Captain Apii Nicholls and standoff Patricia Maliepo are back to bolster the One New Zealand Warriors for Sunday’s round eight NRLW encounter with the Cronulla Sutherland Sharks at FMG Stadium Waikato in Hamilton (3.45pm kick-off).
Nicholls (pectoral) and Maliepo (calf) were ruled out of Saturday night’s Indigenous Round clash against the Canberra Raiders but return in a battle which pits the sixth-placed Warriors against the Sharks sitting two points ahead in fifth.
One New Zealand Warriors head coach Ron Griffiths has named a rearranged side in the wake of centre Tysha Ikenasio and middle forward Matekino Gray both being sent off in the 16-20 loss to the Raiders.
Nicholls resumes her customary role at fullback with Emmanita Paki, who played there against Canberra, listed at halfback in tandem with Maliepo.
Tyra Wetere comes back on the right wing for Lavinia Tauhalaliku, Shakira Baker has been moved into the centres and Lydia Turua-Quedley switched back to hooker after being used at halfback.
Makayla Eli has been named in the second row with the bench including teenagers Ivana Lauitiiti and Ashlee Matapo, who are both on development contracts.
Despite their loss to Canberra, the Warriors remain in the top six with a 3-4 record while the Sharks collected their fourth win last weekend with a 12-8 victory over the Titans.
The Warriors all but overcame the disadvantage of having just 11 players for most of the contest.
Falling 0-16 behind immediately after they were reduced to 11 with Ikenasio’s departure, they then outscored the Raiders 16-4 over the last 45 minutes of the match.
They had a 58%-42% advantage in possession while their completion rate was 78% to Canberra’s 67 per cent.
They were also clearly ahead in metres gained (1107-938), post contact metres (452-279), tackle breaks (42-28), missed tackles (28-42), ineffective tackles (3-13) and errors (8-15).
Individually they had four players who topped 100 metres in Harata Butler (146), Baker (141), Lauitiiti (124) and Kaiyah Atai (117).
Winger Payton Takimoana’s second hat-trick in her rookie season elevated her to the top of the competition’s try-scoring list.
