New Zealand Warriors

The Storm led from the seventh minute when PNG centre Justin Olam scored the opening try of the match but they were never comfortable until the fulltime siren as the Warriors refused to give up before a capacity home crowd.

Warriors winger Ed Kosi scored a hat-trick of tries but it wasn't enough to lift the New Zealand-based side to their second win in as many matches since ending their three year exodus.

Despite their current slump the Storm remain just two points adrift of the top four and have it all to play for, while the Warriors will be motivated to give their home fans something to cheer about in their second game at Mt Smart Stadium this year. 

The last time they met on Anzac Day the Storm scored 10 tries in the second half to run out 70-10 winners, and the Warriors haven't beaten Melbourne since 2015.

With his side trailing 14-0 at the break, Wighton kicked a pair of 40/20s in the second period, both of which led directly to tries, and put his team in position to record their fourth-straight win at home at GIO Stadium. 

Corey Harawira-Naera contributed plenty as well, with two tries off the bench, while fellow Kiwi big man Joseph Tapine powered to 189 metres in the middle of the park.

Ricky Stuart's men will go in as hot favourites but they will be wary of taking the Warriors lightly having gone down by a point in round eight when Shaun Johnson got his team home in golden point.

The Warriors sat two games ahead of the Green Machine on the ladder on the back of that victory but they have won just once more since then to slide out of finals contention.

The Raiders' run home is a relatively friendly one and a win on Saturday can catapult them into the eight for the first time since round three.

For most of the season Parramatta have followed up a win against a top team with a loss to a bottom-placed side and after their homecoming win against Wests Tigers two weeks ago the Warriors played with confidence and energy.

However, the New Zealand-based team conceded too many six-again calls, while the Eels playmakers Mitchell Moses and Dylan Brown forced four goal-line re-starts to put the home team in a strong position.

The Eels got back on track with a sound 28-20 victory over the Wests Tigers last week but their final 15 minutes of the match proved they're still not quite at the ruthless premiership-winning level they were when they started the season. 

Parramatta have gone W-L-W-L-W in their past five matches with their clash against the Warriors a chance to break the unwanted trend. 

The Warriors broke a seven-game losing streak with victory over the Wests Tigers in round 16 before enjoying a bye round.

Back on home soil for the first time in 1038 days the Warriors made sure their legion of fans went home happy with their fifth win of the season.

After controlling possession for the first 10 minutes and receiving four straight penalties the Warriors looked to have cracked the Tigers line when Wayde Egan burrowed over from dummy half but the bunker ruled he'd been held up.

The home side were denied a second time when Shaun Johnson launched a pinpoint bomb which Marcelo Montoya knocked on in the air before Ronald Volkman forced the ball in goal.

According to The Daily Telegraph, the 27-year-old will receive around $100,000 for the final six to eight weeks of the 2022 season.

The Tricolours are hoping the signing will add some much-needed firepower into their middle forwards after an underwhelming first half of the 2022 season.

The match was the last for the Warriors before finally returning to New Zealand for an emotional homecoming match against Wests Tigers in two weeks after being forced to stay in Australia since the start of the 2020 premiership due to COVID-19.

In just their second match since Stacey Jones took over the coaching reins from Nathan Brown, the Warriors showed some resolve and improvement on last weekend's 38-16 loss to the Sharks but they were no match for Penrith.

The Panthers could not have been more impressive in their demolition of Newcastle while the Warriors started well enough against Cronulla but fell away badly in Jones' first game at the helm.

Ivan Cleary's men have lost just one game all season and have positioned themselves perfectly to emulate the Roosters in 2018-19 and collect back-to-back premierships.

If the Warriors are to throw a spanner in the works they will need to get their discipline in check and cut out the simple errors that cost them any chance of victory against the Sharks.