After leading 10-0 at halftime, they allowed the Sharks to grab the momentum over the second 40 minutes and ended up producing yet another disappointing performance.

It would be all too easy to blame the defeat on the loss of halfback Shaun Johnson with an ankle injury, but the reality is the Warriors' problems lie far deeper.

On Saturday the forwards were unable to keep the opposition's defence under pressure and there were far too many errors throughout the team.

Of all the times the Warriors have missed out on the semi-finals since 2011, this year could go down as the most crushing if they fall short. They've showed promise but have failed to deliver at the pointy end of the year. Yes, the loss of Johnson is significant, but so too have been the injuries to Ryan Hoffman, Bodene Thompson, Ben Henry and Thomas Leuluai and that's what's costing them.

"We'll look at the tape and find there is a lot to like about this," Warriors coach Andrew McFadden, said after the game. He believes his team needs to win three or four of their remaining five games to make the playoffs.

"There was lots of energy and it looked a lot different this week than it did last week.

"It's going to come down to moments. They're a tough side, they hung in there in the first half with all that possession. It would have been nice to capitalise a bit more on that.

"But we gave away some soft tries in the second half and that's what let them back in the game ultimately."

The Sharks have been far from the most exciting team to watch this season, but they can turn games into gritty battles. All the talk in the build up to the contest was about how Tuimoala Lolohea would cope filling Johnson's shoes but he showed he could foot it at NRL level. His contribution wasn't enough to save his side, however.

"It hurts, they all hurt when you lose and obviously this is an important time of the year and we want to be in the eight," McFadden added.

"But like I said we'll draw on some of the things we did really well in the game and build off that energy.

"It was always going to be a bit disjointed with all the changes. I can accept some of that, but we're going to have to be better defensively, because have to be a bit better defensively, ultimately that let him back in the game."

In the fifth minute Chad Townsend put up a bomb towards the right edge, Manu Vatuvei flicked it back and Konrad Hurrell grounded the ball. At the time it looked like this was going to be the beginning of a thrilling spectacle. It wasn't.

While that was a good start from Townsend, he threw a dreadful pass to his new halves partner in the 11th minute which ended a Warriors attack.

Eight minutes before the break, winger Ken Maumalo thought he'd scored the Warriors' second try but there was a knock on just before and it was ruled out.

However, five minutes later Simon Mannering registered his first try of the year, and gave the Warriors the reward they deserved after dominating the half, by stretching out to ground a grubber kick from Siliva Havili.

Early in the second half the Sharks finally got on the board, with Holmes scoring in the corner after receiving a pass from Jack Bird, with Sam Tagataese opening up the defence from a line break.

In the 49th minute Lolohea's penalty gave the Warriors a 12-6 lead, but Holmes scored a sensational solo try in the 54th minute. Vatuvei made a poor decision not covering Holmes when he was outside Gerard Beale and when the ball went to the former he chipped and regathered to score.

Another Lolohea penalty in the 68th minute made it at 14-12 game, but the Sharks hit the front for the first time when centre Ricky Leutele darted through a small gap on the right edge for his fifth try of the year.

The Warriors thought they'd got out of jail in the last minute when Mannering made another burst through the line but he lost the ball when tackled.

Asked if the Warriors missed Johnson in the game, Sharks captain Paul Gallen didn't say his absence was noted: "I don't think today he would have made too much difference.

"They were up today, every single one of them across the park, they were really up for the game.

"Physically, that was one of the hardest games I've played this year, every single one of them was running hard and they were hitting hard. He might have added a bit of finesse, but they were really up for that tonight and that's a really good win for us."

- Stuff.co.nz