​The Warriors believe handling the Christchurch factor best will determine the fate of Saturday's NRL match against Manly.

Which puts them in the box seat because they've done it before.

A surreal build-up to the Christchurch Stadium match has been dominated by both teams primarily paying tribute to those affected by the March 15 mosque terror attacks.

There has been little narrative around the Sea Eagles' winless start to Des Hasler's second coming or the Warriors' clumsy loss to the Wests Tigers last week.

The theme continued on Friday as Hasler and Manly chief executive Lyall Gorman laid a wreath at the Al Noor Mosque, which both teams have visited this week.

They also announced every player at Christchurch Stadium will have #TheyAreUs on their jerseys in solidarity with the families of the 50 victims killed.

Warriors coach Stephen Kearney says separating emotion from the pragmatic job of playing well for 80 minutes is a challenge.

He should know.

His players achieved it with their opening round 40-6 trouncing of Canterbury two weeks ago, just a day after the attacks rocked New Zealand.

"All of us have felt and seen and heard what followed the events of two weeks ago so we all feel it and know it," Kearney said.

"It was a fairly big occasion for the club, round one.

"But our responsibility again as a footy team is to get our jobs done on Saturday afternoon, five o'clock (3pm AEDT).

"I'm sure there will be emotion but our role is to make sure we're executing our roles."

Kearney doesn't anticipate the same problem that was exposed in the 34-6 loss to the Tigers, after which he accused some of his players of expecting another easy ride.

That won't be a problem for Manly either, with Hasler's men having spluttered to wet-weather losses to the Tigers and Sydney Roosters.

Hasler was buoyed by scoring the game's final three tries against the premiers last week and also expects their attack to lift after the return from injury of star fullback Tom Trbojevic.

STATS THAT MATTER

* Manly have won 12 of their 16 games against the Warriors in New Zealand but went down last year in Christchurch.

* The Warriors are chasing back-to-back wins over the Sea Eagles for the first time in 15 years.

* The Warriors lead the NRL team offload count this season with 27, having also topped that category overall in 2018.

​Prime Minister Scott Morrison will hold face-to-face talks with Kiwi counterpart Jacinda Ardern in Christchurch on Friday as both countries come together to grieve those killed in the city's mosque shootings.

Ardern confirmed Australia will be represented at a National Remembrance Service at Hagley Park by Morrison, opposition leader Bill Shorten and Governor-General Sir Peter Cosgrove.

The trio are among delegates from 59 countries who will be represented at the service which falls two weeks after the terror attack in which a gunman killed 50 people and injured another 50.

None of the Australians will address a crowd that is estimated to number about 15,000.

Ardern explained the service would have a Muslim focus in honour of those killed and wounded.

However, she welcomed the chance to later speak in person with Morrison for the first time since the attacks, having been in regular telephone contact.

"We don't tend to script our engagements but I'd imagine it will have a heavy focus on what's happened here in Christchurch," Ardern said.

"New Zealand is incredibly grateful for the support of Australia - including the provision of 85 police staff and victim identification staff to help with what is our country's largest ever police investigation."

Ardern had been forced to cancel a trans-Tasman trip scheduled for the immediate wake of the shootings.

She waved off a reporter's suggestion that the size of the Australian delegation was due to a sense of responsibility because of the nationality of Australian-born alleged gunman Brenton Tarrant.
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"I think it's an acknowledgement of the closeness of our relationship," Ardern responded.