Any hopes Central may have had of a top-four finish disappeared on Saturday when they were outplayed 30-14 by a Tauranga side determined to claim their first victory of the season.
The comprehensive loss at Puketewhero Park left player/coach Jason Walker looking at his side's off-field commitment.
"I'm pretty disappointed as I thought it was one we might have got on top of," he said. "It stems from trainings and commitment to getting there [to training] on time. That rolls out on to the field."
With one round of the competition left, the Rotorua side's chances of qualifying for the WaiCoa Bays club premiership are effectively gone. However, Walker was still looking forward.
"We've got another game, then got the championship to run after that," he said. "Otumoetai next week will be a tough game, we've got to front up, get out there and try to win."
He was realistic when asked what his side needed to do to beat the Eels, joint top of the table.
"A lot."
By contrast, Whalers coach Paul Pou was happy after the match, saying the win was long overdue. He put his team's improved performance down to a crucial team meeting during the week.
"We identified areas where we were going wrong and individuals owned up - the team took control of what was going wrong and sorted it out themselves. We just provided the vehicle for them to do that, we had a team meeting on Tuesday and that was it."
Tauranga have lost several key players from the side that won last year's competition, with the majority of this year's team about 20 years old.
"I'm proud of them, it was a great effort," Pou said. "You can see the smiles on their faces, they enjoyed the win."
The young side got off to a flying start with a try to Flay Te Kani after just three minutes, the halfback wrong-footing the Lions defenders to score beside the posts.
Central didn't help themselves with their growing error count and in the 22nd minute a spilled ball metres out from their own line was pounced on by Tauranga's Kawana King who went in at the corner to make it 10-0.
The Lions created a handful of attacking opportunities but mistakes at crucial times allowed the visitors to go into the break with a 10-point lead.
The second half started much the same as the first - four minutes in and the lead was extended to 16-0 when Anaru Taute broke out from inside his own half and slipped a nice inside pass to King who went in for his second. Taute converted.
Seven minutes later quick hands on the blind side gave Jarrod Irving a try in the corner followed by two more quick touch-downs giving Tauranga a 30-0 lead with 15 minutes to go.
Tauranga's Leroy Marumaru was sinbinned in the 70th minute and the home side took advantage of the extra man to score three consolation tries but it was too little too late for the Lions.