{"id":500460,"date":"2026-02-24T07:09:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-24T07:09:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/500460\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T07:09:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T07:09:10","slug":"warriors-confirm-star-trio-to-return-for-their-season-opener-nrl-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/500460\/","title":{"rendered":"Warriors confirm star trio to return for their season opener – NRL News"},"content":{"rendered":"

The New Zealand Warriors<\/a> have confirmed that three star players will be making a return for their opening match against the Roosters to kick off their 2026 campaign.<\/p>\n

Roger Tuivasa-Sheck<\/a> (hamstring), Chanel Harris-Tevita (calf), and Marata Niukore<\/a> (calf) will all rebound from preseason injuries just in time for Round 1.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The three players missed both their preseason challenge fixtures against the Sea Eagles and the Dolphins<\/a> in February.<\/p>\n

It comes as a massive bonus for the Warriors, who will be without Mitch Barnett and Luke Metcalf<\/a> to start the season, who are both recovering from long-term knee injuries sustained mid-season last year.<\/p>\n

Harris-Tevitas’ timely return is a breath of relief for the Warriors, who are under an injury crisis in the halves before the first whistle has even been blown.<\/p>\n

Harris-Tevita is expected to get the first call-up in the halves for the Warriors to start their season, with Te Maire Martin<\/a> succumbing to a leg fracture in the All Stars fixture.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Along with Metcalf’s long-term injury, the Warriors’ depth is already being tested early on in the season.<\/p>\n

The pressure will be building on halves partners Harris-Tevita and Tannah Boyd, without sharing the field in the trials, they will have to take time to strike a combination before Metcalf is expected back between Rounds 8-10.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Get set for the footy with the FREE Zero Tackle 2026 NRL Season Guide!<\/a> Packed with 130+ pages of player profiles, team previews, insights and analysis, the 2026 NRL Season Guide<\/a> is built for fans who want the full picture. Download your free Season Guide HERE.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The New Zealand Warriors have confirmed that three star players will be making a return for their opening…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":475938,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-500460","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-nrl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/500460","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=500460"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/500460\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/475938"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=500460"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=500460"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=500460"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}