League: Warriors start and end with Storm

The Warriors will open and close their 2006 NRL season against the Melbourne Storm.

The draw released yesterday has the Warriors starting their season at home to the Storm on the weekend of March 10-12, with their final round-robin match at Melbourne on the weekend of August 18-20.

The Storm play away from home for the first four weeks of the season to avoid the Commonwealth Games in March.

The test between New Zealand and Australia has been set down for May 5, with the Warriors having the first of their two byes that weekend. Their other bye is in round 20.

The Warriors' first three matches are in New Zealand.

Their second- and third-round matches are at Waikato Stadium in Hamilton and Christchurch's Jade Stadium, where the Parramatta Eels and Wests Tigers have opted to take their respective "home" games.

Not until the fourth week of the competition do the Warriors face a trip across the Tasman, when they travel to Newcastle.

Six of the first eight games of the season will be in New Zealand.

For the second season running, St George-Illawarra and Canberra are among the four teams the Warriors meet only once. The others are North Queensland and Manly.

The draw is released without venues, which will be confirmed individually by the clubs.

Wests Tigers will commence their Premiership defence against St George-Illawarra at Sydney's Telstra Stadium on March 10.

Dates for the State of Origin series were set down as May 24 (Sydney), June 14 (Brisbane) and July 5 (Melbourne).

The Melbourne match at Telstra Dome will be the first Origin match played in the city since 1997.

There is a three-week break between State of Origin matches to reduce the impact upon players.

The New South Wales City versus Country match is scheduled for May 12.

- NZPA