Sonny Bill Williams is tackled in last week's NRL opener against the Rabbitohs. Photo /Getty Images
The Sydney Roosters will rush star signing Sonny Bill Williams in for his first NRL start since 2008 following their round one capitulation to South Sydney.
Williams came off the bench as the Roosters slumped to a 28-10 loss to arch rivals the Rabbitohs, having a limited impact in attack but impressing in defence with 28 tackles.
His 53-minute effort was enough to convince coach Trent Robinson that Williams was ready to face the Warriors from the opening whistle, his first start since walking out on Canterbury in 2008.
Robinson's headaches don't compare to those in Canberra however, with Raiders coach David Furner seething at the disciplinary breaches which led to star duo Josh Dugan and Blake Ferguson being stood down.
Neither player is available for the Raiders' away clash with the Gold Coast on Sunday, with Reece Robinson (back) claiming Dugan's fullback spot while Jack Wighton slides from the wing into the centres and Edrick Lee comes onto the wing.
Eleven teams named unchanged line-ups. Remarkably that included the Wests Tigers who were belted by 32 points on Monday night by Newcastle.
Even impressive prop Aaron Woods was unable to dislodge rookie Jack Buchanan, and was again named on the bench.
The Warriors will take on Williams' Roosters on Saturday, but will be without powerhouse winger Manu Vatuvei (ankle) ruled out and replaced by Bill Tupou.
The Warriors looked rudderless in their round one loss to Parramatta, and coach Matt Elliott has reacted by sending creative lock Feleti Mateo to the bench.
Meanwhile, Beau Champion faces up to a month on the sidelines with a shoulder injury giving recruit Bryson Goodwin his first start for the Rabbitohs at centre.
Souths are also without enforcer Sam Burgess (suspension), but his absence still wasn't enough for captain Michael Crocker to earn a promotion from the bench - with Jeff Lima instead joining the starting pack.
Parramatta's Joseph Paulo gets his chance to impress alongside rejuvenated halfback Chris Sandow after being handed the No.6 jersey following Luke Kelly's hamstring injury.
Manly co-captain Jason King hasn't been named by coach Geoff Toovey, but remains a strong chance to return from a shoulder injury.
"He'll be training with the squad for the full sessions," Toovey said.
"We'll just have to assess that as the week goes on."
Teams for round two
Eels v Bulldogs, Thursday
Eels
1 Jarryd Hayne, 2 Ken Sio, 3 Ryan Morgan, 4 Jacob Loko, 5 Cheyse Blair, 6 Joseph Paulo, 7 Chris Sandow, 8 Mitch Allgood, 9 Matt Keating,10 Tim Mannah,11 Reni Maitua, 12 Ben Smith,13 Matt Ryan. Interchange: 14 Ben Roberts, 15 Darcy Lussick, 16 Fuifui Moimoi, 17 Kelepi Tanginoa
Bulldogs
1 Steve Turner, 2 Drury Low, 3 Josh Morris, 4 Krisnan Inu, 5 Sam Perrett, 6 Josh Reynolds, 7 Kris Keating, 8 Aiden Tolman, 9 Michael Ennis (c), 10 Martin Taupau, 11 Tony Williams, 12 Josh Jackson, 13 Greg Eastwood, Interchange: 14 Dene Halatau, 15 Dale Finucane, 16 David Klemmer, 17 Tim Browne, 19 Mitch Brown
Dragons v Broncos, Friday
Dragons
1 Gerard Beale, 2 Brett Morris, 3 Chase Stanley, 4 Matt Cooper, 5 Jason Nightingale, 6 Jamie Soward, 7 Nathan Fien, 8 Dan Hunt, 9 Mitch Rein, 10 Michael Weyman, 11 Tyson Frizell, 12 Ben Creagh (c), 13 Trent Merrin. Interchange: 14 Bronson Harrison, 15 Leeson Ah Mau, 16 Matt Prior, 17 Cameron King, 19 Jack Stockwell
Broncos
1 Corey Norman, 2 Josh Hoffman,3 Jack Reed, 4 Justin Hodges, 5 Lachlan Maranta, 6 Scott Prince, 7 Peter Wallace, 8 Josh McGuire, 9 Andrew McCullough, 10 Sam Thaiday (c), 11 Alex Glenn, 12 Matt Gillett, 13 Corey Parker. Interchange: 14 Ben Hunt, 15 Ben Hannant, 16 Mitchell Dodds, 17 David Stagg, 18 Scott Anderson
Cowboys v Storm, Saturday
Cowboys
1 Matthew Bowen, 2 Ashley Graham, 3 Brent Tate, 4 Kane Linnett, 5 Antonio Winterstein, 6 Johnathan Thurston (c), 7 Ray Thompson, 8 Matthew Scott (c), 9 Scott Moore, 10 James Tamou, 11 Gavin Cooper, 12 Glenn Hall, 13 Dallas Johnson. Interchange: 14 Rory Kostjasyn, 15 Ashton Sims, 16 Tariq Sims, 17 Jason Taumalolo, 18 Clint Greenshields.
Storm
1 Billy Slater, 2 Matt Duffie, 3 Will Chambers, 4 Justin O'Neill, 5 Mahe Fonua, 6 Gareth Widdop, 7 Cooper Cronk, 8 Jesse Bromwich, 9 Cameron Smith (c), 10 Bryan Norrie, 11 Tohu Harris, 12 Ryan Hoffman, 13 Ryan Hinchcliffe. Interchange: 14 Jason Ryles, 15 Lagi Setu, 16 Siosaia Vave, 17 Junior Moors, 18 Slade Griffin
Warriors v Roosters, Saturday
Warriors
1 Kevin Locke, 2 Glen Fisiiahi, 3 Dane Nielsen, 4 Konrad Hurrell, 5 Bill Tupou, 6 Thomas Leuluai, 7 Shaun Johnson, 8 Sam Rapira, 9 Elijah Taylor, 10 Ben Matulino, 11 Steve Rapira, 12 Simon Mannering (c), 13 Todd Lowrie. Interchange (one to be omitted): Jacob Lillyman, Feleti Mateo, Sebastine Ikahihifo, Pita Godinet, Ben Henry.
Roosters
1 Anthony Minichiello (c), 2 Daniel Tupou, 3 Michael Jennings, 4 Shaun Kenny-Dowall, 5 Roger Tuivasa-Sheck, 6 James Maloney, 7 Mitchell Pearce, 8 Jared Waerea-Hargreaves, 9 Jake Friend, 10 Sam Moa, 11 Aidan Guerra, 12 Sonny Bill Williams, 13 Frank Paul Nuuausala. Interchange: 14 Daniel Mortimer, 15 Martin Kennedy, 16 Mitchell Aubusson, 17 Luke O'Donnell, 19 Boyd Cordner, 22 Dylan Napa.
Titans v Raiders, Sunday
Titans
1 William Zillman, 2 Kevin Gordon, 3 Brad Takairangi, 4 Jamal Idris, 5 David Mead, 6 Aidan Sezer, 7 Albert Kelly, 8 Luke Douglas, 9 Matt Srama, 10 Nate Myles, 11 Greg Bird, 12 Ben Ridge, 13 Ashley Harrison. Interchange: 14 Dave Taylor, 15 Luke Bailey, 16 Ryan James, 17 Beau Falloon, 18 Luke O' Dwyer.
Raiders
1 Reece Robinson, 2 Sandor Earl, 3 Jarrod Croker, 4 Jack Wighton, 5 Edrick Lee, 6 Josh McCrone (c), 7 Sam Williams, 8 David Shillington (c), 9 Shaun Berrigan, 10 Dane Tilse, 11 Josh Papalii, 12 Joel Thompson, 13 Shaun Fensom. Interchange: 14 Matt McIlwrick, 15 Joel Edwards, 16 Brett White, 17 Tom Learoyd-Lahrs, 18 Mark Nicholls
Tigers v Panthers, Sunday
Tigers
1. Tim Moltzen, 2. Matt Utai, 3. Blake Ayshford, 4. Chris Lawrence, 5. Marika Koroibete, 6. Benji Marshall, 7. Jacob Miller, 8. Jack Buchanan, 9. Robbie Farah (c), 10. Keith Galloway, 11. Braith Anasta, 12. Liam Fulton, 13. Adam Blair. Interchange: 14. Matt Bell, 15. Ben Murdoch-Masila,16. Aaron Woods, 17. Eddy Pettybourne, 18. Joel Reddy
Panthers
1 Dean Whare, 2 Josh Mansour, 3 Wes Naiqama, 4 Brad Tighe, 5 David Simmons, 6 Lachlan Coote, 7 Luke Walsh, 8 Sam McKendry, 9 Kevin Kingston (c), 10 Tim Grant, 11 Sika Manu, 12 Lewis Brown, 13 Nathan Smith. Interchange: 14 James Segeyaro, 15 Nigel Plum, 16 Clint Newton, 17 Jeremy Latimore, 18 Adam Docker
Sea Eagles v Knights, Sunday
Sea Eagles
1 Brett Stewart, 2 Jorge Taufua, 3 Jamie Lyon (c), 4 Steve Matai, 5 David Williams, 6 Kieran Foran, 7 Daly Cherry-Evans, 8 Brenton Lawrence, 9 Matt Ballin, 10 Brent Kite, 11 Anthony Watmough, 12 Justin Horo, 13 Jamie Buhrer. Interchange: 14 Richie Fa'aoso, 15 Joe Galuvao, 16 David Gower, 17 Jesse Sene-Lafao, 20 Tom Symonds.
Knights
1 Darius Boyd, 2 James McManus, 3 Dane Gagai, 4 Anthony Quinn, 5 Akuila Uate, 6 Jarrod Mullen, 7 Kurt Gidley (c), 8 Kade Snowden, 9 Travis Waddell, 10 Willie Mason, 11 Beau Scott, 12 Chris Houston, 13 Jeremy Smith. Interchange: 14 Tyrone Roberts, 15 Neville Costigan, 16 Robbie Rochow, 17 Alex McKinnon, 18 David Fa'alogo
Rabbitohs v Sharks, Monday
Rabbitohs
1 Greg Inglis, 2 Nathan Merritt, 3 Dylan Farrell, 4 Bryson Goodwin, 5 Andrew Everingham, 6 John Sutton, 7 Adam Reynolds, 8 Jeff Lima, 9 Issac Luke, 10 Roy Asotasi, 11 Chris McQueen, 12 Ben Te'o, 13 Ben Lowe. Interchange: 14 Nathan Peats, 15 Michael Crocker (c), 16 David Tyrrell, 17 George Burgess, 18 Jason Clark, 19 Justin Hunt.
Sharks
1 Michael Gordon, 2 Jonathan Wright, 3 Ricky Leutele, 4 Matthew Wright, 5 Beau Ryan, 6 Todd Carney, 7 Jeff Robson, 8 Andrew Fifita, 9 Isaac De Gois, 10 Ben Ross, 11 Luke Lewis, 12 Wade Graham, 13 Paul Gallen. Interchange: 14 Chris Heighington, 15 Jon Green, 16 John Morris, 17 Anthony Tupou ,18 Jayson Bukuya,19 Sam Tagataese, 20 Chad Townsend
- AAP
The Panthers have beaten the Warriors in their first trip to Auckland in six years.