Kieran Foran was booed with every touch, the last best-since-Sterling to wear and leave the Parramatta No.7 behind with a whimper.
What price would he pay to get it back for the rest of the season and escape his fly-in-fly-out experiment at the Warriors a few months early?
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Eels sneak home after Warriors comeback
Parramatta move into the eight with a hard fought victory over the Warriors.
The man hailed as the Eels' best signing in decades before his life unravelled last year quietly slipped out of his Warriors No.6 jersey and swapped it for No.23 - what else? - at half-time on Friday night.
A chance of anonymity? Not quite. The jeers from Eels fans, who had their first chance to deride their former star man in Sydney this season, just got a little louder.
The explanation for the No.23 was the back-up No.6 the Warriors brought with them was too big. Seemingly like the task of turning the Warriors around.
To put it in context, Eels coach Brad Arthur went down and sat on the sidelines in the second half. No-one was quite certain if it was to rev up his troops or just make sure there was an extra bum to fill the empty seats given his side was down to just one bench player in the last quarter.
"It showed to me, their supporters and teammates how important the win was and how important this season is to them," Arthur said after the wild 32-24 win at ANZ Stadium. "We're a different group. Last year helped [with building resilience], but for four years we've been trying to mould the team we want and want to be and tonight was an example of it.
"It was a real brave performance. There were plenty of blokes that took the field that probably shouldn't. They were bashed up, but they'll be right and front up again next week."
And might have Corey Norman joining them who is an outside chance to return for the trip to take on the Cowboys in Darwin. But the Eels added Kaysa Pritchard (concussion), Josh Hoffman (knee) and David Gower (hand) to the injury list.
But still found enough to scramble past Stephen Kearney's side after Clint Gutherson's last-minute sealer
It perhaps showed where the Warriors are at when a team - boasting the New Zealand spine no less - still couldn't wear down a battered Eels, already missing Norman, Michael Jennings and Tim Mannah among others.
"I know we've got the capability to put the points on if we stick to what we do and our process," Kearney said. "What I was disappointed with was giving up too many points at the start of each half."
Foran, however brief his Eels fling, knows what Mitchell Moses is going through. He's just been fitted for the seemingly cursed blue and gold jersey and it's hardly fitting snugly yet, albeit very early days.
But as much as this should be about the blue collar Eels, it's really about the head-scratching Warriors. They gave up an early 12-point lead, turned it around in the twinkle of an eye. Plunged 14 down in the second half, brought it back to within two points with a head of steam up.
And just couldn't get it done. Against a team which had no right to win.
"It was just a gritty performance," Eels skipper Beau Scott said. "We did it the hard way and I'm proud of the group."
So if Jarryd Hayne is a rugby league Rubik's cube no-one can figure out, then what equivalent does that make the Warriors after a wild night in Sydney's west?Â
It took all of three minutes and a couple of wafts at thin air for Kirisome Auva'a to open the scoring, the same flank Hoffman scrambled over in to double the lead within the first 10 minutes.Â
And as Hoffman eventually succumbed to a leg injury, the Warriors returned serve down the same side where they had been exposed early in the match.
Simon Mannering strolled through untouched as Moses went missing about as quickly as his Tigers contract extension under a revised salary cap and Ken Maumalo contorted around the corner post to level the scores in the same corner.
Then the madness. Shaun Johnson, playing his first NRL game at ANZ Stadium since the 2011 grand final, all but stubbed his toe on an attacking kick allowing Semi Radradra to burst 90 metres downfield to put the Eels ahead again.
Clint Gutherson's penalty and a Tepai Moeroa try after the break had the Eels in control, but Ryan Hoffman and Roger Tuivasa-Sheck dragged the Warriors back into the contest with eight minutes to go.
Foran time? Nah, this is the Warriors after all. Which way to Belmore?
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