After a nightmare performance in a club record defeat on Anzac Day, it was hard to imagine Edward Kosi even being in the Warriors' NRL side three months later for the return match against the Storm, let alone that he would score three tries in it.
The 23-year-old winger made three handling errors in the 70-10 loss to Melbourne earlier this year at AAMI Park – two of which led directly to Storm tries – with his opposing winger Xavier Coates scoring four times.
He was dropped the following week after then-coach Nathan Brown said some players had given up, and Kosi didn’t feature in the club’s next nine games.
“I put all the weight of that game on my shoulders and I felt like I was the one to blame for the loss, because it was due to my errors and stuff like that,” Kosi said following his hat-trick at Mt Smart Stadium on Friday night.
Coates takes advantage of another Kosi error
“I went away and I didn’t play for like seven or eight weeks, so I had time to reflect on that performance for quite a while.
“There was a little bit of doubt in myself after that game. I went away for a couple of weeks and kinda reflected on that performance.”
Storm strike with superb counter-attack
Following the Storm horror show, Kosi revealed it was former Warriors prop Matthew Lodge who helped him turn the corner mentally.
“After the game in Melbourne he took me away. I had a chat to Browny (Nathan Brown) prior to that, a chat with Lodgy, I was just tearing up,” Kosi said.
“Then Lodgy took me away and we had a coffee and chat.
“He assured me that I just had to keep working hard and he said not everything was my fault in that game.
That one was important to me, I felt like that chat with Lodgy kinda reset myself.
Edward Kosi
While the Warriors lost 24-12 to the Storm on Friday, Kosi was this time among his side’s best performers, scoring three tries, carting the ball for 136 metres and, crucially, making no handling errors.
“I just worked on that throughout the week, everybody knew what happened last game against Melbourne so I had to come in and do my job and catch those high balls and carry the ball hard for our middles,” Kosi said.
“Three in my first game at Mt Smart, that’s what topped it off for me.
Nice and Kosi
“I had to kinda block the outside noise and just focus on what I do best and I thought I did that.”
Interim Warriors coach Stacey Jones, who recalled Kosi to first grade in round 18, said he had earned another shot after impressing in the Hostplus Cup for feeder side Redcliffe.
“From where he was when we last played them, he has come a long way,” Jones said.
“He has worked hard on his game, he has played well in reserve grade, he played well against Parramatta when he got another opportunity.
“Hopefully this is the start of something good for Ed and the club.”