Kiwi World Cup winners Lance Hohaia, Manu Vatuvei and Sam Rapira plus Kiwi great Stacey Jones and major new signings Denan Kemp and Joel Moon will all feature for the Vodafone Warriors in their NRL trial against Melbourne at Waikato Stadium in Hamilton tomorrow night.
Coach Ivan Cleary hasn’t yet confirmed his starting combination but every player named is due to spend time on the field at some stage in the first of the club’s three warm-up matches ahead of their NRL opener against Parramatta at Mt Smart Stadium on Saturday, March 14.
The match will be Jones’ first for the club in 1265 days – he last played for the Vodafone Warriors against Manly on August 27, 2005 – while ex-Brisbane team-mates Kemp and Moon will debut for their new club. Winger Kemp was the Broncos’ top try scorer last year with 19 in 24 matches. Moon, who has been used mainly in the centres in his 31 NRL matches so far, is expected to feature at standoff tomorrow night.
Another newcomer making his club debut will be Auckland-born halfback Liam Foran who’ll be facing his former club.
Apart from those players and the World Cup-winning trio, the Vodafone Warriors will have other 2008 front-liners on show in fullback Wade McKinnon, centre-winger Aidan Kirk, hooker Ian Henderson, loose forward Micheal Luck and second rower Ben Matulino.
Also in the side will be 19-year-old prop Russell Packer, who made his NRL debut last year and was, with Matulino, named in the National Youth Competition’s Team of the Year. One of their Vodafone Junior Warriors team-mates Elijah Taylor (18) has been confirmed in the NRL squad tomorrow night along with other 2008 NYC players Leeson Ah Mau, Isaac John, Daniel O’Regan and Mataupu Poching (Matulino, Ah Mau, Packer and Taylor are all eligible for the NYC team again this year).
New second rower Jacob Lillyman had earlier been ruled out of this trial as he continues his recovery from shoulder surgery – he is expected to be involved in at least one of the other two trials – while Michael Witt (quadriceps), Evarn Tuimavave (neck) and new hooker Lewis Brown (hand) were also left out.
That left a squad of 30 originally named for the Hamilton trial but today that was trimmed to 23.
Captain Steve Price and centre Brent Tate will miss this trial as well. Both were ruled out of last year’s World Cup final, Price with a torn calf and Tate with a hip flexor problem; they’re still working their way back to full fitness.
In the same category is Kiwi centre Jerome Ropati, who survived the World Cup campaign despite a knee injury. Halfback Nathan Fien (neck) and second rower Simon Mannering (groin) aren’t playing against the Storm either and nor is new back rower Ukuma Ta’ai (ribs). The other player not named is fullback Kevin Locke, who will turn out for the Vodafone Junior Warriors in their NYC warm-up game against a Waikato Selection (kicking off at 5.30pm).
Tomorrow night’s match will showcase the NRL’s new dual refereeing concept. It’s in use for all trials this year before being fully introduced in all games when the season starts on March 13.
The Vodafone Warriors’ squad for the NRL trial starting at 7.30pm is: Leeson Ah Mau, Patrick Ah Van, Liam Foran, Ian Henderson, Aaron Heremaia, Lance Hohaia, Isaac John, Stacey Jones, Denan Kemp, Aidan Kirk, Epalahame Lauaki, Micheal Luck, Wade McKinnon, Ben Matulino, Joel Moon, Daniel O’Regan, Russell Packer, Mataupu Poching, Sam Rapira, Herman Retzlaff, Malo Solomona, Elijah Taylor, Manu Vatuvei.
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