Ben Hunt has revived memories of his 2015 NRL grand final nightmare, producing a high ball blunder to cruel St George Illawarra in their 26-18 loss to the Warriors.
Hunt could only stand in the middle of Suncorp Stadium and laugh after he made a mess of a Patrick Herbert dropout on Saturday evening to gift the Warriors field position as they went on to steal the game.
The Dragons' No.7 was heckled and jeered by the 37,521-strong crowd after the 68th-minute error.
The scores were locked at 18-18 at the time and, from the next set, Ken Maumalo crossed for what proved the match-winner.
"The score was 18-all, 12 minutes to go - we had an attacking set on their line. It was a pretty important catch," Dragons coach Paul McGregor said of Hunt.
"Obviously, he holds onto things. He cares a lot."
All eyes were on new Warriors No.6 Kodi Nikorima - running out in fresh colours just a week after securing a mid-season release from Brisbane.
However, it was skipper Roger Tuivasa-Sheck who piloted his side to victory, orchestrating two key second-half tries.
The Warriors were forced to fight back from an early 10-0 deficit and scored 20 unanswered points in the second half to break a four-game losing streak and kick-start their season.
Jai Field - making his starting debut in the Dragons' No.6 for Corey Norman - showed his potential when he burnt Tuivasa-Sheck for speed to score.
Leading 18-6 at halftime, the Dragons looked liked they could run away with it.
But Stephen Kearney's side stayed in the mix when they reduced the deficit to 18-12 just after halftime via Peta Hiku.
Tuivasa-Sheck produced a piece of brilliance when he over-called playmaker Blake Green, ran down the short side on the last tackle and threw a cut-out pass for Herbert who batted it on to David Fusitua to lock up the scores.
The No.1 was again instrumental in Maumalo's game-winning four-pointer.
Hunt attempted to rush up on the reigning Dally M winner, who tipped it on to his outside men to create an overlap for the No.5 to score.
Nikorima largely took a back seat to Tuivasa-Sheck and Green but showed his class to set up Hiku's try which put the icing on the cake for the Auckland outfit.
"Kodes was good. Part of the second half, he could have got into the game a little bit more," Kearney said.
"He's probably getting used to things. It was tense and tight in the second half. I think he'll get better with the group. I thought there were some courageous performances.
"Karl Lawton did some wonderful stuff for us; Ligi Sao came on and did some wonderful stuff."
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