It continues the halves rotation this season, the fourth different pairing used in 2022. Both Harris-Tavita and Nikorima have had sweet and sour moments this year, with Nikorima poor in the round one defeat to the Dragons and Harris-Tavita struggling last Friday.
Jones said Nikorima deserved to keep his spot in the 17, after an encouraging performance against the Tigers.
He also expects Johnson to make a considerable difference, after long periods of poor game management last week.
"He's got a strong voice and he gets himself into the right positions to attack and gets players around him into good positions," said Jones.
However, the Warriors also want the rest of the spine to be more involved, to lessen the focus on Johnson.
"What we learned from the first game, when we had Shaun there, [was] that we had too much pressure on him," said Jones. "Other players need to take that off him. We will look for an improvement in that area with other players in key positions stepping up as well."
Jones, who looks after the offensive side of the game under Nathan Brown, admitted the team's attack remains a work in progress, after positive signs against the Titans in round two were followed by a blunt effort at Campbelltown Stadium.
"We are a fair way off of where we want to be," said Jones. "But we know that we'll get to where we want to be fairly soon. Our big focus is making sure that we are able to build pressure and get to our last plays. If you sustain that against any opposition you'll score points and that's probably what's let us down."
There have been no further Covid cases among the first-grade squad, since Bayley Sironen tested positive earlier in the week, though some development players are in isolation.
Centre Rocco Berry is an unlikely starter on Saturday, after being unable to train this week due to illness, though Jones said it was not Covid.
