Warriors v St George
Mt Smart Stadium, 4pm tomorrow
Nathan Fien doesn't want to talk up his eagerly awaited return to Mt Smart Stadium.
In fact, he doesn't want to discuss it at all until the dust settles after the match tomorrow.
Like it or not, the spotlight will shine brightly on the Kiwis' World Cup-winning halfback, now hooker
for St George-Illawarra as they travel to face the Warriors.
The 30-year-old Queensland product was given permission to look elsewhere by Warriors coach Ivan Cleary and didn't need a second invitation to shift to Wollongong.
The Dragons, under super coach Wayne Bennett who helped the Kiwis to their World Cup title, are flying along as National Rugby League leaders with 13 wins from 17.
They welcomed Fien to Dragon-land with a 48-18 win over defending champions Manly a fortnight ago - their fourth consecutive victory - with both sides without rep players.
Before his self-applied muzzle, Fien could barely contain himself when asked to reflect on his transtasman shift to play for Bennett.
"It's awesome mate, his record speaks for itself. The opportunity to come over and play under Wayne was one that I wanted to grab with both hands," he said.
"[That] performance was fantastic by the boys to welcome me into the squad."
He's been dividing his time between Wollongong and Auckland and will take his wife Belinda and three children to Australia permanently next week.
"They were watching [the Manly game] back in New Zealand and they come over after the Warriors game.
"All my kids have already hit me up for a couple of Dragons jerseys so I'm taking them back."
Fien will return to Auckland amid a powerful Dragons side, coming off the bye, who welcome back seven players from injury or rep duty.
Kiwis forward Jeremy Smith is among them, having been named on a seven-man bench for his first match since May 3 when he suffered a high ankle sprain in the Dragons' 12-11 home win over the Warriors.
Fullback Darius Boyd and forwards Neville Costigan, Ben Creagh and Justin Poore return from State of Origin while prop Michael Weyman (ankle) and benchman Matt Prior (virus) were passed fit.
Matt Cooper expects a desperate Warriors side - they kept their slim playoff hopes alive with a 30-24 win over the bottom-placed Roosters on Sunday.
"There's a lot of clubs like that at the moment. You see the Tigers on the weekend - they were fighting for their season and they put a big score on [against the Cowboys].
"The Warriors are going to be feeling the same. We're just going to have to go over there with that mindset of starting well and not taking them lightly, because they've got a great side and a great roster," he said.
Cooper also observed the Warriors' good recent record at home, with shutouts over Newcastle and Wests Tigers before a last-gasp defeat to an under-strength Bulldogs.
The Dragons have played the Warriors only once in Auckland in the past five years, in 2007 when the hosts cruised to a 44-16 win.
WARRIORS v ST GEORGE
Warriors
Wade McKinnon
Kevin Locke
Jerome Ropati
Joel Moon
Manu Vatuvei
Isaac John
Stacey Jones
Sam Rapira
Ian Henderson
Steve Price (c)
Simon Mannering
Ben Matulino
Micheal Luck
Interchange: Patrick Ah Van, Lewis Brown, Lance Hohaia, Jacob Lillyman, Russell Packer, Jesse Royal.
St George
Darius Boyd
Brett Morris
Beau Scott
Matt Cooper
Wendell Sailor
Jamie Soward
Ben Hornby (c)
Justin Poore
Nathan Fien
Michael Weyman
Dean Young
Ben Creagh
Neville Costigan
Interchange: Dan Hunt, Matt Prior, Luke Priddis, Jarrod Saffy, Jeremy Smith, Chase Stanley, Jon Green.
- NZPA