The Warriors are hanging their season on the return of first-choice halfback Brett Seymour, captain Simon Mannering and Manu Vatuvei after the bye, but Steve Price is no closer to bolstering the front-row.
He has suffered another 'setback' on his injured heel.
Two 40 point hidings, three losses on the trot and three consecutive home defeats, the latest a 23-16 loss against the Raiders, means the Auckland-based side's confidence is rock bottom.
Three wins from eight matches is not the season opening Warriors' fickle fans envisaged.
Starts are killing the Warriors – they are so bad by half time the game is gone. They were down 16-0 against Manly, blown off the park from the get-go against the Storm and faced a 16 point deficit after 30 minutes in the loss to the Raiders.
Most frustrating for Warriors coach Ivan Cleary was with the bye comes a valuable two points, therefore, a win would have been a four-point result.
"Canberra hardly made an error whole night, but our performance was definitely disappointing," Cleary said.
"They got on a roll and that knocks the confidence, especially if it's happened before. Apart from the first half we controlled the game, but couldn't get points.
"Manu [will be back after the bye] and we're hopeful of Simon and Brett Seymour returning. They will give the team a considerable boost.
"James [Maloney] is still trying to find his feet at this level. Having Buster's [Seymour] experience, leadership and direction will be huge boost for us," Cleary added hopefully.
Warriors centre Brent Tate, standing in for captain Michael Luck who resembled Frankenstein's brother after breaking his nose, highlighted how the team could regroup and forge on from here.
"We’ve got to stick together," Tate said. "We have experienced guys to come back which lifts the team belief.
“We've been in this position before. When I was first at the club in 2008 and we managed to turn things around. I'm really confident we can do the same.
"It's early [in the season] there's going to be a lot of highs and lows to come yet. We're on a bit of a low at the moment and we have to ride it out."