The Warriors have overcome massive odds to climb into the top eight on the back of a courageous 12-6 win over Penrith at CUA Stadium.
Belted 11-3 in the penalty count and forced to contend with several crucial calls going against them, the Kiwis somehow kept the top-of-the-table Panthers scoreless for the entire second half to record one of the finest wins in the club's history.
The victory was built on defence, the Warriors repelling repeated sets of six on their own line as Penrith came up empty time after time.
The visitors made 70 tackles more than the opposition, with Micheal Luck making 62 tackles on his own.
Penrith were tackled 59 times in the opposition's quarter to the Kiwis' eight.
The Panthers surrender top position on the ladder to St George Illawarra but have only themselves to blame after butchering a number of try-scoring opportunities on the back of mistakes and poor options.
The Warriors enter the top eight after their third consecutive win, relegating Manly to ninth.
Penrith felt it had grabbed the lead five minutes in after Michael Gordon's clever pass out the back door saw Luke Lewis diver over in the corner.
But on closer inspection, Lewis' right foot went into touch before the put down and video referee Steve Clark had an easy decision to make.
The Warriors escaped the close call and went up the other end to post first points through a James Maloney penalty in the ninth minute.
Maloney increased the Warriors' lead six minutes later with a smart try engineered by the much improved second-rower Lewis Brown.
He picked up the ball from dummy half 60m out, feigned to pass before pushing away from Trent Waterhouse and Petero Civoniceva.
Brown drew fullback Lachlan Coote and invited Maloney to finish the journey.
The conversion took the Warriors out to a deserved 8-0 lead.
The Panthers looked flat and disinterested just six days after seeing off competition leaders St George Illawarra.
It was no surprise to see them go further behind after 23 minutes following a spectacular Manu Vatuvei try.
The big winger chased a floating Isaac John bomb down the left flank, catching the ball on the full and diving over without a hand being laid on him.
The big man rarely does things without a touch of flair although it must be said Coote and Gordon showed a real lack of urgency in getting to the kick.
Maloney failed with the sideline conversion – only the ninth kicked he's missed all season – but the Warriors' lead was out to 12.
Penrith was in danger of drifting out of the game, so far off the pace did they look.
But two minutes before half-time they received a lifeline.
Keeping the ball alive close to the Warriors line with a series of short balls, Coote ran off a clever pass from Nathan Smith to claim a try despite grounding the ball just short in a flurry of arms and legs.
A decision was referred upstairs before being sent back a referee's call, Shayne Hayne ruling the ball had grazed the chalk as Coote was being dragged by the defence.
Gordon added the extras to narrow the gap to six.
The home side was virtually camped inside the Warriors half during a tense second half but just couldn’t crack the defence.
Every time the Warriors looked like getting out of trouble they either made an error or