Manly Sea Eagles thrash NZ Warriors 27-12

Manly coach Geoff Toovey expects Anthony Watmough to almost certainly miss next week's mouth-watering NRL clash with South Sydney.

The NSW and Test back-rower limped out of Sunday's 27-12 win over the Warriors on Sunday at Gosford after hyper-extending his knee in the first half of his side's sixth successive victory.

In-form Justin Horo was also sidelined after injuring a calf in training on Thursday, but the pair's absence had little affect on the Sea Eagles as they saw off the visitors, who remained in the contest until late in the game following a converted try from Shaun Johnson.

But a David Williams hat-trick and a double from Brett Stewart sealed the points and Toovey said he was delighted with the manner of his side's play, despite some errors in the first half where they failed to complete their first five sets.

"Choc (Watmough) will miss at least a week, but I can't confirm that until he has scans. Justin Horo should be back next week," Toovey said.

"I thought we played extremely well, especially in the first 20 minutes.

"We just had some execution issues. It wasn't quite there which kept them in the match.

"I think we were 53 per cent completion. We just got over-excited at times."

The defeat was a big blow to the Warriors' finals hopes and was their second successive loss.

Toovey said he felt sympathy for Elliott's side who had to endure a long flight to Sydney before driving up to Gosford but backed them to still make a push for the finals.

"It's always tough for them travelling over here to Sydney and then it's another hour and a half up the coast," he said.

"And that's always difficult for them. But they are a quality side and will bounce back."

Warriors coach Matt Elliott refused to blame the journey or the conditions, with the mercury nudging an unseasonal 25 degrees pitchside, and was full of praise for the victors.

"We had confidence but we played a really good footy team and we have to accept they executed better than we did in attack and defence," he said.

"It was a little bit of a lesson for us. There's nothing to be down in the mouth about.

"We just didn't challenge them enough with our play, perhaps we were a touch conservative."

The Warriors' last four games do give them some hope of making the eight, with home games coming up against Penrith and Canberra and visits to the Gold Coast and struggling St George Illawarra.

Up until last week's loss to Cronulla, Elliott's side had won seven out of eight games and taken the scalps of the Sydney Roosters, Manly and Melbourne on the way.

However, the coach said there was no benefit in looking too far ahead of the Panthers game at Mt Smart Stadium next Sunday.

"Our job is about next week. I'm not saying we're going to do it (make the eight) but I'm comfortable we're capable of doing it," he said.

AAP