The Sydney Roosters have set the scene for a mouth-watering clash with Cronulla after asserting their own credentials by dispatching the Warriors 38-18.
With the right edge firing and Joey Manu close to unstoppable, the Roosters killed off the Warriors inside 15 minutes by taking a 22-0 lead early this afternoon.
Dom Young and Angus Crichton bagged doubles in the win, putting the Roosters fifth and leaving the Warriors struggling in 14th.
Making matters worse for the visitors was a left shoulder injury suffered by Shaun Johnson, who played through the pain before leaving the field with 14 minutes left.
The Roosters have no such concerns.
With close to the best side on paper in the NRL, they spluttered through the opening seven rounds of the competition.
But in the past three weeks they have exploded, piling a combined 138 points on St George Illawarra, Brisbane and the Warriors.
Today, the points came in an almighty 10- minute blitz.
The Roosters ran in four tries between the fifth and 15th minutes - while making just one tackle in that period - after Luke Keary set the tone by charging down a Johnson kick.
Manu was particularly dangerous, skipping outside rival centre Adam Pompey in the lead-ups to the opening two tries.
Both times he put Young into space, with the winger scoring one himself then passing back infield for Crichton to complete another.
Young had another try when Sam Walker put him over from a scrum play, before Crichton chased down a Keary grubber kick for the Roosters' fourth.
Another try came in the second half when Young broke 80 metres downfield. Dallin Watene-Zelezniak hunted him down, but from the play-the-ball, Walker sent a long cross-field kick for Daniel Tupou to go over untouched.
Penrith and Brisbane remain favourites for this year's competition, but the Roosters now firmly belong in that conversation.
They face top of the table Cronulla next Saturday at Magic Round, in what shapes as a crucial marker for both teams.
While the Roosters' right dominated today, their best try came when Manu went left and found fellow centre Joseph Aukuso-Suaali, who put James Tedesco over.
Another came down the left late on when Keary chipped ahead and Walker was there to scoop up the ball and score.
The Warriors also had a few good moments in the second half, but never really looked in the contest.
Instead, they were left to rue their lacklustre defence early and errors ending their best two first-half attacking raids.
Preliminary-finalists last year, Andrew Webster's men have now gone five games without a win, and have the daunting task of facing Penrith next week.
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