The Vodafone Warriors are on the road for the third time in four games this weekend seeking to put together their second four-game winning streak of the 2014 New South Wales Cup season.
Standing in their way are the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs who will be at home at Belmore Sports Ground for this 13th-round encounter on Saturday (3.00pm kick-off local time; 5.00pm NZT).
The Bulldogs have won just two matches this season and are coming off a bye while the Vodafone Warriors have followed losses to Penrith and the Mounties with wins against Manly (22-18), North Sydney (36-22) and Newcastle (34-12).
After falling 0-12 behind early on last Sunday the Vodafone Warriors produced a compelling display with 34 unanswered points to move up to fifth spot.
There are some changes slated for this week’s outing with Dane Nielsen coming into the centres and NYC-eligible Solomone Kata moving onto the wing while Jarrod Tua remains on the other wing. He picked up a hat-trick against the Knights giving him six tries in eight games so far; he’s top equal try scorer along with Tuimoala Lolohea, Carlos Tuimavave and Jarred Wilson.
With Lolohea travelling to Perth with the club’s NRL squad, Sam Cook will start in the halves in tandem with Tuimavave. In his last outing against the Bears two weeks ago, Cook picked up two tries.
Three changes have been made to the starting forward pack. With Charles Gubb in Perth and Nathaniel Peteru (knee) injured, Upu Poching and Abraham Papalii start in the front row and Agnatius Paasi, the NRL side’s 18th man last week, slots into the second row.
VODAFONE WARRIORS v CANTERBURY-BANKSTOWN BULLDOGS
Belmore Sports Ground, Sydney
3.00pm, Saturday, June 7
VODAFONE WARRIORS
1 STEVE WAETFORD (c)
2 JARROD TUA
3 DANE NIELSEN
4 DOMINIQUE PEYROUX
5 SOLOMONE KATA
6 CARLOS TUIMAVAVE
7 SAM COOK
8 UPU POCHING
9 MICHAEL SIO
10 ABRAHAM PAPALII
11 AGNATIUS PAASI
12 RAYMOND FAITALA-MARINER
13 JOHN PALAVI
Interchange:
14 MICHAEL KI
15 DAVID BHANA
17 SAM LISONE
20 ALBERT VETE
COACH: ROHAN SMITH
