League: Jones asked to front again

Stacey Jones gets the captain's job after a stirring display against the Souths. Picture / Fotopress

Stacey Jones resumes the captaincy of the under-siege Warriors and Monty Betham has been told to concentrate on defence as they seek a much-needed win against a depleted Melbourne Storm at Ericsson Stadium on Sunday.

"We want Monty to be able to concentrate solely on leading the defence, which will need to be at its best against a side like the Storm," coach Tony Kemp said.

"He gave us so much value with his work in the middle of the park earlier in the season.

"That's the work ethic we'll need in our last 12 matches as we strive to make the finals."

Kemp said that Jones had said he had thrived in the leadership role.

"We certainly saw that in the win over Souths and we need Stacey to be a dominant figure in our pursuit of a place in the semifinals."

The Warriors need to keep Jones interested. Once their finals chances are gone it will be hard for him to keep his mind off his shift to France and at that stage they might as well blood the combination they intend to take into 2006.

Sione Faumuina has accepted the one-week ban the NRL judiciary gave him for a high shot on Trent Barrett in the loss to the Dragons.

Lance Hohaia comes back from a club-imposed ban for misbehaving outside a nightclub. He still has to appear before the district court.

But otherwise the Warriors field much the same team as that of recent weeks, bar the all-important leadership of Steve Price.

They desperately need to beat a Storm side missing wing Matt King (with the New South Wales side) and hooker Cameron Smith and fullback Billy Slater (with Queensland ahead of State of Origin 2).

Storm bench player Ian Donnelly is out suspended.

Had the Storm been up to strength it's hard to see how the under-confident Warriors would have footed it with them. But with Hohaia back, and provided Jones and Nathan Fien fire, the Warriors should have superior attacking options.

The Storm re-signed King yesterday for a further three seasons and are expected to reach terms with halfback Matt Orford within days.

* Manly backed down over their refusal to offer Michael Monaghan a contract for 2006 after the intervention of a major sponsor. The skipper has re-signed to the end of 2008 at A$240,000 ($258,000) a season.

* Ericsson Stadium, 2pm Sunday

Warriors

Brent Webb, Francis Meli, Clinton Toopi, Jerome Ropati, Todd Byrne, Nathan Fien, Stacey Jones (c), Ruben Wiki, Lance Hohaia, Richard Villasanti, Louis Anderson, Wairangi Koopu, Monty Betham

Storm

Greg Inglis, Matt Geyer, Steve Bell, Josh Graham, Jake Webster, Scott Hill, Matt Orford, Robbie Kearns (c), Cooper Cronk, Alex Chan, David Kidwell, Ryan Hoffman, Dallas Johnson

Interchange:

Warriors: Iafeta Paleaaesina, Karl Temata, Manu Vatuvei, Awen Guttenbeil.

Storm: Dennis Scott, Glen Turner, Nathan Friend, Antonio Kaufusi.