One of the biggest compliments that John Morris can give Matt Prior is that he is simply a player that others want to play with.
Prior, one of Cronulla's unsung heroes, will play his 250th NRL game when the Sharks host the New Zealand Warriors on Saturday in another must-win clash.
The Sharks are eighth on the NRL table heading into the weekend and need to keep winning over the last three rounds of the regular season if they are to play finals football.
Cronulla are on 22 points with Penrith (22), Newcastle, Wests Tigers, Canterbury (20) and the Warriors (19) all breathing down their necks.
The Sharks also have a tough run home. They host top four hopefuls Canberra in the penultimate round before a final round clash with the potentially desperate Tigers at Leichhardt Oval.
Prior joined Cronulla from bitter local rivals St George Illawarra in 2014 with Saturday afternoon to be the 32-year-old's 128th game in the black, white and blue.
The underrated prop has enjoyed a strong career, winning premierships with the Sharks (2016) and the Dragons (2010) as well as making a State of Origin appearance for NSW last season.
Morris, who played with Prior at the Sharks, was full of praise for his former teammate.
"He's been awesome, Prizz. He's a real favourite among the team. [He's] very well respected [and] of the highest character," Morris said.
"To go on and play 250 games and not only that he's one of the rare dual premiership players. So the experience he brings, [he's] very well respected, [a] NSW Origin player.
"He's really led from the front with the way that we play. That tough, gritty style of footy has all been based around Prizz's energy in defence. We certainly owe it to him to make sure we lift for tomorrow.
"The boys love having him out there. He's always set the standards with the energy he brings to the team. His last few weeks he's been outstanding actually. He's carried a bit of a rib problem there, he went off early against Penrith and only played 20 or 30 minutes last week [against the Dragons]. But he's overcome that and raring to go for his big game."
Cronulla will also welcome back Andrew Fifita from a knee problem for the clash at PointsBet Stadium, with the giant prop to come off the bench with Prior and Aaron Woods retaining their places in the starting side.
The Sharks though are again without Matt Moylan with a recurrence of his hamstring injury, forcing Josh Dugan back to fullback and earning a recall to the wing for Ronaldo Mulitalo.
Sharks five-eighth Shaun Johnson will again go up against his former team with Cronulla looking to better the 19-18 defeat they suffered at the hands of the Warriors in Wellington five weeks ago.
"It was a big game for [Johnson] over there playing [against] the Warriors for the first time," Morris said.
"So now I think Shauny can relax a bit and just focus on his job. We owe it to him to try and get the win. He obviously went over there and got the loss against them last time so he's keen to have a big one and he's trained well this week. I'm excited for him."
