St George first, then Penrith for Warriors

The Warriors face feisty former hooker Issac Luke first up when they play the St George-Illawarra Dragons in a revamped NRL draw released yesterday.

The May 3o fixture is a home game for the Warriors who have relocated to Tamworth in New South Wales to avoid coronavirus-related travel restrictions. The Warriors then play Penrith on Friday June 5.

The Auckland-based side’s home fixtures will be played at venues in NSW with the NRL looking to finalise the exact locations. That should take place once all biosecurity protocols and measures are set, probably during the next 24-48 hours.

The NRL avoided a massive headache by not scheduling any teams with non-vaccinated players for matches in Queensland in the opening two rounds.

Crucially though, none of Canberra, Manly or Canterbury are drawn to play away matches against Queensland teams in the opening fortnight.

Penrith also have both their games in Sydney, after not disclosing to the media whether all their players had been vaccinated.

Had they been set to travel to Queensland, it would have caused a

Draw for the opening two rounds of the revised NRL:

ROUND THREE Thursday May 28: 9.50pm, Brisbane v Parramatta

Friday May 29: 8pm, North Queensland v Gold Coast; 9.55pm, Sydney Roosters v South Sydney Saturday May 30: 5pm, Warriors v St George Illawarra; 7.30pm, Cronulla v Wests Tigers; 9.35pm, Melbourne v Canberra

Sunday May 31: 6.05pm, Penrith v Newcastle; 8.30pm, Manly v Canterbury

ROUND FOUR: Thursday June 4: 9.50pm, Brisbane v Sydney Roosters

Friday June 5: 8pm, Penrith v

Warriors; 9.55pm, Melbourne v South Sydney

Saturday June 6: 7.30pm, Parramatta v Manly; 9.35pm, North Queensland v Cronulla

Sunday June 7: 6.05pm, Canberra v Newcastle; 8.30pm, Gold Coast v Wests Tigers

Monday June 8: 6.05pm, Canterbury v St George Illawarra

political storm given that state government will not allow players to take to the field without the jab unless they have a medical exemption.