The one point bravely earned in terrible conditions at Melbourne could be the tonic Warriors coach Ivan Cleary has been looking for.
His team hasn't been sick but it was starting to get a temperature and Cleary needed anything but a loss. He needed a lift and he got it.
That draw leaves the Warriors in better health than their Storm opposition, who are beginning to show signs of fever.
I touched on it last week in this column and I'm now even more convinced the Storm are being over-coached.
League is a simple game only made complicated by trying to reinvent it. That's what I think their coach Craig Bellamy may be guilty of. They have some of the best strike players in the NRL but are stuck in a type of game plan that never gives them opportunities.
It's not going to get any easier for Bellamy over the coming weeks as he also tries to wear his New South Wales Origin coaching hat.
But on the other hand Ivan Cleary is going about things in a calm manner and can remain solely focused on getting the Warriors into the semifinals. The Warriors will miss their form frontrower Sam Rapira this weekend because he has been outstanding, but it is not the end of the world for the coach.
Cleary's big left winger Manu Vatuvei is doing a great job for him but I'm also very impressed by the contribution Simon Mannering is making each week. He is comfortable and equally effective in the back row as out in the centres.
Players like Mannering and Lance Hohaia, who is another "Mr Everywhere Man", play an important role as injuries in the team take their toll. Watching both of them against the Storm, I couldn't help but think about the former Kiwi utility of the 1980s, Gary Prohm.
He had great speed, skill and courage and played with test distinction at hooker, second-row, loose forward and centre. He played anywhere the team needed him, as do Mannering and Hohaia.
Not many players can fill all these positions but, like Hohaia and Mannering, Prohm was a champion.
Gary was an apprentice motor mechanic when I approached him to see if he wanted to play league. He was an instant success.
During his first few seasons at Otahuhu, playing in the forwards alongside the likes of future internationals Mark Graham and Owen Wright, Prohm quickly earned a reputation as one of the best players in Auckland. It became no surprise to any of us at Otahuhu that Gary went on to become a Kiwi and also a professional player for Hull Kingston Rovers in the UK, then the Eastern Suburbs Roosters in Sydney.
Mannering and Hohaia are cut from the same cloth and I know Cleary would value them in the same way I did Prohm at Otahuhu and in the Kiwis.
Mark Graham's reputation is now legendary but Owen Wright was another who, like Prohm, could handle any position. He was a football player. But the memory that stays in my mind about Wright was when he was selected at prop in the 1985 series against Australia. He marked Australia's legendary tough guy, Steve "Blocker" Roach.
Although Owen had put his head in the front row a few times, he was a renowned ball-playing backrower or even centre.
As compared with the NRL today (where it is not uncommon for secondrowers to play prop) the secondrow was an entirely different position to the frontrow back then and it was rare for players to interchange positions. Those who did venture up there usually paid a pretty nasty price and lost their looks.
But not only did Wright do a good job of it, he outplayed the fearsome Aussie frontrower.
It's one of the reasons I have so much time for the likes of Hohaia, Mannering, Prohm and Wright.
They stand up when it counts.
Getting players to do this is not as easy as it sounds. Ask Sharks coach Ricky Stuart. He would not be leaving a stone unturned but his message is not getting through to his players.
But he may be guilty of becoming trapped in a very public media tiff with Channel 9 commentator Phil Gould. There is unpleasant history between the pair and unfortunately for Stuart it has flared up again.
Coaches have enough battles to contend with without getting sucked into public feuds from years gone by.
One coach who seems to be turning everything he touches to gold is the Dragons master, Wayne Bennett.
The Dragons are a team with attitude this year, something they have promised in the past but never lived up to. Their halfback Jamie Soward is the flavour of the month in the NRL and he seems to be getting better each game.
But one of the reasons it is all happening for him is that his forwards are rolling their sleeves up and getting stuck in and his backs are deep, giving him continual options.
However, they are beatable and the Warriors can do it but they need to start the match in a positive manner filled with intensity.
Slow starts are more often than not caused by a lack of urgency in the dressing sheds in the minutes leading up to the game. If teams aren't careful a routine of sameness can creep in and that may be what is happening in the Warriors room.
Teams can win or lose a game before they even leave the sheds. I'd like to think the Warriors will leave the sheds this week as Dragon slayers.
WHAT: Dragons v Warriors
WHERE: Woollongong Stadium
WHEN: Sunday 4pm (NZT)
