Warriors same starting lineup, Barnett out injured
- 5 hours ago
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New Zealand Warriors coach Andrew Webster has stuck with an unchanged starting line-up to face the Cronulla Sharks in Sydney on Sunday in NRL round five.
Co-captain Mitch Barnett has a broken thumb from last weekend's 32-14 loss to Wests Tigers in Auckland.
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Barnett had only just returned from injury the week prior after suffering a season-ending knee injury last June.
A Warriors statement said Barnett had surgery this week with a return to play date yet to be determined.
The Australian forward played 52 minutes against the Tigers.
Otherwise the biggest change comes on the interchange where Demitric Vaimauga will likely fill that spot in the rotation and Eddie Ieremia-Toeava joins the bench.
Vaimauga did not take the field last week, as Webster tried to spread playing time among his reserves.
Last week, against Wests Tigers, the coach reshuffled his named backline, with Taine Tuaupiki filling fullback, Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad moving to centre and Ali Leiataua dropping out of the gameday squad.
Nicoll-Klokstad scored a try double against the Tigers and Webster has stuck with that same configuration, while also retaining Tanah Boyd and Luke Metcalf as his halves combination.
After leading 10-0 early on in the game the Warriors squandered their advantage to trail 16-10 at halftime and eventually tumbled to their first defeat of the season, 32-14.
Englishman Morgan Gannon is among the extended reserves, after clearing the concussion suffered during his short-lived NRL debut against Newcastle Knights.
Warriors: 1. Taine Tuaupiki, 2. Dallin Watene-Zelezniak, 3. Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad, 4. Adam Pompey, 5. Roger Tuivasa-Sheck, 6. Luke Metcalf, 7. Tanah Boyd, 8. James Fisher-Harris, 9. Wayde Egan, 10. Jackson Ford, 11. Leka Halasima, 12. Jacob Laban, 13. Erin Clark
Interchange: 14. Sam Healey, 15. Marata Niukore, 16. Demitric Vaimauga, 17. Tanner Stowers-Smith, 18. Chanel Harris-Tavita, 20. Eddie Ieremia-Toeava
Reserves: 21. Morgan Gannon, 22. Alofiana Khan-Pereira, 23. Ali Leiataua
