Great mates go head-to-head in milestone game

But there was a time at the Penrith Panthers when they were as thick as thieves.

To the point where Harawira-Naera translated for his fellow Kiwi. And where they used to shovel horse shit together on a farm at Mulgoa.

They traveled across the Ditch to join the Panthers as juniors about six years ago, but now they'll go head to head when the Canberra Raiders take on ladder-leading Penrith on Saturday night.

It will be Harawira-Naera's second game for the Green Machine since his mid-season shift from Canterbury and they could find themselves butting heads in the middle of the park.

The pleasantries have already started between the great mates ahead of Fisher-Harris's 100^th NRL game.

"I've already whispered to him that I'll probably be head-hunting him on the weekend. He'll probably be doing the same to me," Harawira-Naera said.

"It's quite funny how we moved over together and pulled each other through the hard times, and we're playing each other on his 100^th game."

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The pair shared a flat together, with Harawira-Naera coming across to play under-20s, while Fisher-Harris was in the under-18s.

They had to do some work on the farm, with Fisher-Harris generally drawing the short straw when it came to duties.

"We had a two-storey place and they chucked us above the horses. We worked on the farm," Harawira-Naera said.

"They had equestrian horses there so we had to clean out the pens. I ended up doing a lot more fencing, but he got stuck cleaning up all the stables ... so I got pretty lucky."

But that's probably fair enough, given Harawira-Naera also doubled as Fisher-Harris's translator when the big prop from the north of New Zealand first arrived.

"It wasn't really the accent. He had a really deep voice and he mumbled. He wasn't a real clear speaker so ... if they couldn't understand him I'd try and translate it," Harawira-Naera said.

NRL ROUND 13

Saturday: Canberra Raiders v Penrith Panthers at Penrith Stadium, 7.35pm.

Raiders team: 1. Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad, 2. Jordan Rapana, 3. Jarrod Croker, 4. Curtis Scott, 5. Nick Cotric, 6. Jack Wighton, 7. George Williams, 8. Josh Papalii, 9. Siliva Havili, 10. Dunamis Lui, 11. John Bateman, 12. Elliott Whitehead, 13. Hudson Young. Interchange: 14. Tom Starling, 15. Joe Tapine, 16. Ryan Sutton, 17. Corey Harawira-Naera. Reserves: 18. Sam Williams, 19. Michael Oldfield, 20. Kai O'Donnell, 21. Matt Frawley.

Panthers team: 1. Caleb Aekins, 2. Josh Mansour, 3. Brent Naden, 4. Stephen Critchton, 5. Malakai Watene-Zeleniak, 6. Jarome Luai, 7. Nathan Cleary, 8. James Tamou, 9. Api Koroisau, 10. James Fisher-Harris, 11. Viliame Kikai, 12. Liam Martin, 13. Isaac Yeo. Interchange: 14. Tyrone May, 15. Spencer Leniu, 16. Moses Leota, 17. Zane Tetevano. Reserves: 18. Mitch Kenny, 19. Matt Burton, 20. Billy Burns, 21. Daine Laurie.