Rookie hooker Makaia Tafua drops off the extended bench for the One New Zealand Warriors’ second versus third round 17 NRL encounter with the Dolphins at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane today (3.00pm kick-off local time; 5.00pm NZT).
Tafua, who played his second first-grade match in his hometown of Christchurch last week, joins centre Jye Linnane and prop Jason Salalilo who were omitted from the original 22-man squad at the 24-hour pre-match deadline yesterday.
It means the six-man bench remains unchanged comprising hookers Sam Healey, props Eddie Ieremia-Toeava and Demitric Vaimauga, second rowers Marata Niukore and Kayliss Fatialofa and halfback Luke Metcalf.
The Warriors have lost in-form prop Jackson Ford for 10-12 weeks following surgery on the pectoral he ruptured 20 minutes into Sunday’s 38-20 win over the North Queensland Cowboys last Sunday.
The interruption to Ford’s superb 2026 season sees Tanner Stowers-Smith coming into the starting front row alongside captain Mitchell Barnett.
While co-captain James Fisher-Harris (calf), second rower Leka Halasima (hamstring) and winger Alofi’ana Khan-Pereira (leg) are still unavailable, Queensland second rower Kurt Capewell returns after missing the North Queensland clash as does Healey, who was a late scratching last weekend.
Prolific try scorer Dallin Watene-Zelezniak becomes the 33rd player to join the club’s 100-game roll of honour tomorrow.
Linking up with the Warriors midway through the Covid era in 2022, the 30-year-old Watene-Zelezniak has set exceptional try-scoring standards for the club, his try in the win over the Cowboys taking him to 15 in 14 games this season.
Scoring a club record 25 tries in 2023, he now has 74 tries in his 99 appearances for the Warriors so far, a strike rate of 0.74 tries a game which puts him ahead of record holder Manu Vatuvei’s 0.67 tries a match (152 in 226 appearances).
Watene-Zelezniak is one of only three players in line to maintain a sequence of playing in every match so far this campaign alongside hooker Wayde Egan and loose forward Erin Clark (Ford’s unbroken run of 14 appearances has been halted)..
The Warriors have named an unchanged backline to face the Dolphins while Capewell and Stowers-Smith come into an amended starting pack.
When the two teams met in Wellington on Anzac Day the Warriors held on for a 20-18 win but since then the Dolphins have been in the hottest form in the competition putting together seven wins on end over the Storm, Bulldogs, Rabbitohs, Raiders, Cowboys, Roosters and Wests Tigers.