The Wests Tigers have sent Aaron Woods and James Tedesco out as winners and given the club a glimmer of hope following their 28-16 win over the Warriors.
In the final game of the NRL regular season on Sunday, Woods spearheaded a 12-point victory over the listless Warriors in front of 10,231 at Leichhardt Oval.
His last outing in the black, white and orange saw the Tigers skipper run for 212 metres and making 39 tackles in a 73-minute effort ahead of his move to Canterbury next season.
The loss of Woods and Tedesco, to the Roosters, will leave a gaping hole in their roster however coach Ivan Cleary has seemingly pointed the side in the right direction with three wins in their final six games.
"Over the last couple of months it's given us some hope and a bit of momentum and understanding for a lot of the guys who haven't played a lot of first-grade football, just what it's about," Cleary said.
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"We close the door on that one and get on with it."
The win allowed the joint-venture to end their tumultuous season, which included the sacking of coach Jason Taylor and the departure of half Mitchell Moses mid-year, on a high. They also jumped the Gold Coast into 14th spot on the ladder.
The match never really reached any great heights however the Tigers produced a late contender for try of the year when they went the length of the field through Tui Lolohea in the 33rd minute.
The movement started in their own in-goal when Malakai Watene-Zelezniak split the Warriors' defensive line before finding Sydney Roosters-bound Tedesco, who sent Lolohea under the posts.
The Warriors were without star halves Kieran Foran and Shaun Johnson, however questions will be asked of coach Stephen Kearney after his side notched just seven wins despite having a squad loaded with international talent.
"It's been a challenging one, there's no doubt about that," Kearney said of their 2017 season which ended with nine straight losses.
"It's a disappointing finish to the back end of the year. Every club wants to be part of the finals.
"At certain parts of the year we just weren't good enough. It's pretty well documented we got hit with an injury stick a month ago."
Warriors centre Blake Ayshford suffered a broken wrist just four minutes into the game and did not return.
The Tigers blooded Jeremy Marshall-King, the half brother of Benji Marshall, who was in the Leichhardt crowd and is set to return to his former club in 2018.
