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It's back to the future for rugby league in New Zealand today.
For the first time in 10 years, the Vodafone Warriors will have players named in both major tiers of the Australian competition.
Head coach Ivan Cleary will name his first side of the season for the 2007 NRL competition and, at the same time,
Auckland Lions coach Graeme Norton and director of coaching Brian McClennan will reveal their line-up for the team's debut in the New South Wales Premier League.
Both sides take on the Parramatta Eels at Mt Smart Stadium on Saturday night, Auckland kicking off against the 2006 premier league champions at 5.10 while the Vodafone Warriors kick-start their campaign at 7.30.
Interest in the Vodafone Warriors will centre on how many of the club's off-season signings gain selection. Australians Wade McKinnon, Michael Crockett and Michael Witt have all featured prominently in the Vodafone Warriors' programme of three trials while 1997-2003 Vodafone Warrior Logan Swann impressed in his only outing against the Bulldogs. Also in contention is former Canterbury Bulls Bartercard Cup loose forward Corey Lawrie, who has played in each trial. The only newcomer not considered will be former Sydney Roosters fullback Aidan Kirk, still coming back from off-season knee surgery.
The Auckland Lions have delivered a vital development opportunity for the game in New Zealand. Each week the side will feature Vodafone Warriors NRL squad members not required for first-grade duty along with the club's super elite players, some from the Allied Work Force development squad and others from Auckland club sides.
The birth of the Auckland representative side, which will play in jerseys modelled in the traditional Auckland colours of blue and white, will give Vodafone Warriors players and Auckland club players their first significant experience of reserve grade football since the 1997 Super League days.
In that season the Warriors had first grade, reserve grade and colts teams, the reserves and colts both making their grand finals at the old ANZ Stadium when both were beaten.
In 1999-2000 the Vodafone Warriors had an association with NSW Premier League side Newtown and Queensland Cup club Souths which resulted in some players appearing for those teams. Back then, though, the system involved players travelling each week with all games played in Australia.
The new Auckland team will play matches home and away. When the Vodafone Warriors are at home to Brisbane on March 25, the premier league side will play the curtain-raiser against the Newtown Jets. The following weekend, when the Vodafone Warriors are in Melbourne, Auckland will be facing the Bulldogs’ premier league team in Sydney.
