Fullback Brad Abbey and winger Marcelo Montoya are set to make their NRL debuts for the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs when they take on the Warriors in Dunedin on Friday night.
The 20 year old Abbey, who hails from New Zealand and represented the Junior Kiwis in 2016, has performed strongly in the pre-season and will fill the slot left by Will Hopoate, who has a fractured eye socket that will keep him out for four to six weeks.
Also missing from the line-up will be winger Kerrod Holland, who has damaged the AC joint in his right shoulder and will be sidelined for up to six weeks. His place will be taken by 21 year old Montoya, who took his game to a new level last season, scoring 19 tries in 18 games for the Bulldogs NYC side, in addition to notching a try in Fiji's 20-18 win at Apia Park, in the first ever official Test match in Samoa.
The match also marks the 150th Bulldogs NRL game for hard-working second rower Greg Eastwood.
The game will be a Bulldogs home match as the club looks to continue to build on its strong following in New Zealand. It will be the first time that the Bulldogs have taken a match to Dunedin at the impressive Forsyth Barr Stadium.
The game will kick of at 8pm (New Zealand time) on Friday night.
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NRL Round 3: Bulldogs v Warriors, Forsyth Barr Stadium Dunedin - Friday, March 17th 2017 - 8pm (NZ)
1. Brad Abbey
2. Brett Morris
3. Josh Morris
4. Brenko Lee
5. Marcelo Montoya
6. Josh Reynolds
7. Moses Mbye
8. Aiden Tolman
9. Michael Lichaa
10. James Graham
11. Josh Jackson
12. Greg Eastwood
13. David Klemmer
14. Sam Kasiano
15. Danny Fualalo
16. Adam Elliott
17. Raymond Faitala-Mariner
19. Craig Garvey
20. Matt Frawley
21. Francis Tualau
23. Reimis Smith
COACH: Des Hasler
