A four-try haul to winger David Fusitua has helped the New Zealand Warriors demolish last-place Newcastle 50-14 and move a step closer to the NRL top eight.
The Warriors' right-edge attack caused Newcastle headaches all Saturday afternoon as Fusitua crossed four times at Hunter Stadium, including a hat-trick in the second half that put the game out of reach.
The Knights were held scoreless in the final 40 minutes and crashed to their eighth straight loss.
The clash in front of 12,222 fans was the third time they have conceded 50 or more points this season.
The pivotal moment came shortly after halftime when bench prop David Saifiti dropped the ball with the line open after Knights debutant Brendan Elliot had plucked a bomb out of the air.
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The Warriors went the length of the field in the ensuing set, with Fusitua touching down in the corner to make it 28-14.
Fusitua then scored twice more in the next 10 minutes before Solomone Kata finished some nice work from Warriors back-rower Ryan Hoffman.
Albert Vete grabbed his second try with five minutes to go.
Knights coach Nathan Brown lamented his young side's inability to stay in the game when things don't go their way.
"That first 10 minutes we went set for set and then we dropped the ball with the line open, similar to what's happened numbers of times this year," he said.
"We just don't have the resolve, fight and experience to be able to regroup after those types of things don't go our way.
"I think we have had got that try then our whole mindset and resolve would be fairly different.
"Off the back of it they score and things got a bit ugly."
The Warriors were coming off their best performance of the season - a dominant 36-18 win over Brisbane at Mt Smart Stadium - and were keen for back-to-back wins for only the second time this season.
Coincidentally, the other occasion involved the lowly Knights, who the Warriors thumped 40-18 in round four.
Warriors skipper Ryan Hoffman said his team wanted to build on the win against the Broncos.
"We were quite happy with what we did last week against the Broncos," Hoffman said.
"But this is a tough road trip for us. It's a long way to come.
"They are an enthusiastic side and they showed that by the way they got themselves back into that first half.
"We made the point at halftime that we just wanted to really make sure we didn't give them an opportunity to get back in the game and we showed that with our defence."
The Warriors led 22-14 at halftime after tries to Vete, Fusitua, Manu Vatuvei and Bodene Thompson.
Elliot was one of the Knights' best, scoring a try from a Jack Cogger kick and saving another during a five-minute period in the first half.
But the Knights made too many errors coming out of their own end and their attack lacked polish.
The win puts the Warriors on 14 points and into ninth place on the ladder, behind the Titans and Bulldogs on for-and-against.
While the Knights have been left languishing at the bottom of the ladder, five points adrift of the Roosters.
