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Injuries strike Warriors

Injuries strike Warriors

07/27/2010 04:16:09 AM

The Warriors' injury curse continues with centre Jerome Ropati and wing Kevin Locke out for the match against the Gold Coast Titans in Auckland on Sunday.

Both players are expected to be sidelined for at least two weeks – Ropati with a groin injury and Locke suffered a hamstring complaint in his side's 38-28 loss to the South Sydney Rabbitohs last week.

Versatile back-rower Lewis Brown will slot in at centre and Bill Tupou replaces Locke for his ninth appearance of the season.

With Brown reverting to the centres, Ukuma Ta'ai starts in the second-row and, in another change, Ben Matulino comes into the run-on combination in the front row. A five-man bench includes Jacob Lillyman, who was 18th man against the Rabbitohs, and Joel Moon.

The defeat to the Bunnies broke a five match-winning streak and saw the Warriors drop one place from fifth to sixth on the NRL ladder. They are now tied with three other teams on 24-points.

Warriors coach Ivan Cleary moved to play down the injury concerns.

"It would have been nice to get through another week without injury issues but that's the way it goes. We've lost two more players and have been forced to shuffle our backline," Cleary said.

"We've had to deal with situations like this all season so there's no point getting too worried about it."

Of more concern for Cleary was the performance against the Rabbitohs.

"We weren't at the level we expect of ourselves," he said.

"Generally we were a bit down but we can't afford to let it slip again this week. Every side presents a challenge in the NRL and Gold Coast will obviously come here with some confidence after beating the Dragons."

Team:

1. Lance Hohaia, 2. Bill Tupou, 3. Brent Tate, 4. Lewis Brown, 5. Manu Vatuvei, 6. James Maloney, 7. Brett Seymour, 8. Ben Matulino, 9. Aaron Heremaia, 10. Russell Packer, 11. Simon Mannering (c), 12. Ukuma Ta'ai, 13. Micheal Luck. Interchange: 14, Ian Henderson, 15, Jesse Royal, 16. Jeremy Latimore, 17. Jacob Lillyman, 18. Joel Moon

 
Photograph Copyright : Getty Images

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