Warriors without key trio
Shaun Johnson and Solomone Kata will join Tohu Harris on the sidelines for the Warriors’ NRL game against the Storm in Melbourne tomorrow.
Harris, who suffered two head knocks in the Warriors’ 20-12 win over the Dragons on Friday night, didn’t take part in yesterday’s training session and Warriors coach Stephen Kearney said immediately after it that the second rower wouldn’t be considered for this game.
But Johnson (groin) and Kata (ankle) had fitness tests while the rest of the team were being put through their paces.
Both players looked to be moving well, but the club has confirmed that neither the halfback nor centre passed the tests and aren’t included in the wider squad for the Anzac Day game.
The absence of these three key players against the reigning premiers means Mason Lino will play at halfback for the third time this season.
Anthony Gelling will get to start at centre for the second week in a row and Isaiah Papali’i will wear the No 12 jersey.
Crowd favourite Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad has been named in the No 17 jersey, meaning the winger could be set to play in his first NRL game this season.
While Kearney was hopeful of being able to call on Johnson and Kata, Harris was never in consideration.
‘‘We’ve definitely ruled him out. In terms of the protocol we’ve got to go through, it was a pretty significant head knock on Friday,’’ Kearney said.
‘‘He’s pulled up well, but with the quick turnaround, it’s a pretty serious injury and a pretty serious part of the game now and we certainly don’t want to take any risks.
‘‘He hasn’t passed the time period which they’ve allowed, so he’s been ruled out.’’
After the 27-18 loss to the Broncos the previous week, the win over the then undefeated Dragons was a big step in the right direction and it showed that the team’s good form at the start of the season, wasn’t a flash in the pan.
However, this was another game where they were hammered in the penalty count, conceding 13, to the Dragons’ five.
A number of these were given away close to their goal line and in the end Blake Green was sent to the bin for infringing after the final warning had been given by referee Ben Cummins.
The Warriors gave away a large amount of penalties in a similar position in their game against the Roosters earlier in the season and they’re in danger of getting a reputation for this.
Kearney says it’s an area of their game that he’s looking to tidy up.
‘‘There were elements of our discipline which weren’t quite good enough,’’ he said of the Dragons game.
‘‘We’re trying to work really hard with the referees, in terms of not getting in front of the line.
‘‘It’s such a touchy subject now and we probably put a great deal of pressure on ourselves by being offside a couple of times and that snowballs, in terms of the pressure you put on yourself.
‘‘So consequently we ended up with a man in the bin, so that’s an area of improvement for us.’’