NRL: Vatuvei out but Luck back for Warriors

The New Zealand Warriors have lost winger Manu Vatuvei to injury but regain the services of workhorse forward Michael Luck for their National Rugby League match against Brisbane in Auckland on Saturday.

There is still no room in the starting 13 for club veteran Stacey Jones, despite the halfback's match-winning heroics late in the 26-24 defeat of Manly in Sydney on Sunday.

He remains on the interchange bench, with Nathan Fien to again wear No 7 in his 99th match for the club.

It will be Jones ' first NRL home game since taking on Newcastle on August 20, 2005.

Utility back Aidan Kirk has been called in to replace powerhouse Vatuvei, who suffered a knee injury which is still being assessed.

Also out of the side is interchange prop Leeson Ah Mau, set to be sidelined for a few weeks after he dislocated a shoulder on Sunday.

Returning from the casualty list is Luck, who missed the Manly match after he was knocked out by a heavy Fuifui Moimoi tackle in the season-opening 26-18 win over Parramatta.

Sam Rapira played in the back row in the opening stanza against Manly but is again named as a starting prop while Russell Packer is again listed on the bench.

Warriors coach Ivan Cleary said the opening two weeks of the season had once again underlined how physically demanding the NRL is on the players.

"We ended up losing three players after beating the Eels and, while we beat Manly, it was a brutal battle that certainly left us with some battered players," he said.

"While we don't know the full extent of Manu's injury yet. we couldn't see him being ready for Brisbane so that opens the way for Aidan to have his first NRL run of the year. He did a terrific job for us last year.

"And Lucky has trained well the last few days. It was a good decision to give him the week off."

Brisbane heads to Auckland with the same two-from-two record as the Warriors.

They started with a 19-18 win over North Queensland and held out Melbourne 16-14 last Friday night.

"They've come off two very tough matches impressively," Cleary said.

"While we have started with the results we aimed for, this takes it up to another level again because the Broncos just have so much to throw at you from all over the park.

"We'll need to be a lot better than we were at times against Manly. While we came back to win the match, there were periods when we weren't playing as well as we needed."

- NZPA