Parramatta weren't able to send Nathan Cayless out a winner in Saturday night's 26-12 loss to the Warriors, but a rare try for the captain in the final minutes made it a memorable farewell for the longest serving skipper in NRL history.

In typical front-rower style, Cayless wasn't able to get his hands to the ball for his goodbye try off a Daniel Mortimer kick, instead relying on his torso to gain a benefit of the doubt ruling from video ref Russell Smith.

The Warriors' solid performance allowed them to cement fifth spot on the ladder, with the Roosters not covering the required gap in points differential in their win over North Queensland to surpass them.

Ivan Cleary's men will travel to Gold Coast on Friday to face the Titans in week one of the finals, and their fifth win in six starts stands them in good stead.

The Eels tried hard for their skipper, but they pushed passes and squandered countless opportunities.

It was the story of their season, but honouring the retiring 259-game Cayless diverted attention away from their failings for the time being at least.

"I played a lot of big games but you only play one last game and it was pretty emotional, but just very relieving to get the try and not have to do the nude run on Monday," said Cayless.

"I have no regrets, I'm relieved it's finished now and I can move on and do some other things.

"It's been a dream to be able to play for so long for such a great club like this growing up in the area, I couldn't have asked for any more."

The Warriors defended stoutly all match with the unpredictable Eels throwing everything at them and it wasn't until the final 20 minutes that they were able to put the home side away.

Maturity and patience have become a part of the Warriors arsenal this season and that enabled them to comfortably grind out the result.

Early in the first half, the Warriors forced four consecutive line drop outs from the Eels and shortly after, a smart kick by Brett Seymour allowed Jerome Ropati to open the scoring.

The Warriors then closed out at the death with prop Jesse Royal scoring under the posts and wingers Kevin Locke and Manu Vatuvei dashing away to build the unbeatable lead.

"Our defence ... in the last month we've got a bit of confidence out of defence and I think going into a finals series, the boys are confident in each other," said Cleary.

"You run harder and work a bit harder to make up for your team mates so there's a bit of that going on and if you defend well you're a much bigger chance of putting pressure on the opposition and you're a chance of scoring points so that's been pleasing."

There was a moment of controversy on the stroke of halftime when Eels winger Luke Burt was tackled after kicking the ball in a possible try-scoring situation by Warriors five-eighth James Maloney.

The video referee decided there was too much doubt to award a try, but Maloney was given 10 minutes in the sin bin as the Warriors clung to a 8-6 halftime lead.

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