"It's just a little bit of detail, execution and pretty much the basics. Sometimes effort's not enough and we found that out tonight."
The irony is that in many ways the Warriors played some of their best football of the season thus far, threatening on both sides of their attack and defending with composure and confidence.
Halfback Shaun Johnson produced his best game yet, involving himself with the ball in hand and kicking effectively on last tackle plays while his defensive work was also impressive.
Analysing where the Warriors went wrong is not rocket science. They just couldn't hang on to the football and, in the end, the weight of possession and territory at key stages gifted the Cowboys the chances they needed to conjure their late escape.
The frustrating and erratic nature of the Warriors' play will have some critics suggesting that little improvement has been made since coach Andrew McFadden took over from his predecessor Matt Elliott a little over a year ago, but that is a false read.
The Warriors of 12 months ago would not have held on defensively and the close defeats of the past month could easily have been 30-point blow outs.
Yet , that does little to hide the fact that the Warriors are their own worst enemies and whatever defensive steel they now possess, ball control remains their Achilles heel.
Uncharacteristic fumbles from Mannering, Chad Townsend and Johnson compounded mistakes made by less experienced players, while Konrad Hurrell's mixed individual performance mirrored that of the team's.
The blockbusting centre was dynamic in patches, scoring the opening try and burning down field in the lead-up to their third four-pointer to Solomone Kata, but four missed tackles and two dropped balls indicate he is still finding his way back to full fitness.
"We just made one too many errors," lamented McFadden. "Often there's not a lot of difference between jubilation and disappointment and unfortunately we were on the wrong side of that tonight. There was a lot of effort there but [we] just couldn't finish it off."
The 11th-placed Warriors are not far off from being a well-rounded side and Saturday's clash at home against the 10th-ranked Titans will provide a good chance for them to improve.
However, whatever McFadden instils and reinforces in his players on the training paddock will count for little if they don't accept responsibility for completing the basics properly.
Three Things we learned
Errors costly
Overall the Warriors finished the match with an even share of possession (52 per cent) but 16 errors and a 67 per cent completion rate (24 of 36 sets) forced them to make 55 more tackles than the Cowboys (341 v 286). To lose by only four points at the death would have been a kick in the guts but they have only themselves to blame.
Attacking options
The Warriors attack has greater variety with the right edge combinations of Shaun Johnson, Konrad Hurrell and Jonathan Wright showing the benefits of three straight games together. With the left side of Chad Townsend, Solomone Kata and Manu Vatuvei also humming, the Warriors are now threatening across the park.
Johnson bombs away
Last year's Four Nations campaign saw Johnson torture the likes of Australia's Dylan Walker and England's Sam Tomkins with his towering bombs and he used the tactic to good effect in Townsville.
