Team news
Warriors: Kane Evans is out with Jazz Tevaga starting at prop, while Bayley Sironen starts in the second row with Josh Curran shifted to the bench. Jack Murchie is the 18th man.
Centre Euan Aitken has confirmed he will make his return from injury in Sunday’s match against Parramatta in place of rookie winger Edward Kosi.
Rocco Berry shifts to the wing. Eliesa Katoa was the other player omitted from the extended squad on Saturday.
Ben Murdoch-Masila returns in the second row with Bayley Sironen dropping to the reserves in the only other change from last week s loss to Manly.
Warriors players hope to go home next month but are prepared to remain in Australia for a second successive season to ensure the competition continues without the risk of being disrupted by border closures.
A meeting between Warriors management and the NRL next week is expected to decide whether the team can return to New Zealand on June 21 as scheduled to prepare for their first home match at Mt Smart Stadium in almost two years against St George Illawarra on July 2.
The decision by the New Zealand government to ban travellers from NSW last weekend after a man from Sydney’s eastern suburbs tested positive to COVID-19 has raised concerns that the team could be stranded on either side of the Tasman whenever future cases occur.
Warriors coach Nathan Brown stopped short of publicly criticising Parramatta for needing to seek an exemption to the NRL’s COVID protocols to name a team for Sunday’s match at Suncorp Stadium but he did remind the Eels of the sacrifices made by his club and players.
Parramatta are awaiting clearances for rookie five-eighth Jakob Arthur, interchange forward Ray Stone, back-up hooker Joey Lussick and utility Jordan Rankin after ignoring the NRL’s advice to clubs to withdraw players from last weekend’s NSW Cup matches.
With five-eighth Dylan Brown and centre Marata Niukore suspended, the Eels have only 17 available players who had remained within their COVID biosecurity bubble after the NRL re-introduced Level 3 restrictions last Thursday.