Luke to make his return off pine
Issac Luke is back for the Warriors, although his return to first grade will come via the bench.
After missing both pre-season trials and the round one 40-6 victory over the Bulldogs as he recovered from off-season shoulder surgery, the Kiwis veteran has been named on an extended bench in the squad to face the Tigers in Sydney on Sunday.
Luke’s not certain to play but Warriors coach Stephen Kearney was confident the 31-year-old could see some action at Campbelltown.
“Issac is also making good progress in his recovery and is certainly a good chance of playing against the Tigers,” said Kearney yesterday.
“We are waiting to see if he is fit enough, and once we know that, we have got a bit of a plan to work out with the medical team about what is best going to suit Issac and obviously for us to have an idea of what is best going to suit the team.”
But long-term, Luke is set to face strong competition from Nathaniel Roache for the No 9 berth this season, as the 22-year-old impressed in Saturday’s win, his first NRL match since August 2017.
Isaiah Papali’i could also make his first NRL appearance of the year, after being stood down last week as a sanction for a drink driving incident.
“Isaiah paid the price last week after failing to live up to the standards we expect of our players,” said Kearney. “He’s full of remorse about what happened and he’s also hungry to win his place back in the side.”
Where he might play is uncertain though. Papali’i mainly played as a back rower last season but was earmarked to wear the No 13 jersey in 2019.
“I haven’t made up my mind,” said Kearney. “He trained all pre-season in the middle but he is lucky that he can also fill a role on the edge. He will fit in where we think it is best going to suit the team.”
The Warriors have no major injury concerns, with wing Ken Maumalo expected to recover in time from a slight knock carried out of Saturday’s win.
“He’s pulled up all right [and] rolled back into training in pretty good shape,” said Kearney. “[There were] a few sore bodies; round one, a pretty hard ground, I was expecting a few bumps and bruises.”
It’s an unchanged starting side for round two, although Blake Ayshford has dropped out of the 17.
Kearney is wary of the Tigers, who impressed in their 20-6 win over Manly, with veterans Robbie Farah
and Benji Marshall pulling the strings.
“Given the [wet] conditions the two senior players in the side were great,” said Kearney. “Fantastic, experienced, crafty players who picked apart Manly. Knowing Benji and Robbie, that’s certainly what we have to watch out for.”