League: Injury to star utility sours Warriors win

New five-eighth Joel Moon scored the Warriors' first four-pointer against Parramatta. Photo / Getty Images

The Warriors' win over the Eels came at a cost, with star utility Lance Hohaia likely to be ruled out for three weeks with a knee tear and second rower Ben Matulino sure to miss at least the next game against champions Manly with an ankle sprain.

Hohaia came on 30 minutes into Saturday night's 26-18 victory and scored twice - a minute after taking the field and then after halftime.

Both touchdowns came from his acceleration and willingness to take on the line and that will be missed. The immediate prognosis was a muscle tear rather than ligament damage and the exact injury and time of recovery is expected to be known after an MRI scan tomorrow.

Matulino will not have a scan, indicating the medics believe his ankle injury is not serious but the coaching staff expect him to be out for possibly two weeks.

Micheal Luck, who was assisted off late in the game when knocked out by a shoulder charge from Eels prop Fuifui Moimoi, will undergo testing to be cleared to play but yesterday he was healthy and confident of doing that. Referee Ashley Klein put the tackle on report.

Hohaia's injury opens the way for the return of club great Stacey Jones, who could come off the bench to replace Nathan Fien at halfback, so allowing Fien to go to hooker to rest Ian Henderson. This seems the most obvious choice for coach Ivan Cleary when he considers his 17 tomorrow. Jones, who missed the last trial with a calf strain, would likely struggle for match fitness over 80 minutes.

Jacob Lillyman, who was forced to play more time than planned when Matulino went off after just nine minutes, is the obvious replacement in the run-on 13. Epalahame Lauaki, who has signed with Hull but awaits a work visa, may be called up to the bench, though the Super League club prevented him from playing with the feeder side Auckland Vulcans at the weekend.

The Warriors completed 12 sets at the start of the game, producing tries to new five-eighth Joel Moon and teen prop Russell Packer and after Hohaia scored it was 18-6 at the break, the Eels' right side pairing of Ben Smith and Eric Grothe working a scissors for their points.

"They blew us away in the first bit and it took a while to recover," said Eels coach Daniel Anderson of his former club.

Warriors skipper Steve Price conceded they had taken their foot off the accelerator mid-second half and the result was tries to Eels new five-eighth Jarryd Hayne and centre Krisnan Inu but they were never close enough to threaten victory.

Anderson praised the Warriors' scrambling defence and said the Auckland side showed plenty of character. The Eels were ill-disciplined at the start and consequently had to play expansively at the end and mistakes came. "We never got into a position to make them nervous."

Hayne had a good game defensively and although his offence "had a few rocks in it" they would persist with the former winger in the halves, Anderson said.

Warriors coach Ivan Cleary was similarly pleased and critical of his new six Moon. "He's very young in terms of playing a key position. He's doing everything right. He has a long way to go and he knows it."

Moon's long left-foot kick assisted the cause and he was busy as a link man and solid on defence. Both centres Jerome Ropati and Brent Tate profited from his ball distribution. The wings Denan Kemp, fastest man at the club, and Manu Vatuvei, most powerful tackle-breaker, had disappointingly few chances in space.

Kemp nailed five from five goals to prove his aim is good.

The depth that was talked up in pre-season now gets a test. "It was a tough game," Cleary said, "You almost forget over the off-season just how tough it is."