Warriors keep faith in Lino

Mason Lino will once again line up in the halves for the Warriors for their final regular season game of 2018.

The Warriors take on the Raiders at Mt Smart Stadium on Friday night, with a place in the top eight already secured.

However, it is still a huge game for the club as this fixture will go a long way towards determining where they will finish inside that eight and if they can manage to get a home game in the first round of the playoffs.

It will also mark the outstanding career Simon Mannering has had at the Warriors. It will be his 300th appearance for the club and possibly his last on New Zealand soil, as he has already confirmed he’ll be retiring at the end of the season.

No doubt Warriors coach Stephen Kearney would have liked to have gone into this game with his strongest lineup, but five-eighth Green is still out with a calf strain, picked up in the round 23 loss to the Bulldogs.

However, Lino has consistently proved this season that he is a more than capable fill in for either Green or Shaun Johnson.

There is better news on the injury front regarding Gerard Beale, who also missed last weekend’s win over the Panthers at Mt Smart Stadium

The centre has had a hamstring injury, but is listed in the team for the Raiders game, although it could be that he starts the game on the interchange bench with Peta Hiku in the run on 13.

After making his debut as an 18-year-old on June 26, 2005, Mannering is set to join Ruben Wiki (312 games) as the only other New Zealander to reach the mark.

It could also be a big night for David Fusitu’a, who is within reach of creating more history as the first Warrior to top the tryscoring list at the end of the regular season.

He has scored 21 NRL tries this year, with Cronulla’s Valentine Holmes second on 20. Manu Vatuvei (20 tries in 2010) is the only other Warriors player to reach the 20-try mark in a regular season.