World Cup winner Sam Rapira, Micheal Luck and Ben Matulino are all back in the mix for the Vodafone Warriors’ third and final NRL trial against Gold Coast in Lismore, New South Wales, on Saturday night.
They’ve been named in a 21-man squad to fly out on Friday, Rapira and Luck back after being rested for the 32-28 trial win against North Queensland last Sunday and Matulino returning after being excused to attend his sister’s wedding last weekend.
Coach Ivan Cleary said the trial would hold real significance in terms of the make-up of the 17-man squad for the season-opening NRL clash against Parramatta at Mount Smart Stadium on Saturday, March 14 (7.30pm kick-off).
“We haven’t yet settled on the combination we’ll start with against the Titans but this trial will still sort out a few things for us in terms of the way we’ll approach the match against the Eels,” he said.
“There are plenty of areas we need to improve on despite the wins we’ve had against Melbourne and the Cowboys. Our goal-line defence certainly wasn’t where we wanted it to be last Sunday.
“While I have a fair idea in my mind about the team we’ll run with on March 14 there are still some calls to be made.”
The only established NRL player not travelling to Lismore will be prop Evarn Tuimavave who is still being troubled by a neck injury but former North Queensland second rower Jacob Lillyman is in the party as he continues to make good progress from his off-season shoulder surgery. The only other player not considered was young prop Mataupu Poching (ankle).
Of the NRL squad players not in the travelling group, just-signed former Newcastle prop Jesse Royal, Patrick Ah Van, Lewis Brown, Liam Foran, Epalahame Lauaki, Daniel O’Regan, Herman Retzlaff, Malo Solomona and Michael Witt are set to turn out for a Vodafone Warriors selection against the Auckland Vulcans at Walter Massey Park in Mangere on Saturday (2.00pm kick-off). The selection will also include Vodafone Junior Warriors squad members not involved in the NYC trial in Lismore (where the Vodafone Junior Warriors will also be on the programme taking on their Gold Coast NYC counterparts). Leeson Ah Mau, Kevin Locke and Elijah Taylor will all play for the Vodafone Junior Warriors against the Titans.
Apart from beating the Cowboys, the Vodafone Warriors toppled Melbourne 24-12 in their first NRL trial. The Vodafone Junior Warriors had wins over Waikato and Hawke’s Bay before being beaten 48-22 by the Vulcans last Sunday.
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