Rookie Luke Hanson has booted a field goal to give the Warriors a 45-26 win over South Sydney that sent the Kiwi outfit to the top of the NRL ladder by the barest of margins.
With hooker Wayde Egan pulling all the strings at Stadium Australia, Andrew Webster's side joined Penrith and the Sydney Roosters on 38 points with a 19-point victory.
The win — the first by the scoreline in premiership history — helps the Warriors (+295) move past the Panthers (+294) on points differential after Hanson nudged a one-point goal from 30m out on the buzzer in just his second NRL game.
The third-placed Roosters (+163) have a game in hand and will play Wests Tigers on Sunday.
"As a team we weren't saying let's go kick a field goal because we need to," Webster said.
"We said every point's going to matter from here to the end.
"Once we kicked it we knew as staff, but I don't know if the players knew — you'd have to ask Luke, he's a pretty smart guy."
The Warriors host Newcastle and Manly over the final two rounds, while Penrith face Canterbury and Wests Tigers.
After Sunday's meeting with the Tigers, the Roosters square off with the Dolphins and Souths to round out their regular season.
"It might not be for too long and you only want to be on top at the end," Webster said.
"That's why we didn't mention for and against between now and then — we could win all our games and it could look different at the end."
While Webster's club bolstered their chances of a first minor premiership since 2002, and the chance to have a home final in week one, Rabbitohs coach Wayne Bennett was left frustrated.
A win would have locked up a top-eight finish for Bennett's Bunnies, who must now beat Gold Coast or the Roosters in their last two fixtures to qualify for the finals.
"What's between their ears? We're not real smart at different times out there," said Bennett, who all but confirmed Latrell Mitchell would return against the Titans.
"I'm talking about the game generally — a lot of things put us under pressure, but I'm never disappointed in the effort."
Meanwhile, Canterbury have kept their NRL finals hopes alive with a 44-14 thrashing of St George Illawarra, who are all but certain to collect their first wooden spoon as a joint venture.
Shifted to right centre, Matt Burton grabbed a try-scoring double to help the ninth-placed Bulldogs to a 24-0 halftime lead at the Sydney Football Stadium on Saturday night.
The Dogs bit back at concerns over their attack with their highest score of the season, halfback Lachlan Galvin setting up two tries and scoring one to seal a comfortable win.
Canterbury's clearest path into finals is to win both their remaining games, hope North Queensland lose one of theirs and then leapfrog the Cowboys on for-and-against.
That scenario relies on the Bulldogs beating premiership heavyweights Penrith next week and the eighth-placed Cowboys losing to either Wests Tigers or Canberra, neither of whom will play finals in 2026.
But for now the Dogs remain a top-eight chance, some 12 weeks since languishing in the bottom four.
The win may have come at a cost as veteran Kurt Mann picked up a groin issue after winger Enari Tuala (knee) dropped out before kick-off.
Earlier, Newcastle were left sweating on a Dom Young hip-drop tackle charge after he was sin-binned and their hopes of a home final were put in jeopardy in a shock 44-24 capitulation to Manly.
On a humbling Old Boys' Day in Newcastle, the Knights blew an 18-6 lead early to leave themselves potentially needing to beat the Warriors next week to stay sixth.
Making matters worse is Young being at risk of missing the start of the finals, over a hip-drop tackle that left Sea Eagles star Tolu Koula with a syndesmosis injury.
Koula will require scans, but a grade-three charge would be enough to rule the star Newcastle winger out of the opening week of finals given they have a last-round bye.
