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KEY POINTS:
Both the Warriors and the Gold Coast Titans will field line-ups close to their intended starting team for the NRL opening round on March 13-16 when they meet at Lismore tonight.
The Warriors have secondrower Jacob Lillyman available for his first pre-season run after shoulder surgery and Micheal Luck will have his first trial run.
Only prop Evarn Tuimavave is missing from the group from which the eventual NRL side will come, while young prop Mataupu Poching is left out after injuring an ankle against the Cowboys last Sunday.
Not travelling and clearly in the back-up class as the season opener approaches are former Newcastle prop Jesse Royal, wings Patrick Ah Van and Malo Solomona, five-eighths Michael Witt and Liam Foran, utility Daniel O'Regan, who captained the under-20s in 2008 but is now too old to play in the Toyota Cup, rookies Lewis Brown and Hermann Retzlaff and secondrower Epalahame Lauaki, who is awaiting a work visa from England so he can leave for Hull. They play with a Warriors selection against the Auckland Vulcans at Mt Smart number two today.
Coach Ivan Cleary said he intended running all 20 top-squad members who are travelling and may use some from the under-20s squad, which will play their Titans opposites in the curtainraiser. But not too many.
"I found out last weekend that it doesn't pay to have too many rookies out there at the same time."
He was getting close to a final XVII selection for the starter against the Eels at Mt Smart on March 14, Cleary said, but players still had the chance to impress in the third and last of the pre-season trials and in the two weeks to follow before the NRL kick-off.
The training this week had been particularly sharp, Cleary said, a measure of how keen the players were for the opening game. "It's good to see the the work in training being put into practice in games," he said, pleased with where they were at in their build-up. "They are all getting to know the systems and they are all reasonably comfortable playing with each other."
The competition for spots was a problem he expected to have throughout the year. "It will be a challenge for the coaching staff. It will be disappointing at times for some of the players. The approach we have to take is that it's a long season, there will be injuries and there will be players away with representative commitments, there will be lots of opportunities between here and October," Cleary said. "It's a squad job, not a team job. We have to make sure that everyone is ready so when they get their opportunity they make the most of it."
The Titans halfback and co-captain Scott Prince has been allowed leave to attend a family function and lock Ashley Harrison is still coming back after shoulder reconstruction but the remainder of the Titans' top squad will play tonight, their coach John Cartwright having listed a run-on 13 and interchange bench.
Warriors quad:
Wade McKinnon, Denan Kemp, Manu Vatuvei, Aidan Kirk, Jerome Ropati, Brent Tate, Aaron Heremaia, Joel Moon, Nathan Fien, Stacey Jones, Leeson Ah Mau, Russell Packer, Steve Price (c), Sam Rapira, Ian Henderson, Lance Hohaia, Jacob Lillyman, Simon Mannering, Ben Matulino, Ukuma Ta'ai, Micheal Luck.
Titans squad:
William Zillman, Jordan Atkins, Josh Graham, Brett Delaney, Esi Tonga , Mat Rogers, Brad Davis, Luke Bailey (c), Nathan Friend, Matthew White, Anthony Laffranchi, Mark Minichiello, Luke O'Dwyer. Interchange: Ian Donnelly, Brad Meyers, Bodene Thompson, Shannon Walker, Ian Lacey, Will Matthews, David Mead, Sam Tagataese.
