Warriors

Storm winger Xavier Coates crossed for four tries in the 60-point romp while fullback Ryan Papenhuyzen was enormous for the side after missing most of the training week with an ankle injury.

Papenhuyzen notched up his 10th try of the season with another career double to secure the ANZAC medal as the Storm piled on 13 in total to secure their biggest ever win over the Warriors and most points scored at AAMI Park.

Both sides were desperate to kick-start their season after consecutive losses and it was the Warriors who held their nerve in a tryless second half.

The Tigers made a promising start when skipper James Tamou left Josh Curran in his wake and carried Reece Walsh over the line with him to give the home side a 6-0 lead.

Six minutes later the Warriors opened their account when a Chanel Harris-Tavita bomb was spilt by David Nofoaluma and Euan Aitken pounced to score.

The Tigers should relish a return to their heartland at Campbelltown Stadium, having not played there since round nine last year, but they'll need a lot more than just a vocal crowd to get them across the line.

After some promising signs against Melbourne in round one the Tigers reverted to old habits against the Knights and were blown off the park, while the Warriors pushed the Titans all the way in a free-flowing contest at Cbus Super Stadium.

The Rundown

Team news

Brimson took less than a minute to lay on the game's opening try for Beau Fermor and finished the day with two try assists, a line break and a line break assist in his first game at five-eighth since 2019.

After the early strike by Fermor the Titans extended their lead in the 15th minute when Jayden Campbell lofted a pass to Greg Marzhew who put a huge fend on Marcelo Montoya and raced away to score under the posts.

A mistake by Philip Sami handed the Warriors field position and Wayde Egan cashed in with a try from dummy half to make it 12-6.

The Kiwis pair have been confirmed to start in the halves for Saturday's clash with the Dragons on the Sunshine Coast.

The match will be Johnson's first in Warriors colours since September, 2018, with the 31-year-old returning after several seasons with the Cronulla Sharks.

Nikorima won the race to partner Johnson, with new recruit Ash Taylor named on the extended bench.

Chanel Harris-Tavita had been given the nod at fullback, filling the void left by suspended young star Reece Walsh.

After being based in Australia for the past two years, the game against the Penrith Panthers on Saturday 18 June was meant to be the Warriors' first game at home in 1023 days.

However, chief executive Cameron George says the government's border restrictions make it too hard to play.

George says it is "impossible" for NRL teams to isolate for seven days after arriving in New Zealand.

"Penrith, for example, plays the previous Sunday so it can't even do the seven days before our game."

On the field, Kiwi legend Shaun Johnson will call the shots in the No.7 jersey, returning to the role he made his own in 162 games between 2011-18.

Off the field, the Little General, Stacey Jones, is back on the coaching staff and ready to pass on pearls of wisdom to Jones, Chanel Harris-Tavita, Kodi Nikorima and Ash Taylor.

Jones was the heart and soul of the Warriors between 1995 and 2005, playing 238 games and leading the club to the 2002 grand final before a two-year stint with Catalans in Super League.

After Friday night's courageous 18-16 comeback win over the Wests Tigers, Brown revealed the Raiders and Dragons had offered to loan him players to help deal with a busy casualty ward.

"But loaning players is not going to help us build our club for next year ... we want to win, but I'd like to win with our own players," said Brown, who reiterated his gratitude for the rival teams' offers.

Canterbury CEO Aaron Warburton has confirmed Gould was among a number of candidates sounded out about the job and Bulldogs chairman John Khoury even phoned Warriors owner Mark Robinson to ask about the possibility of the former premiership-winning mentor switching clubs.

Gould, who guided Canterbury to the 1988 premiership in his first season of coaching, performed a similar role at Penrith and has been credited for helping to turn the Panthers into NRL title contenders by focusing heavily on developing junior talent.

The home side played much of the game with only one healthy interchange player after Joe Tapine (ankle), Ryan James and Sebastian Kris (both head injury assessments) were ruled out.

And they still found some energy to try to steal the victory when Jordan Rapana was stretching out for the corner with only seconds left on the clock. Tuivasa-Sheck's reach was that little bit longer, knocking the ball from the winger's grasp.