NRL: Seymour recalled to face Melbourne

Brett Seymour. Photo / Getty Images

Senior halfback Brett Seymour has been recalled to a patched-up Warriors side to face Melbourne Storm on Monday night.

Seymour was dumped after the 0-3 start to the season and has spent the past three weeks playing for the Vulcans in the NSW Cup.

His recall signals a return to Plan A for the Warriors, with James Maloney moving to five-eighths and Feleti Mateo reverting to the back row after a mixed three-game spell in the halves.

Mateo shifts into Lewis Brown's back row spot, with the combative Cantabrian plugging the gap at centre created by injuries to Shaun Berrigan and Joel Moon.

Berrigan broke his hand in Saturday night's defeat by Manly and will be out for six weeks, while Moon, the most obvious replacement, injured his hip playing for the Vulcans.

With Jerome Ropati out for the season, the club's lack of depth at centre has been exposed. Brown filled the role as a stop-gap measure on several occasions last season but never looked like being a long-term solution.

The dwindling list of centre options includes recent signing Shaun Metcalf, who has yet to make his NRL debut, and the versatile Elijah Taylor.

Prop Jacob Lillyman and second rower Ukuma Ta'ai return from minor injuries, while hooker Alehana Mara is set for the bench after making his first appearance of the season as a late call-up against Manly.

Lillyman starts at prop while Ta'ai is among five players named on the interchange, alongside Mara, Ben Matulino, Russell Packer and Jeremy Latimore.

The player to drop off the bench won't be confirmed until shortly before kick-off.

"There's never any let-up in the NRL and playing the Storm in Melbourne is as tough as any away game in the competition," coach Ivan Cleary said.

"While we generally defended well again against Manly, we can still improve there and we know we'll need to be a lot better in every area against an opponent like the Storm.

"They've established themselves as one of the most impressive teams with really good performances over the last three weeks."

Those performances have included a solid victory over Penrith at the weekend, a round-five 38-0 thrashing of Parramatta and a comfortable victory over a previously undefeated Bulldogs side.

The Storm are also undefeated at home this season, with their lone defeat against the Cowboys in Townsville in round three.

Saturday's defeat by Manly didn't dent the Warriors ladder position, which remained unchanged at 11th. Four of the five teams below them lost, while the three immediately ahead of them - Wests Tigers, Cronulla and the Roosters - were also beaten.