Four frontline players ruled out
Author
Richard Becht &
photosport.nzTimestampTue 26 Apr 2022, 03:00 PM
Four frontline players have all been ruled out while new signing Daejarn Asi has come straight into the Vodafone Warriors’ squad for their eighth-round NRL clash against the Canberra Raiders at Moreton Daily Stadium in Redcliffe on Saturday (3.00pm kick-off local time; 5.00pm NZT).
With signing formalities completed just this afternoon, Christchurch-born North Queensland standoff Daejarn Asi (21) has joined the Vodafone Warriors immediately for the rest of the 2022 season.
Head coach
Nathan Brown has named him on the extended bench in jersey #21 in a squad which shows multiple changes following last night’s club record loss to Melbourne.
Forced out through injury are winger
Dallin Watene-Zelezniak (concussion) and back rower
Josh Curran (knee) while interchange prop
Aaron Pene is suspended this week after taking an early guilty plea on a grade two careless high tackle charge from last night’s match.
Halfback-hooker
Kodi Nikorima is also out after being placed in isolation following a positive Covid test which eliminated him from the Melbourne trip.
Rocco Berry and
Viliami Vailea, who started the season as the first-choice centres, are in line to return to the NRL after being in the extended squad in recent weeks. They’ve both been listed on the wing replacing
Watene-Zelezniak and
Edward Kosi, who has moved to the extended bench.
With
Curran unavailable,
Euan Aitken and
Bayley Sironen have been named in the second row with
Jazz Tevaga at loose forward.
Jack Murchie and
Ben Murdoch-Masila are in contention to make comebacks from injury with
Murchie (calf) included on the interchange in jersey #17 and
Murdoch-Masila (leg) named in #20.
Also brought into the expanded squad for the first time this season is prop
Jackson Frei, who made his one and only NRL appearance in the Vodafone Warriors’ 24-10 22nd-round win over Canterbury Bankstown at Moreton Daily Stadium in August last year.
The Vodafone Warriors welcome a return to their 2022 home base in Redcliffe this weekend after playing two of the competition’s heavyweights on the road over the last two weeks.
They had won three straight but losses to the Sydney Roosters and Melbourne have seen them slip out of the top eight to sit 11th but still level on points with eighth-placed South Sydney.
After winning two of their first three matches of the season, the Raiders have dropped their last four to fall to 15th spot.
The Vodafone Warriors and Canberra have a 4-4 record in their last eight meetings with the Raiders holding a 25-21 advantage in the 46 contests between the two sides since 1995.
