Tuimoala Lolohea will start at fullback with Sam Tomkins ruled out of tonight’s 13th-round NRL clash against the South Sydney Rabbitohs at nib Stadium in Perth (3.30pm kick-off local time, 7.30pm NZT).
Tomkins returned from a knee injury in last Sunday’s 24-20 win over Newcastle but, while he saw out the match, he took another knock on his troublesome knee.
It was hoped he would recover to take his place again tonight but he has been ruled out.
His absence means Lolohea moves from right centre to fullback with Jonathan Wright moving in from the wing to fill Lolohea’s spot and Ken Maumalo, who became Vodafone Warrior No 201 against Parramatta, brought in on the wing for his second NRL appearance.
There is also a change at hooker again. As head coach Andrew McFadden did last week, he has brought Siliva Havili off the bench to start at hooker with Nathan Friend on the interchange.
While the Vodafone Warriors face a huge challenge beating the premieship-winning Rabbitohs in Perth, they'll also be under the pump as soon as the game is over, rushing to get straight off the field and out of the ground as quickly as possible to catch their Air New Zealand flight home at 7.50 tonight local time (less than two and a half hours after the game finishes).
They're due to arrive in Auckland at 6.10 tomorrow morning giving them as much time as possible to prepare for next Saturday night's 14th-round clash against the Sydney Roosters at Mount Smart Stadium.
SOUTH SYDNEY v VODAFONE WARRIORS
nib Stadium, Perth
3.30pm, Saturday, June 06
Referees: Jared Maxwell and Chris Butler
VODAFONE WARRIORS
3 TUIMOALA LOLOHEA
21 KEN MAUMALO
2 JONATHAN WRIGHT
4 SOLOMONE KATA
5 MANU VATUVEI
6 CHAD TOWNSEND
7 SHAUN JOHNSON
8 JACOB LILLYMAN
14 SILIVA HAVILI
10 BEN MATULINO
11 BODENE THOMPSON
12 RYAN HOFFMAN
13 SIMON MANNERING (c)
Interchange:
9 NATHAN FRIEND
15 SEBASTINE IKAHIHIFO
16 SAM LISONE
17 ALBERT VETE
HEAD COACH: ANDREW McFADDEN
