Kearney stays loyal to winning Warriors, while club prepares tribute for Kiwi legend

The Warriors will pay a special tribute to the late Quentin Pongia on Saturday, to honour the former Kiwis captain.

After a battle with cancer, 48-year-old Pongia passed away in Greymouth last Saturday.
Pongia was a legend of the New Zealand game, carving out a fearsome reputation across 35 tests for the Kiwis and an NRL career with the Raiders, Warriors, Roosters and Dragons.

His impact will be marked in the match against the Broncos this weekend, with the Warriors wearing an indigenous round strip bearing #52, the number Pongia claimed when he played for the Auckland club in 1998.

There will be a video tribute to Pongia on the big screen at Mount Smart while a minute's silence will be observed before kick-off .

"It was tough receiving the news [last Saturday], especially [for] our coaching staff who were real close to `Q' and played with him," said captain Roger Tuivasa-Sheck. "A lot of us boys looked up to Q and the type of player that he was. I've heard great things about Q coming into the system and everyone has high respect for him."

Tuivasa-Sheck is part of near unchanged Warriors 17 for the match, with the only alteration to the lineup forced through suspension.

Veteran Adam Blair gets a reprieve, back in the side following a one game suspension picked up by Agnatius Paasi.

Bunty Afoa has been drafted from the interchange to replace Paasi, while Blair fills Afoa's spot on the bench.

Blair's 298th career NRL appearance comes against his former club after missing the last two games against the Dragons (suspension) and the Panthers last week (omitted).

The 33-year-old Blair is now on track to play his 299th game against his original club Melbourne on June 8 and his 300th away to Gold Coast on June 14.

Hooker Nathaniel Roache hasn't been selected for the wider 21-man team, as he struggles to overcome a cork to his back suffered in the win over the Dragons. It means Issac Luke gets another chance to stamp his mark, in their ongoing battle this season for the No 9 jersey.

The match-up against the Broncos has special significance. For just the second time, the NRL Indigenous Round honours New Zealand's Indigenous people and culture as well as Indigenous Australians and Torres Strait Islanders.

In their 25th season, it also coincides with the Warriors' 42nd encounter with original opponents the Broncos. On that night in 1995 foundation captain Dean Bell led the team into battle for the first time and he'll reprise the role on Saturday when he walks out ahead of the 2019 squad to present the Broncos with a gift as part of the indigenous round festivities.

WARRIORS v BRISBANE BRONCOS
7.30pm, Saturday, May 25, 2019
Rarotonga Mount Smart Stadium, Auckland

WARRIORS
1 ROGER TUIVASA-SHECK (c)
2 DAVID FUSITU'A
3 PETA HIKU
4 PATRICK HERBERT
5 KEN MAUMALO
6 KODI NIKORIMA
7 BLAKE GREEN
8 BUNTY AFOA
9 ISSAC LUKE
10 LEESON AH MAU
11 ISAIAH PAPALI'I
12 TOHU HARRIS
13 LACHLAN BURR
Interchange:
14 JAZZ TEVAGA
15 ADAM BLAIR
16 LIGI SAO
17 KARL LAWTON
18 GERARD BEALE
20 LEIVAHA PULU
21 CHRIS SATAE
22 CHANEL HARRIS-TAVITA
HEAD COACH | STEPHEN KEARNEY