The Warriors' fate is back in their hands. The 42-point thrashing of the Titans at Mount Smart Stadium on Sunday not only gave them two competition points but also dramatically improved their points differential, so a victory in Penrith on Sunday night will secure a spot in the top eight for the first time since 2011.
There is even a scenario where the Warriors could lose and still make the eight. If they lost by, say, two points against the Panthers and the Broncos lost by 20 to the Storm, the Warriors would overtake the Broncos on differential. If the Eels lose to Canberra then the Warriors would finish eighth.
However, it would be foolish for someone to bank on the Raiders beating anyone at the moment.
After last weekend's dreadful 46-12 defeat to the Roosters, all looked lost this season, but the Knights beating the Eels revived hope and they looked like a team on a mission in Auckland.
The aggression from the forwards was back, so, too, the resolve in defence. It may only have been against a side that had lost 12 of their past 14 games but there was plenty to take from the performance. The tries came thick and fast in the first half after Ben Henry, Dominique Peyroux, Sam Tomkins and Konrad Hurrell all scored tries as the home side amassed a 30-0 lead at the break.
There were just two more tries in the second half, to Tomkins again for his 13th of the season and to Shaun Johnson, who also kicked all seven conversions.
To be in a position where before the weekend they were relying on other teams to one where they are in the box seat, is one that Warriors captain Simon Mannering is obviously delighted about.
"It's pleasing to not have to worry about other teams," he said.
"I guess before going into this one, if you worry about the points differential too much it takes away from getting the win first and foremost. We did it this week and now we can put all of our focus on Penrith, I guess our play-offs start early. If we get the two points there, then we know it's in our hands."
Warriors coach Andrew McFadden challenged his forwards to step up for Sunday after they were blown off the park by the Roosters in the last round and he got the outcome he was looking for.
Prop Suaia Matagi had his best game of the season and Sam Rapira had clearly learnt from his wake-up call of being dropped to reserve grade last weekend.
"It was terrific the way we bounced back," McFadden said.
"There was a huge amount of disappointment last week, but the boys really knuckled down. We had a tough week and it was a great response. The Titans always present a physical game and that was the challenge for us tonight, our forwards definitely dominated there."
Last year the Warriors were in a similar situation where they had to beat the Dragons away to stay in the hunt and they played dreadfully in a 19-10 defeat.
McFadden is confident that won't happen again.
"I guess we probably saw a blueprint of what we're going to get next week," he said. "The Titans throw the ball around and offload. I thought we handled that a little better, they certainly challenged us at times, but we scrambled well and obviously managed to hold them to nil.
"I'm really happy with the way we committed to each other in defence … we needed that game."
