Team v Cowboys

Lino outplayed Cronk. Will he now outplay Thurston? Will he need to?

1- RTS
2- Fusitua
3- Hiku
4- Kata
5- Maumalo
6- Green
7- Johnson/Lino
8- Blair/Afoa
9- Luke
10- Paasi
11- Pulu
12- Harris
13- Mannering/Blair

Res- Tevaga, Sao, Lisone, Afoa/Satae

 

SJ starts everyday of the week!!
How long is Gavet supposed to be out for? If fit then I’d have him straight back in at starting prop.

1-6 as per 1st 4 weeks
7. SJ
8. Gavet
9. Luke
10. Paasi
11. Mannering
12. Harris
13. Blair
14. Tevaga
15. Sao
16. Pulu
17. Afoa

Depth - Lisone, Satae, Lino

 

This time last week I was advocating for Ayshford to replace Hiku, because of his ability to feed his winger. However, Hiku had a great game on Saturday and has been good all year.

So I'd leave Hiku be.

But I still think it's a valid point, our wingers need more regular service. It can't all be bombs.

 

Gavet is out until round 6, apparently

 

Hiku’s been a real surprise for me

 

Absolutely

 

Johnson, Mannering and Lisone in.

It looks like Lino, Satae and Sao out?

VODAFONE WARRIORS V NORTH QUEENSLAND COWBOYS
Mount Smart Stadium, Auckland
7.30pm, Saturday, April 7, 2018

VODAFONE WARRIORS

1 ROGER TUIVASA-SHECK (c)
2 DAVID FUSITU’A
3 PETA HIKU
4 SOLOMONE KATA
5 KEN MAUMALO
6 BLAKE GREEN
7 SHAUN JOHNSON
8 BUNTY AFOA
9 ISSAC LUKE
10 AGNATIUS PAASI
11 LEIVAHA PULU
12 TOHU HARRIS
13 ADAM BLAIR
Interchange:
14 JAZZ TEVAGA
15 SAM LISONE
16 SIMON MANNERING
17 ANTHONY GELLING
18 LIGI SAO
20 MASON LINO
21 CHRIS SATAE
22 CHARNZE NICOLL-KLOKSTAD

 

nice

 

Smaller more mobile defensive bench.

Pretty clear we are going to run them into the ground and shut them out.

Looks pretty experimental with Gelling and Jazz featuring.

Good to see our two best long serving players Mannering and SJ back.

Sao is possibly head injured after that shoulder to the head.

 

Can only assume that Mannerking comes on for 1 of the props and Blair pushes in to the front row.

As an interchange I mean.

 

So Gavey aside, that's full strength?

Once Beale gets fit I wonder who he replaces, if anyone.

 

I expect Mannering will play plenty of minutes and allow Bunty,

Yep. Bonus is the props won’t have to play big minutes as I can’t see Simon playing less than 40. They can hog the rotations and stay fresh.

 

Undoubtedly, Mannering is good for the team. I just hope he doesn’t throw out the balance we’ve struck recently.

 

Radiosport reckons 25000 at the game this weekend. I'd be a little disappointed if it wasn't a sellout tbh. Genuinely decent doubleheader with the Storm and Tigers, good weather forecasted, and the Blues out of town for the weekend (not that they're a massive draw at the moment lol). Whats not to like?!

 

I’d normally say 18K for this but as it’s the double header I guess an extra 6-7 isn’t out of the question. I reckon more like 20 though.

 

Will be really interested to see how we play this game.
We had two pretty poor performances before the Roosters that had me worried, and then that one came along and really showed how well we can play.
If we're able to contain Hess, Taumalolo and Scott were a huge chance to upset these guys.
If we play the way we did against the Roosters well smash them.

 

25k would be about right. Last year, we average 11k at home. Melbourne and the Tigers average 15k away. Obviously, we're doing better than last year, but there's probably a fair amount of cynicism about the Warriors. So, 25k is not to be sneezed at. Who knows? It could sell out.

 

Just read 19K have sold already so 25 is on the cards if the weather is good.

 

We've gotta love those fair weather fans, ay?

 

I think there’s simply a lot relieved fans.