Apart from Tuimoala Lolohea replacing the unavailable Roger Tuivasa-Sheck, the Vodafone Warriors will take the field as selected for tonight’s historic third-round NRL clash against the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs under Forsyth Barr Stadium’s roof in Dunedin (8.00pm kick-off).
Lolohea starts at fullback in jersey #21 in his 51st career match while the run-on forward pack features Jacob Lillyman and Albert Vete as the starting props in the battle against their big Bulldogs counterparts.
Tonight’s match marks wing Manu Vatuvei’s first NRL appearance of the season.
The ledger is 19-13 in Canterbury-Bankstown’s favour with two draws while the away record favours the Bulldogs 9-5 with two draws. The Vodafone Warriors’ 24-20 win against them in Wellington last year is their only success in the last six encounters since 2011.
VODAFONE WARRIORS v CANTERBURY-BANKSTOWN BULLDOGS
Forsyth Barr Stadium, Dunedin
8.00pm, Friday, March 17
VODAFONE WARRIORS
21 TUIMOALA LOLOHEA
2 KEN MAUMALO
3 DAVID FUSITU’A
4 SOLOMONE KATA
5 MANU VATUVEI
6 MAFOA’AEATA HINGANO
7 SHAUN JOHNSON
8 ALBERT VETE
9 ISSAC LUKE
10 JACOB LILLYMAN
11 BODENE THOMPSON
12 RYAN HOFFMAN (c)
13 SIMON MANNERING
Interchange:
14 ERIN CLARK
15 SAM LISONE
16 CHARLIE GUBB
17 BUNTY AFOA
HEAD COACH | STEPHEN KEARNEY
