Warriors halfback Shaun Johnson says there's a good feeling in the team after their two win, one loss start to the NRL season.
They opened with a 20-12 victory over Newcastle before losing by the same scoreline to the Roosters in Sydney. But they bounced back impressively with a 26-12 away success over North Queensland to leave them fourth on the ladder.
"I think when you go on a road trip like that to Townsville and do the things we talked about during the week, it makes the trip back much more enjoyable," Johnson told the media on Wednesday.
"But we're well aware of how quickly it can disappear if we don't stay the course and get the work done."
Johnson's pragmatic assessment is based on experience, the Warriors running into trouble after a good start to the year is something he was a part of in 2018.
That season they shot out to win six of their first seven games, before a 50-10 hiding on Anzac Day to Melbourne saw them fluctuate wildly and become unable to win more than two games in a row.
However, Johnson is confident that a commitment to improvement can breed consistency.
"Over the first few rounds we've seen different levels of resilience from our side, in particular our goal line defence," he said.
"Not everything's been perfect, but when we get things wrong our attitude to let that go and get onto the next job has kept us in the games.
"It's been fun, the expression comes from the hard work and the confidence it gives me to not even think about things and just attack. The clarity we have collectively around what our performance should look like, we want to hold onto that for as long as we can."
Those sentiments were echoed by halves partner Te Maire Martin, in his first year at the club after shifting from Brisbane last season.
"Obviously, it helps when you're winning, but we've got a lot out of all the games we've played. We've got a lot to improve on, but we're heading in the right direction," Martin said.
"Attitude at the moment is keeping us in games, and that's what gets you through the start of the year. Just putting in the stuff that we did in pre-season and that seems to be going well, but we've got a lot to work on."
Canterbury visit Auckland with the same 2-1 record and the similarities between where the clubs are at under first year head coaches Andrew Webster and Cameron Ciraldo makes for an intriguing contest.
"They've got strike power all over the field," Martin added.
"We can't make the same sort of mistakes that we did last weekend because they'll make us pay for it."
