Warriors

The senior prop has missed the early stages of the season following knee surgery.

The Warriors head to Melbourne with a three win and four loss record after the seventh round 20-8 loss to the Raiders at the weekend.

Warriors coach Stephen Kearny says Matulino has been making good progress since returning to full training and should be ready to play soon.

Matulino's inclusion on the bench is the only change from the 21-man squad initially named for last Saturday's clash against Canberra.

The 28-year old has worked his way back into Stephen Kearney's side, having missed selection for the first two rounds of the 2017 NRL competition.

However, Gavet is now a regular for the Warriors, but hasn't forgotten about the bad times as he enjoys the good.

"Those memories will never, ever, leave me or any of the people that were there," Gavet told 1 NEWS.

His battle with alcohol and depression saw him provided with professional help by his club, with the blockbusting prop coming through the other side.

The odd five-day turnaround is part of every season for most NRL Telstra Premiership clubs these days, but for the Warriors it's something they have hardly even had to think about in recent times.

Since 2012 the Kiwi club have been involved in just one five-day gap between matches, beating the Tigers 32-22 on April 11, 2015, five days after losing to the Storm on April 6.

This week they will navigate it again when they take on Melbourne on Friday night, after beating Newcastle 26-22 on Sunday afternoon.

Lauiti'iti was at the home of the Mangere East Hawks on Thursday as part of the Downer NRL Auckland Nines community carnival, promoting the 2017 Rugby League World Cup along with the 'Volcano' Lesley Vainikolo.

The 21-year-old endured a frustrating 2016 season, struggling to find a permanent position in ex-coach Andrew McFadden’s side.

Rumours swirled earlier this year that he could be on the way out after he posted a photo to Instagram from the Broncos training base in Brisbane.

With the Warriors signing Kieran Foran, fresh rumours circulated last weekend that the exciting young prospect was looking to leave, but Lolohea dismissed those claims.

"I'll definitely for sure be at the Warriors next year," Lolohea told Newshub.

The 26-year-old Reynolds laid on three first-half tries with grubber kicks behind the Warriors' defence, also kicking a field goal and landing five from six conversions.

The half-back was subsequently hauled off in the 46th minute with a hamstring injury.

The Warriors, who entered the match as strong favourites, drop to ninth on the ladder and will rue missing the opportunity to cement themselves in the top eight.

Souths will take confidence from their performance in what has been a disappointing 2016 campaign.

In front of a bumper 25,109 crowd keen to catch their first glimpse of the Titans' superstar recruit, it was Warriors' playmaker Shaun Johnson who stole the show.

Johnson set up two second-half tries to break a 10-10 half-time deadlock, as the Warriors (24 points) leapfrog the Titans (23) into seventh on the competition ladder.

Solomone Kata's intercept try, his second four-pointer of the match and 12th of the season, sealed the match for the visitors.

After more than a month since his last NRL Telstra Premiership appearance – spent on medical leave following his punishment for failing to meet team standards – the 216-game veteran was back to help the Kiwi side produce their best performance of the year in a 36-18 victory over Brisbane.

After the win coach Andrew McFadden paid tribute to the hulking winger, while Shaun Johnson, Tuimoala Lolohea, Solomone Kata and captain Ryan Hoffman all joined him in showing their admiration for Vatuvei.

Canberra dominated the majority of the 80 minutes, scoring three tries directly from Warriors handling errors in their own half, on a night where they crossed for six four-pointers in greasy conditions.

Up 22-0 at the break, the Green Machine didn't let up in the second period, as they registered their first win in their last six games against the Kiwi side.

The early minutes suggested a grinding affair was on the cards, but once Canberra got over the top of the Warriors' pack in the middle the points quickly followed.

Conflicting second-half performances tell the story

After enjoying an 18-14 lead at the break, the Warriors lost their way in the second stanza, conceding 16 points while failing to score a single one themselves.