It's becoming a bit of a joke, but at least Andrew Webster has accepted the fact that every media session he attends will include a question about the team's slow starts.
Dryly refusing to acknowledge the issue at first, the Warriors coach admitted that it "finally bit us on the bum" in their 34-24 loss to Newcastle on the weekend after failing to fire from kick-off and finding themselves trailing 18-0 early.
"The Knights played really well," he told the media.
"We had a great resilience in the fact that we came back well, but we needed to dig in and defend our line a bit better early, so that we're not having to come back all the time. I am really proud of the boys for the comeback, but we have to be better."
As well as having to try and fix a problem that is obviously now a running theme for the side, Webster is also dealing with losing half Te Maire Martin for up to eight weeks with a fractured fibula.
"Yeah it's big," admitted Webster.
"Te Maire is a big part of what we're doing. I get excited about how hard he competes, his work from marker, tackling and saving tries, then you add in how good he is with the football. We're going to miss him."
Dylan Walker moves to five-eighth, a role which Webster is confident the former Australia international can slip into easily.
"We haven't had our full squad available once from the start of the year," Webster said.
"That's the way it is. Dyan's played five-eighth for Manly before, I still want to see the energy he brings in the middle so he needs to balance that with being an organiser."
This will be the second time the Warriors have played the Cowboys this season, winning 26-12 in Townsville with a couple of familiar faces lining up on and off the field for the North Queenslanders.
Centre Pita Hiku played four seasons for the Warriors, one of them when Todd Payten acted as a successful caretaker head coach at the back end of 2020, before taking the full-time role at the Cowboys.
"There's a lot of similarities there," said Webster.
"The bit I like about it is that we don't have to preview the Cowboys too much. The messages remain the same. They're going to be motivated to not make it two losses in a row, so we're going to have to be hungrier than they are to get the result."
Hooker Wayde Egan is expected to only miss one match after suffering a concussion in the loss to the Knights. Webster is confident that captain Tohu Harris will start on Saturday after suffering a knee injury a fortnight ago.
