Manly Sea Eagles coach Des Hasler is throwing his support behind the NZ Warriors in a bid to keep his side's slim NRL finals hopes alive.
On Friday, the Sea Eagles beat the Canterbury Bulldogs 32-20 to remain in contention for the NRL's top eight, but they need numerous results to go their way if they want to advance to the next round.
One of those is for the Warriors to beat the Cronulla Sharks on Sunday. If the Sharks win, the top eight teams will be decided with two rounds remaining.
But if the Warriors win, then they'll be part of a five-team battle for that last spot.
Speaking to the media after his side's win, Hasler finished his press conference by saying "go the Warriors".
A Warriors win means they'd close the gap on the Sharks to two points with two games remaining, with the Sea Eagles and Wests Tigers four points back. The St George Illawarra Dragons are also in contention and have three games remaining.
The Warriors face the Sea Eagles in their final game of the regular season.
Meanwhile, Hasler praised Kiwi Morgan Harper for his influential performance against his old side.
Harper was contracted to the Bulldogs until the end of 2022, but was released from his contract in July to join the Sea Eagles. The 21-year-old scored a try and ran for 214 metres in the win.
"He's a real player, he's just a footy player," said Hasler.
"It's always good to play well against your old club, a bit of added motivation for him.
"I thought he played well last week, he's quite young and he's got a bright future ahead of him."
Interim Bulldogs coach Steve Georgallis admitted it was weird coaching against Harper.
"Morgan was in my 2018 [NSW Cup] premiership-winning team and for whatever reason he went to Manly halfway through the year," he said.
"It was tough watching him, but I'm happy for the kid."
Elsewhere, the Penrith Panthers have extended their unbeaten run to 13 games, as they secured a top-two finish in the NRL after a convincing 20-2 win over the Parramatta Eels.
The Eels were the last team to beat the Panthers back in June, but they were no match for a rampant Penrith side, who kept their opponents tryless.
The Panthers can now secure the JJ Giltinan Shield as minor premiers next weekend with victory over the North Queensland Cowboys.
The Panthers sit five points clear of the Melbourne Storm, who host North Queensland on Sunday.
Panthers coach Ivan Cleary said a goal of his was to secure a home final this season.
"It's nice to be [breaking] records but it was certainly a goal to get the home final. It doesn't guarantee you anything but if you could pick any ground to play at it would be Panthers Stadium.
"That gives some sort of advantage, definitely. But as I said, it's not going to guarantee you anything."
Cleary hinted at resting some of his key players in the last couple of weeks before the second phase of the competition begins.
"It gives us a chance for the next couple of weeks to try and work out how we best prepare for that first week [of the finals] but we want to get the minor premiership as well so we need another win somewhere."
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