Sitting in fifth spot and with the bulk of their remaining games in New Zealand, a return to the NRL finals beckons for the Warriors.
But impressive first-year coach Andrew Webster won't allow his side to gaze too far into the future.
The Warriors have a 10-7 record after Saturday’s 46-10 thumping of Parramatta and their hopes of a top-eight berth will be bolstered by the fact they only have to leave New Zealand for two of their last seven games.
Their final five games are against sides in the bottom half of the ladder.
But two fixtures, against Cronulla and Canberra in Auckland over the next two rounds, shape as season-defining if the Warriors are to return to the finals for the first time since 2018.
“We’ve made a mistake by getting carried away and looking too far ahead,” Webster said.
“Cronulla, we got them late last time and they're a very good side.
“They’re going to be coming, and we are going to have to be on.
“Our defence is going to have to have a really big week for that challenge so they are a huge threat.”
The Warriors have had a season heavily-affected by injury but cohesion is growing between experienced Shaun Johnson and halves partner Luke Metcalf.
The win represented just the fourth time in Warriors' history that they have won four straight games away from New Zealand.
Five-eighth Metcalf scored two tries against the Eels in what was just his sixth game for the club, and Webster is buoyed by how easily his halves have come together.
“I think it gets better every week,” Webster said.
“We’re not trying to build that (combination) so it goes from zero to 100 very fast, we're trying to build slowly.
“Those two have done really well, they’ve worked hard on it.
“It’s a combination that I think we're going to continue to see grow.”
