New signings Manaia Cherrington and Zac Santo will have their first outings at home when the Vodafone Warriors face Penrith in their 16th-round Intrust Super Premiership clash at Mount Smart Stadium (1.00pm kick-off).
Ex-Wests Tigers and Cronulla hooker Cherrington and former North Queensland and Canberra fullback Santo are both in the starting line-up to face the Panthers.
Cherrington made his debut from the bench in the 12-30 loss to Blacktown Workers Sea Eagles in west Sydney on June 11 while Santo had his first match for his new club in the 18-18 draw with Newcastle in Cessnock on June 3. He left the field early with an injury and missed the defeat by the Sea Eagles but now returns following the team’s first bye.
The Vodafone Warriors remain in clear second place on the ladder four points behind Wyong which had its 13th win of the season last weekend.
Meanwhile, the Vodafone Junior Warriors will be seeking back-to-back wins for the first time this season when they take on Canterbury-Bankstown on Friday night (5.45pm kick-off).
They picked up their second success of the season with a gritty 20-18 success against Gold Coast ahead of last week’s bye.
They welcome back experienced wing Lewis Soosemea while co-captain Chris Sio eyes a milestone night making his 50th NYC appearance.
INTRUST SUPER PREMIERSHIP
VODAFONE WARRIORS v PENRITH PANTHERS
Mount Smart Stadium, Auckland
1.00pm, Saturday, June 24
VODAFONE WARRIORS
1 ZAC SANTO
2 SAM COOK
3 JUNIOR PAUGA
4 SEMISI FOTU
5 MANU VATUVEI
6 MAFOA’AEATA HINGANO
7 MASON LINO (c)
8 TOAFOFOA SIPLEY
9 MANAIA CHERRINGTON
10 LIGI SAO
11 OFAHIKI OGDEN
12 ISAIAH PAPALI’I
13 JAMES BELL
Interchange:
14 JAZZ TEVAGA
15 CHRIS SATAE
16 PATRICK SIPLEY
17 DANIEL PALAVI
18 JOHNNY VUETIBAU
COACH | RICKY HENRY
NYC
VODAFONE JUNIOR WARRIORS v CANTERBURY-BANKSTOWN BULLDOGS
Mount Smart Stadium, Auckland
5.45pm, Friday, June 23
VODAFONE JUNIOR WARRIORS
1 LEE TURNER
2 ISRAEL OGDEN
3 MELINO FINEANGANOFO
4 DEAN KOUKA-SMITH
5 LEWIS SOOSEMEA
6 KANE TELEA
7 CHANEL HARRIS-TAVITA
8 KENESE KENESE (c)
9 EIDEN ACKLAND
10 TAYHLER PAORA
11 TYLER SLADE
12 JOE VUNA
13 CHRIS SIO (c)
Interchange:
14 JEROME MAMEA
15 KELEPI LUI
16 KEANU DAWSON
17 GIBSON POPOALII
18 PRESTON RIKI
20 ISAIAH PAPALI’I
21 LEWIS SIO
22 SHELDON ROGERS
23 TROY PULUPAKI
24 JAVVIER PITOVAO
COACH | GRANT POCKLINGTON
BUY TICKETS NOW | VODAFONE WARRIORS v CANTERBURY-BANKSTOWN, MOUNT SMART STADIUM, FRIDAY, JUNE 23 (8.00PM KICK-OFF)
