Warriors

Mannering to start for the Warriors

With Leivaha Pulu forced to the sidelines after sustaining a foot injury in last weeks first loss of the season to the Broncos, Mannering will take Pulu's place on the left edge.

Filling Mannering's spot on the interchange is front rower Albert Vete who is yet to play a first grade game this season.

Warriors centre Solomone Kata was seen carried off the field last week with ankle trouble but has been named to start pending a fitness test.

Warriors suffer first NRL defeat

After starting the season with five straight wins, the Auckland-based side suffered their first defeat of the year as the visiting Brisbane Broncos rumbled to a 27-18 victory on Saturday night.

The Warriors' next opponents, at Mt Smart Stadium on Friday, are a Dragons outfit who maintained their 100 per cent start to season by dispatching Cronulla 40-20.

"It shouldn't be hard for us to respond after that," Green said.

"We probably got out-enthused on our own home ground, which is disappointing.

Same starting line up for Warriors

Already boasting an unprecedented 5-0 start to the season, the second-placed

Warriors face their third Queensland side in three games at Mount Smart Stadium having disposed of Gold Coast 20-8 on March 17 and North Queensland 22-12 in the second leg of last week's double header in front of the biggest regular season crowd of 25,600 since 1995.

Kearney has named the same starting line-up used against the Cowboys while there are two changes on the extended eight-man bench.

Warriors continue unbeaten run

Skipper Roger Tuivasa-Sheck and his men have taken the club's best start to a campaign to 5-0, staying with St George Illawarra as the competition's only unbeaten teams.

Unfancied by many pundits at the beginning of 2018, the Warriors are firming as favourites to make their first finals appearance since 2011.

They again demonstrated their new-found defensive resilience against the Cowboys.

Last year's grand finalists have now lost four games in a row.

Warriors win again

The Warriors were dealt a massive blow when halfback Shaun Johnson was ruled out with a groin injury on the eve of the Sydney game.

In past years, such a setback would have caused the New Zealand side to put the cue in the rack but they rallied to record an important two points.

Johnson's fill-in, Mason Lino, was superb. However, Green was the chief architect as the Warriors recorded their first win without Johnson since round 22, 2014.

The Warriors are unbeaten after four rounds and look genuine contenders after six years in the finals wilderness.

Warriors' Lisone accepts one-game NRL ban

Lisone was hit with two grade one charges for dangerous contact to the head of Raiders utility Aiden Sezer, in near identical carries late in the match at GIO Stadium.

Neither incident drew a penalty from the referee, which would've prevented Warriors halfback Shaun Johnson from nailing two late field goals to steal the match.

Lisone's teammate Adam Blair also took the early guilty plea for his late shot to the back of Sezer in the same match, but will not miss a match.

Thieves inflict first loss of the season on the NZ Warriors

Sunday night's Ed Sheeran concert at Mt Smart prevented Warriors staff from gaining access to the club's headquarters to store playing gear and other equipment, including GPS trackers and game jerseys, after returning from Canberra.

They were forced to temporarily stash it away in an unmarked van outside a staff member's home on Auckland's North Shore, where it was pillaged overnight.

Warriors CEO Cameron George said they were "devastated" by the turn of events.

Warriors make injury-enforced change for Canberra Raiders

The 19-year-old Papali'i limped off early in last week's 20-8 win over Gold Coast and has since been ruled out for up to six weeks with a medial knee ligament sprain.

He'll be replaced in the second row by ex-Titan Pulu, who has twice started on the bench this season and will line up alongside Tohu Harris and lock Ligi Sao.

As a result, fellow Warriors recruit Agnatius Paasi comes onto the bench, where he'll join another new face in Jazz Tevaga, who replaces Sam Cook.

Coach Stephen Kearney talked up Pulu's NRL pedigree.

All Blacks skipper breathes life into Warriors season

The Warriors had an impressive 32-20 win over South Sydney in Perth at the weekend and are crediting a breathing exercise Read showed them during a pre-season camp.

After each try they scored skipper Roger Tuivasa-Sheck got his side back in a huddle to make sure they stayed focus.

"It's just to bring everyone back in a re-focus and get ready for what's next.

Culture key to Warriors success

On March 10th 1995 a New Zealand rugby league legacy was born. The Warriors make history running through a lit Mount Smart Stadium tunnel for the very first time.

Among those who ran out on that historic day was a 23-year-old Stephen Kearney.

Now 23 years on, the team he now coaches will begin their season on the exact same date in Perth with an objective to get the club back to winning ways.

"Certainly the hard work that the boys have put in during the preseason is about putting it all together for round one." says Stephen Kearney.