New Zealand Warriors v Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs
Mt Smart Stadium, Sunday 1 May
11:45am (local)
LIVE coverage on Fox Sports channel 501 and Sky Sports (NZ)
With Andrew McFadden dropping six NRL players this week, the New Zealand Warriors Intrust Super Premiership NSW team could be very different to what was named last Tuesday. Stacey Jones’ men have been in fine form lately, winning their previous two encounters while now being refreshed having just had a bye. The Bulldogs on the other hand have had a poor start to 2016, unable to close out close matches and play for 80 minutes. It will be interesting to see how they react to the challenge across the ditch.
Ins and Outs:
The Warriors named a vastly different side to the one that overcame the Roos in Round 7, with the likes of Tomasi Aoke, James Gavet, Jazz Tevaga, Albert Vete and Shaun Lane all departing; only Aoke is not a part of the NRL squad to take on the Dragons. In their place comes Matt Allwood, Jeff Robson, Nathaniel Roache, Ligi Sao and Upu Poching. However, these are subject to change.
There are only two changes for the Bulldogs – Elias Sukkar drops off the bench and Raymond Faitala-Mariner is a chance of his club NRL debut. They are replaced by George Tsikrikis and Will Solway.
Key match-ups:
The Warriors and the Bulldogs possess two of the best and most exciting backlines in the competition. Ken Maumalo, Konrad Hurrell and Matthew Allwood are three big names in the Warriors lineup, while Brad Abbey, Tyrone Phillips and Reubenn Rennie are three up-and-coming youngsters in the Bulldogs. We don't know how these players go against each other, but we do know it will be exciting.
