Star winger Dallin Watene-Zelezniak hopes reports NZ Warriors coach Andrew Webster will sign a new long-term contract with the NRL club come true.
Under Webster's guidance, the Warriors sit third on the ladder with just four rounds left, a far cry from their club-record worst season in 2022.
According to the Sydney Morning Herald, the Warriors will move to extend his contract beyond the end of the 2025 NRL season.
With Watene-Zelezniak's contract up in 2024, he hopes both he and Webster will lock down their long-term futures, which he believes would have huge ramifications on the rest of the squad.
"I'd love it, I'd love it if we were able to do a package deal," he joked. "If he's here long term, then it definitely changes a lot of the minds of the boys.
"Especially with what he's done for me, and the coaching staff here [would] love to stay as long as he's here.
"It's massive for the club, massive for us as players to have a coach we believe in and trust, and it would be awesome. Actually, I'd love that."
Watene-Zelezniak has seen his fair share of coaches come and go, with the Warriors proving no different, since he signed for the club in 2021.
The winger is just one of several players in career-best form under Webster's guidance and stressed the importance of keeping that continuity at the club.
"I've had a few coaches throughout my career and even at the club, coaches coming in and out, and coaches getting asked to leave," Watene-Zelezniak said.
"To be able to have a coach like Webby and something stable, it definitely helps as a player, and someone to trust and believe in.
"The belief that he gives and has in us really helps as a player, and you want to repay a coach that believes in you and gives you those opportunities."
While Webster dismisses the reports, he makes no bones of his desire to stay at the Warriors, and reveals those discussions will take place when the time is right.
"No, the discussion is I'm happy, they're happy, let's chat at the end of the year," he said.
"I don't want to go anywhere and they've said they don't want me to go anywhere, but there's too much to focus on right now and that's going nowhere.
"I got two years to go on my contract, so I'm pretty happy to just focus on now, but I don't mind telling the world how much I love it here. There are no plans to go anywhere."
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