Captain Tohu Harris will be sidelined indefinitely after being ruled out of the One New Zealand Warriors’ 18th-round NRL clash against Canterbury-Bankstown at Accor Stadium in Sydney on Saturday (3.00pm kick-off local time; 5.00pm NZT).
The 32-year-old 234-game veteran has a wrist injury with no timeline yet set on how long he will be unavailable.
He played just 25 minutes in last Saturday’s 32-16 win over Brisbane, his fourth match back since being out with the injury following the round 10 loss to the Sydney Roosters.
Dylan Walker will now start at loose forward for the sixth time in the Warriors’ last seven games while prop Bunty Afoa comes onto the bench.
Along with Harris the other two players omitted from the extended squad at the 24-hour deadline are back rower Jacob Laban and centre Ali Leiataua.
Retained in the 19-man game day squad are fullback Taine Tuaupiki and second rower Leka Halasima.
After being named on the bench but ultimately starting against Brisbane, back rower Kurt Capewell is in the run-on side for his 150-game milestone appearance.
The 30-year-old Queensland Origin representative will be playing his 11th game for the club following 64 matches for Cronulla Sutherland from 2016-2019, 32 for Penrith in 2020-2021 and 43 for Brisbane in 2022-2023.
He’s paired in the second row with Marata Niukore while New South Wales Origin forward Mitchell Barnett is selected in the front row where he started against the Broncos.
The backline is unchanged from the one used against the Broncos when standoff Chanel Harris-Tavita, halfback Te Maire Martin, centre Roger Tuivasa-Sheck and winger Dallin Watene-Zelezniak provided five of their side’s six tries.
While the Warriors are coming off an exceptional turnaround, rebounding from a 6-66 loss to the Titans to beat the Broncos 32-16, they face a searching test against a high-flying Canterbury Bankstown side now running sixth in the competition on 20 points having won four of its last five matches. The Warriors are three points behind in 14th spot on a congested table.
The Warriors have won the last six encounters with the Bulldogs and eight of the last 10 since 2016 but the Canterbury Bankstown side is vastly improved this year after finishing 15th last season.
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