NZ Warriors' need for victory against Brisbane Broncos on Sunday has intensified, with top eight hopeful rivals Cronulla Sharks and Newcastle Knights both taking NRL wins on Saturday.
Previously in 10th place on the NRL ladder, the Sharks have jumped into eighth - in finals contention - thanks to a mighty 50-20 victory over Wests Tigers.
The Sharks ran in nine tries at Rockhampton, with doubles to Sione Katoa, Ronaldo Mulitalo, William Kennedy and Luke Metcalf, while Teig Wilton scored once.
In response, the Tigers managed four tries of their own, to Michael Chee Kam, former Warriors winger Ken Maumalo, Tommy Talau and Kelma Tuilagi, albeit nowhere near enough to stop the Sharks.
The win sees the Sharks overtake both Gold Coast Titans (ninth) and Canberra Raiders (10th) on the ladder, thanks to their superior points differential of -32, with all three teams having 20 competition points.
Elsewhere, the Knights did the Warriors no favours - beating Canterbury Bulldogs 22-16 at Cbus Super Stadium on the Gold Coast.
Scores to Jacob Saitifi and Enari Tuala gave the Knights a 10-0 halftime lead before Jake Clifford opened the scoring in the second, and Bradman Best finished things off with one last try - Newcastle's fourth.
The Bulldogs hit back through tries to Nick Meaney, Ryan James and Jayden Okunbor, but it was too little, too late to stop Newcastle from taking a valuable two points. The results come on what had so far been a good weekend for the Warriors, with both the Titans and Raiders having already dropped points.
The Knights' victory takes them to 24 competiton points, now all but certain to finish in the top eight, with two rounds left to play.
But the equation for the Warriors is now much simpler, with three teams above them now on 20 points - the same mark the Kiwi side would reach with a win on Sunday.
Playing the Broncos on Sunday evening, the 12th placed Warriors (points differential -113) would need to win by more than five points to go past St George Illawarra Dragons (-108) into 11th.
The Dragons also have the chance to reach 20 points, when they face Sydney Roosters later on Sunday.
The Warriors could overtake the Raiders (-85) should they beat the Broncos by more than 28 points, and could even rise as high as ninth - albeit they would have to win by more than 67 points to go past the Titans (-46).
In the all but impossible scenario that the Warriors win by more than 81 points, then they would go past the Sharks (-32) into eighth place.
After Sunday's clash against the Broncos, the Warriors finish the regular season with games against the Raiders and Titans over the next two weeks.
Join Newshub for live updates of the Warriors v Broncos from 6pm Sunday.
