NRL: Hohaia ready for Panthers

Lance Hohaia's return will see Jerome Ropati move back to his preferred position at centre. Photo / Getty Images

Lance Hohaia has been named to return at fullback for the Warriors' trip to NRL pace-setters Penrith on Sunday.

Hohaia sat out Sunday's victory over the Eels after picking up a groin strain in training but the veteran fullback has been cleared to return to face a Panthers side that has joined the Dragons at the top of the table after winning Monday night's one-v-two matchup.

Coach Ivan Cleary has named an unchanged 18-man squad, while the Panthers will sweat on their quartet of Origin players coming through tonight's third match in Sydney.

Even without their big guns the Panthers were good enough to beat the similarly weakened Dragons, a result that saw their title odds shorten considerably with Australian bookmakers.

"The Panthers were very good when they beat us (40-12) in April and they've gone up another level since then," said Cleary.

"Playing them in this form at home is going to be a huge challenge."

Having won three in row to move into eighth place, the Warriors are also in good form. However Brett Seymour, Brent Tate, Jacob Lillyman, Sam Rapira and Kevin Locke all remain on the injured list.

After his outstanding fill-in job against the Eels, Jerome Ropati returns to his usual spot in the centres, while Lewis Brown, who scored twice in the 35-6 win over the Eels, returns to the second row.

Prop Jesse Royal makes the run-on side, while Jeremy Latimore is included on a five-man bench.

PANTHERS

CUA Stadium, 5pm Sunday

Lachlan Coote
Michael Gordon
Michael Jennings
Adrian Purtell
Brad Tighe
Wade Graham
Luke Walsh
Matthew Bell
Kevin Kingston
P Civoniceva (c)
Trent Waterhouse
Frank Pritchard
Luke Lewis

WARRIORS

Lance Hohaia
Bill Tupou
Joel Moon
Jerome Ropati
Manu Vatuvei
James Maloney
Isaac John
Jesse Royal
Aaron Heremaia
Russell Packer
S Mannering (c)
Lewis Brown
Micheal Luck

Panthers: T Burns, G Cooper, S McKendry, N Smith, M Iosefa, F Puletua, D Laurie, D Simmons, S Earl (5 to be omitted).

Warriors: Ian Henderson, Ben Matulino, Jeremy Latimore, Sione Lousi, Ukuma Ta'ai