The St George Illawarra Dragons have strengthened their favouritism for the NRL minor premiership, opening up a four-point lead over their nearest rivals thanks to a 29-4 outclassing of the Warriors at Mt Smart Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
Given the benefit of a bone-dry track in Auckland, a rare sight in the winter months, the Dragons took full toll and exhibited their attacking verve in a five tries to one effort.
A double to wing Brett Morris increased his season tally to a competition-leading 17 as inefficiencies in the Warriors' right-side defence were clinically exposed.
Owing to Parramatta's impressive romp over the Bulldogs the previous evening, St George Illawarra is now two games ahead of the Dogs and Titans with a vastly superior points differential to both.
While the Dragons are flying high, any vague top-eight hopes the Warriors previously held are now non-existent.
The Dragons signalled their intentions early as Morris opened his account in the third minute, taking advantage of a clear run to the left corner after Ben Hornby batted back a Jamie Soward bomb.
The home side hit back to be 4-4, four minutes later through centre Joel Moon on the back a perfectly-crafted move down the left – the likes of which has hardly been seen from the Warriors all year.
A Soward penalty gave the Dragons the lead back and it was stretched to 12-4 when Morris was sent free by Chase Stanley, standing in at centre for the injured Matt Cooper.
A chorus of boos met Nathan Fien when he ran on in the 23rd minute, wearing the big red V in front of fans he had plied his trade admirably in front of for four and a half years.
Fien was having the last laugh over his former team-mates as his side pulled out to an 18-4 half-time lead when a smart Ben Creagh offload sent Stanley in through the leaky right side of the Warriors.
The Warriors needed to be the next to score and despite their best efforts, could not crack the water-tight line of the best defence in the NRL.
Wendell Sailor almost got on the score sheet in the 52nd minute but the final pass from Soward was judged forward.
It mattered little when Soward produced an opportunist 90m effort with 20 to go, effectively killing off the game. Ian Henderson's attempt at a deft chip failed miserably, landing straight in Soward's lap and the red-hot No.6 showed considerable toe on his sprint to the line.
Soward added the finishing touches to another dominant personal performance, threading an inconsequential field goal with two minutes remaining then chipping over the top and regathering to send Darius Boyd in to break his Dragons try duck in the final act of the match.
Dragons 29
Tries: B. Morris (2), Stanley, Soward, Boyd
Goals: Soward (4)
Field Goal: Soward
Warriors 4
Try: Moon
HT: 18-4