Shaun Johnson to bring up 100th Warriors game against Roosters on Sunday

NZ Herald

14 Jul, 2015 06:05 AM3 mins to read

Shaun Johnson made his Warriors debut against the Roosters in 2011, he'll play his 100th against them as well. Photo / Getty Images

Shaun Johnson returns to where it all started when he makes his 100th NRL appearance for the Warriors' against the Sydney Roosters at Allianz Stadium on Sunday.

He made his debut there as a 20-year-old in a 13-6 loss to the Roosters in 2011 going on to appear in the grand final in his rookie season.

Johnson teams up in the halves with Chad Townsend for the 17th consecutive time this season when the fourth-placed Warriors take on a Roosters side two points ahead of them in third place.

Johnson becomes the 23rd player to appear in 100 games for the club and the first since prop Jacob Lillyman made his 100th appearance in the final game of the 2013 season.

Johnson was outstanding in Sunday's 28-14 win over Melbourne, a record winning margin in matches against the Storm at Mt Smart Stadium.

Apart from scoring a stunning try and having a key hand in the side's other four tries, he made a game-high 213 metres from 15 runs, had eight tackle breaks, two line breaks and two line break assists while also making 17 tackles without a miss.

With four goals he took his career tally to 538 points including 44 tries.

He is now closing in on third spot on the club's all-time points-scoring list, nine points behind former halves partner and now Roosters opponent James Maloney (547). Ahead of them are Manu Vatuvei (584) and Stacey Jones (674).

Warriors head coach Andrew McFadden yesterday named the same line-up fielded against Melbourne with veteran prop Sam Rapira on a five-man bench.

Wing Manu Vatuvei (shoulder), centre Konrad Hurrell (shoulder) and second rower Ryan Hoffman (calf) are still on the injured list with Vatuvei and Hurrell targeted to return for the July 25 home game against Manly and Hoffman on track to be available for August 1 home game against Cronulla.

With three consecutive wins for the second time this season - and six from their last eight games - the Warriors have climbed into the rare position of being inside the NRL's top four.

The last time they were in the top tier was 89 games ago after the 24th round in their grand final season in 2011; it was the only week they were in the top four that season.

Indeed the Vodafone Warriors have been among the leading four teams for just three weeks since 2007.

The other two occasions were in the opening rounds of the 2009 and 2010 campaigns; they were first at the end of round two in 2009 (after winning their first two matches of the season) and fourth after round three in 2010.

Roosters v WarriorsAllianz Stadium, 4pm Sunday

Sam Tomkins
Tui Lolohea
David Fusitu'a
Solomone Kata
Jonathan Wright
Chad Townsend
Shaun Johnson
Jacob Lillyman
Nathan Friend
Ben Matulino
Bodene Thompson
Raymond Faitala-Mariner
Simon Mannering