Keighran gets nod
Adam Keighran has won the race to partner Blake Green in the halves at the Warriors, while veteran hooker Issac Luke has been left out of the squad as he continues to recover from injury.
Keighran has been named to make his NRL debut in the No 6 jersey in Saturday’s seasonopening clash against the Bulldogs at Mt Smart Stadium.
The 21-year-old wasn’t initially expected to feature in the Warriors’ plans for round one when he joined the club in the offseason from Penrith.
However, he soon found himself locked in a battle to fill the gaping void left by Shaun Johnson’s abrupt departure to Cronulla at the end of last year.
His main competition came from former Warriors under-20s player of the year Chanel HarrisTavita, who has been included on an extended bench, and both had their moments in the two trial wins over Melbourne and Wests Tigers.
Keighran is one of three new recruits in the squad alongside forwards Lachlan Burr and Leeson Ah Mau. Burr is set to start at lock in his first NRL appearance in three years after Isaiah Papali’i was stood down for a week due to a drink-driving offence.
Ah Mau, the Warriors’ major off-season signing, will begin his second stint at Mt Smart off the bench.
Apart from Papali’i, the biggest name to miss out was Luke, although for entirely different reasons. Luke underwent shoulder surgery at the end of last season and while he missed both trials, the 31-year-old had hoped to be cleared in time to face the Bulldogs.
It appears Kearney has erred on the side of caution, though, leaving him out of the 21-man squad and opening the door for injury-prone dummy-half Nathaniel Roache to make his first appearance since 2017.
Also returning to the side is centre Blake Ayshford, who has been named on the bench to cover the outside backs and back-row ahead of Kiwis international Gerard Beale.
Meanwhile, the start of the season signals a change in roles for last year’s regular centres Peta Hiku and Solomone Kata.
Hiku has been switched to the left edge along with back-rower Tohu Harris, where they will link up with wing Ken Maumalo.
Kata is set to line up on the right with Adam Blair and fellow Tonga international David Fusitu’a.
‘‘[Kata] came to me and said he’s a right edge player. He got shifted over to the left edge when Konrad (Hurrell) came into the team,’’ Kearney said.
‘‘It’s been pretty seamless in terms of the transitioning of those individuals.’’