View photos: NRL round one casualtiesKEY POINTS:
The Warriors will be without their two biggest metre-eaters when they face Parramatta at Mt Smart this Sunday. Skipper Steve Price has been ruled out and the prognosis on his hamstring injury is expected this week.
Price was the Warriors' leading metre runner last season, ahead of Wade McKinnon who is already sidelined for the season after knee surgery.
Early word is that Price, 34, will not require surgery but may need several weeks of rest. He is to have an MRI scan today and the club said doctors would need time to digest that result before offering a verdict.
His loss is critical, especially coming off a demoralising defeat where the Warriors beat themselves with their own errors. They now face the semifinal team that beat them 12-10 in front of a full house at the same venue in a playoff at the end of last season.
Meanwhile the Eels are on a high after bagging 28 unanswered second-half points to beat the Bulldogs 28-20.
It was against the Eels that wing Manu Vatuvei bumbled last year, prompting his temporary demotion to reserve grade, but he survives despite again dropping bombs on Monday. There is no doubt the Eels will target him.
Apart from Price, the Warriors will stick with the same team against Parramatta. Ruben Wiki, who showed no sign of his 34 years, assumes Price's starting position in the front row and the captaincy. There is only one change to the 17, with Sonny Fai named to make his debut.
Fai was listed by coach Ivan Cleary in pre-season as a starter at some stage this year, that coming earlier than planned. They had done much work on his game in the off-season, Cleary said. Fai turns 20 tomorrow, is from the Mangere East and Papatoetoe clubs and has been with the Warriors in the three years that Cleary has. He was a Junior Kiwi in 2004-05 and 2007 and played for New Zealand A in 2006.
He's 195cm and 102kg, with proven try-scoring ability. Last year he played 21 of the Auckland Lions' 22 games in the NRL reserve grade and scored 14 tries. On Monday he got two in the under-20s curtain-raiser against the Storm's juniors in Melbourne, though the home side won 32-22.
The stability offers the rest a chance at redemption.
The Eels and Kiwis ball-juggling star Krisnan Inu is out of this game with an ankle ligament tear and will have surgery today, which is expected to keep him out of the next five rounds and probably the May 5 test against Australia.
They use the remainder of the side that beat the Bulldogs 28-20 in round one. Jarryd Hayne replaces Inu at centre after being stood down for round one after the Kings Cross shooting incident, last week's debutant Taulima Tautai shifting to the wing. Weller Hauraki and Junior Paulo join a six-man bench after also being banned with Hayne.
Four players were charged by the judiciary after week one. Warriors Grant Rovelli (careless high tackle), Storm skipper Cameron Smith (grapple tackle) and Eels five-eighth Feleti Mateo (grapple tackle) all pleaded guilty, escape penalty due to good records but now carry demerit points. Tigers prop Todd Payten will go to the judiciary to fight a "crusher" tackle charge.
One Kiwis star will definitely miss the May test and another is under the cloud with Inu. Benji Marshall is out for five weeks with a knee medial ligament strain but does not require surgery. Sonny Bill Williams has scans on a similar injury today.
The NRL has fined the Melbourne Storm A$10,000 for failing to take the field on time against the Warriors at the start and after halftime.
WARRIORS
Aidan Kirk
Patrick Ah Van
Brent Tate
Jerome Ropati
Manu Vatuvei
Michael Witt
Grant Rovelli
Sam Rapira
Nathan Fien
Ruben Wiki (c)
Simon Mannering
Logan Swann
Micheal Luck
EELS
Luke Burt
Taulima Tautai
Joel Reddy
Jarryd Hayne
Eric Groethe
Feleti Mateo
Brett Finch
Nathan Cayless (c)
Nathan Cayless
Fuifui Moimoi
Nathan Hindmarsh
Todd Lowrie
Daniel Wagon
Warriors: Lance Hohaia, Evarn Tuimavave, Epalahame Lauaki, Sonny Fai.
Eels: Matt Keating, Josh Cordoba, Weller Hauraki, Junior Paulo, Brendan Oake, Joe Galuvao.
Mt Smart Stadium, 4pm Sunday
