Via Warriors Media
Just 48 hours after joining the Vodafone Warriors, Parramatta loan players Daniel Alvaro and George Jennings come straight into the line-up for Friday night’s Indigenous Round match against the Wests Tigers at the famous Sydney Cricket Ground (6.00pm kick-off local time; 8.00pm NZT).
The 27-year-olds came into camp with their new team in Terrigal on Sunday and trained with the side for the first time yesterday.
They’ve seen little game time with the high-flying Eels this season, Jennings scoring a try in his only appearance (an 18-22 loss to Manly two weeks ago) and Alvaro used for just seven minutes from the bench in the 25-24 seventh-round win over Canberra.
With frontline wingers David Fusitu’a (62 tries in 103 games) and Ken Maumalo (36 tries in 95 matches) now in isolation after returning home yesterday, Vodafone Warriors interim head coach Todd Payten has handed Jennings left wing Maumalo’s #5 jersey (Jennings will become Vodafone Warrior #247). Taking the #2 jersey dominated by Fusitu’a will be Patrick Herbert, who has split his appearances this year between the wing and the centres.
Alvaro, boasting 88 games for the Eels in six seasons, joins fellow middle forwards Adam Blair and Lachlan Burr on the interchange as a ready replacement in the slot usually filled by the experienced Agnatius Paasi. Alvaro will become Vodafone Warrior #248.
Added to the interchange this week is hooker Wayde Egan, back after missing the match against the Roosters with a hip complaint; he’s in for Chanel Harris-Tavita who has been ruled out with a forearm injury picked up against the Roosters last Saturday.
The starting pack named is unchanged from the one that matched up to the vaunted back-to-back premiers.
The Vodafone Warriors opened up with only one forward who counted more than 60 NRL games (Tohu Harris) and included two rookies (Jamayne Taunoa-Brown and Eliesa Katoa) as well as Jack Hetherington, who was playing only his 20th game. Lined up against them were three players with well in excess of 200 games – one almost 300 – plus another with 150-plus and one playing his 120th.
Apart from Herbert and Jennings on the wing, the rest of the backline remains in intact from last week.
The match has deep meaning as all 16 clubs mark the annual Indigenous Round.
To acknowledge the occasion, the Vodafone Warriors will play in a stunning Canterbury of New Zealand-designed jersey named Tāua Tahi. Tāua Tahi is the Māori way of saying “That’s Us”.
Indigenous populations share many cultural similarities in how they relate to their environments particularly land, water, people and language.
Tāua Tahi recognises and pays respect to the tangata whenua of New Zealand as well as Australia’s indigenous people and the spiritual connection that binds both of them together as people of the land.
The kowhaiwhai design in the background represents growth, life, positivity, reaching upward toward the light, new beginnings, nurturing, belonging and all things being connected.
The colour scheme of red, black and white (traditional colours of the Māori world) have been chosen to enhance this design.
The Vodafone Warriors’ extended 21-man squad includes seven players who will honour their Māori heritage, one of whom – Taunoa-Brown – is also of indigenous Australian extraction. An eighth player Josh Curran has indigenous Australian heritage and, with Taunoa-Brown, represented the Indigenous All-Stars against the Maori Kiwis All-Stars in Robina in February. Blair and Kodi Nikorima were in the victorious Maori side.
VODAFONE WARRIORS v WESTS TIGERS
6.00pm, Friday, July 31, 2020
Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney
Referee: Peter Gough
VODAFONE WARRIORS
1 ROGER TUIVASA-SHECK (c)
2 PATRICK HERBERT (Ngāi Tūhoe)
3 ADAM POMPEY (Tainui)
4 PETA HIKU (Ngāriki Kaiputahi)
5 GEORGE JENNINGS
6 KODI NIKORIMA (Ngāi Tahu Nga Rāuru)
7 BLAKE GREEN
8 JAMAYNE TAUNOA-BROWN (Ngāti Kahungunu; Kaurna, Narungga)
9 KARL LAWTON
10 JACK HETHERINGTON
11 ELIESA KATOA
12 TOHU HARRIS (Ngāti Kahungunu)
13 JAZZ TEVAGA
Interchange:
14 WAYDE EGAN
15 ADAM BLAIR (Ngāpuhi)
16 DANIEL ALVARO
17 LACHLAN BURR
18 ISAIAH PAPALI’I
20 ADAM KEIGHRAN
21 JACK MURCHIE
23 JOSH CURRAN (Dharug)
HEAD COACH | TODD PAYTEN
Categories: Team News + Stats, WARRIORS NEWS
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