Maybe it's too early for NZ Warriors coach Andrew Webster to celebrate the gains his team have made this NRL season.
Maybe Penrith Panthers counterpart Ivan Cleary is just feeling semntimental towards the club where he finished his playing career and began his decorated coaching career.
After a rollercoaster campaign that saw them as high as second on the competition table, but ultimately ended with an early playoff exit, the Warriors will now head into the summer searching for that one last ingredient still needed to break their championship duck.
"I just feel we've built some great stuff, but that last piece is missing," Webster lamented, after watching his side succumb 24-8 to a Panthers outfit chasing their fifth consecutive crown.
"We've got to find that last piece. We've brought a lot of young guys through and our senior guys have done a terrific job.
Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad and the Warriors left deflated after their NRL playoff defeat to Penrith. Photo: Brett Phibbs/www.photosport.nz
"I feel like we've handled adversity and stayed really tight as a group - this group is so well connected, but there's a piece missing.
"We could launch, if we take those lessons and go to the next step, or we could stay exactly where we are, which is just a top-six team.
"I just think we can be better."
The Webster Warriors built positive momentum through the early stages of their schedule, as they produced their best-ever start of 8-2, but lost co-captain Mitch Barnett and breakout halfback Luke Metcalf in quick succession, going 6-8 for the rest of the season.
They had already lost captain Tohu Harris to retirement in the off-season and veteran utility Dylan Walker in a mid-season transfer, but kept finding ways to cover those absences.
Probably the most difficult void to fill was at centre, where Rocco Berry and Ali Leiataua could not stay healthy, and Webster was forced to move others out of their regular positions, disrupting the balance of the team.
Against Penrith, he pulled a late change to insert teenage second-rower Leka Halasima into the midfield, where he again showed his audacious talent, scoring his team's only try.
Leka Halasima scored the Warriors' only try against Penrith Panthers. Photo: Andrew Cornaga/www.photosport.nz
At 12-8 down with almost half an hour to play, the Warriors were still very much in the contest, but had their spirit broken by a bizarre passage of play that yielded another in a series of long-range tries that have hurt them badly all season.
Five-eighth Chanel Harris-Tavita kicked to the corner and Penrith winger Paul Alamoti somehow kept the ball from bouncing into touch, flicking it into his in-goal area and then scrambling barely back into the field of play.
The Warriors defence kept the Panthers pinned in their redzone and halfback Nathan Cleary produced a kick from his own 20 that bounced just over halfway. The ball took a second wicked bounce that sat up for chasing forward Luke Garner, his pass to five-eighth Blaize Talagai looked forward, but Talagi's kick was gathered by winger Brian To'o and centre Casey McLean took the final pass to score.
"Breaks your heart," Webster reflected. "That stuff happens to us too often.
"No-one can tell me there's no effort during that period of play - it's just a step off or a play off. Concentration."
Now forced to chase the game, they began to throw caution to the wind and one of those extravagant movements saw utility Te Maire Martin spill a pass that sat up for To'o to race 60 metres for the backbreaker.
Warriors captain James Fisher-Harris and coach Andrew Webster reflect on what might have been. Photo: Andrew Cornaga/www.photosport.nz
Once Webster has had time off to reflect, he may feel better about how far his team have come through their trial by attrition.
Meanwhile, down in the opposition locker-room, where they had just finished singing their victory song, Cleary could afford to feel far more charitable about the state of his old club.
"I love it here," he admitted. "I would call this my second home, so I do feel a little bit sad for the Warriors community, but they should be really proud, they had a great season.
"They certainly had some things go against them, losing Mitch Barnett and Metcalf… they were huge losses right at the wrong time.
"They've been really brave since and it's definitely been a good season. There's a lot of promise within this club and they'll certainly be a force to be reckoned with over the next few years."
Halasima leads that promise, along with his band of 'Zesty Boys' - Demitric Vaimauga, Tanner Stowers-Smith and Eddie Ieremia-Toeava.
"I've heard a few of the boys talk about how hard he is to tackle," Cleary confirmed of Halasima. "He's obviously a bit of a genetic freak and he's more than that - he looks like a fairly smart player.
"He's just one of many. There's a lot of good players coming through and you can see their [NSW] Cup team has just destroyed that competition to this point.
"They'll be disappointed to end their season early, but there's plenty ahead for this club."
After compiling a 21-1-2 record and finishing 11 points clear atop the table, the Warriors reserves face second-placed St George-Illawarra Dragons on Sunday for direct entry into the grand final.
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