Peachey serves it straight to Sea Eagles

There's plenty of pressure on Penrith with a finals spot on the line against Manly this weekend but that hasn't stopped an assured Tyrone Peachey simply declaring "we're a better team than them".

The loser could miss out on the NRL top eight depending on how seventh-placed North Queensland and ninth-placed St George-Illawarra fare in the last round.

Panthers centre Peachey on Monday lit the fuse for a fiery NRL clash when he was asked how difficult it would be to travel to Lottoland on Saturday.

"I think we've done it the last couple of years," Peachey responded.

"It is obviously hard but if we play good I think we're a better team than them."

Peachey is right: the Panthers have won their last five against Manly and haven't lost at Brookvale since 2014.

But when it was repeated by reporters to Manly players at Sydney airport on Monday, it wasn't so well received.

"Good on him," Sea Eagles prop Brenton Lawrence said.

"We'll see Saturday."

Lawrence will play his last home game for Manly on Saturday, and admitted he'd likely be emotional at fulltime.

Manly will also farewell club legends Brett Stewart, Steve Matai and Matt Ballin, who all had their careers officially ended by injury this season.

But if they needed any more motivation with their season on the line, Peachey's comment was sure to do the trick.

If North Queensland beat Brisbane on Thursday night, the loser of Saturday's match will need Canterbury to beat St George Illawarra, otherwise they will be out of the finals.

Regardless, Manly admit they will have to be better than they were against the Warriors.

The Sea Eagles trailed by seven points with five minutes to play before Tom Trbojevic and Daly Cherry-Evans sent the game into golden point.

It snapped a run of four losses in five games, but fullback Trbojevic has warned they must be far better if they want to play finals.

"We've got a lot to work on," he said.