferring to praise the opposition.
"I think we had to take our medicine today. I'm sure Ivan was chuffed," he said.
"I thought their 'D' (defence) in the second half was fantastic."
"We didn’t throw our A game at them but we weren't terrible."
"They were prepared to do a little more than us."
"They deserved to be recognised rather than us saying we were ordinary."
"The opposition showed more desperation than us."
Skipper Petero Civoniceva agreed, declaring: "They were very enthusiastic. That was their message right from the start."
"We missed the jump. Full credit to them."
"These hurdles are going to come and we have to learn from it."