Warriors coach Andrew McFadden told his players to chance their arm and have a good crack at beating the Cowboys on Saturday night and for the first 15 minutes they did.

Up 16-0 by that stage the Warriors looked like pulling off one of the most remarkable victories in the NRL this season, but unfortunately for McFadden they then reverted to type and were played off the field, conceding 50 points in a row.

McFadden said he was pleased with the temperament his injury-ravaged side had at the beginning of the game, but admitted they were no match against a team like the Cowboys.

Sky Sport The Cowboys thrashed the New Zealand Warriors after scoring 50 unanswered points at Mt Smart Stadium.

"We obviously started really well, which was positive for us," McFadden said.

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"But once the possession really started to mount we conceded a couple of soft tries and that was enough to put the doubt into some people's minds and we really struggled after that."

There was some real vigour to the way the Warriors played the game, Tuimoala Lolohea played with more freedom alongside Mason Lino in the halves than he did when partnering Chad Townsend.

"We went for it, there's no doubt that we went out there to win a game and they had a good crack," McFadden said.

"We probably got outclassed in the end. There are lots of blokes making really good efforts, there's our skipper [Simon Mannering] who's trying his guts out, it's just that we haven't got that experience or confidence in our game at the moment.

"I know that 50 points looks bad, but I don't think we're that bad."

Once the Cowboys were able to get themselves organised, they completely dominated the back end of the first half and over it had 16 sets of six, to the Warriors' three.

"When it's Johnathan Thurston who's got those sets it's a big challenge," McFadden admitted.

"That weight of possession for any team would tell, but against Thurston and with our young side it was always going to be tough. We're trying hard, but we haven't got that composure or 80-minute performance in us at the moment."

McFadden confirmed that Jacob Lillyman fractured his cheekbone in the first hit up of the game and won't play again this season.

It means the Warriors will have to field an even weaker team next weekend for their penultimate game of the season, against the Tigers.

However, he says the search for another win, which has been so elusive for the past six weeks, will go on.

"We'll prepare to win some games," he said.

"We'll have a good crack, we've still got a little bit of depth to go, so we'll find a team and we'll try to go out and do what we did tonight, which was try to start really well and build pressure."