One New Zealand Warriors playmaker Chanel Harris-Tavita will make his 100th NRL appearance in a side showing one change for the historic Anzac Round clash against the Dolphins at Hnry Stadium in Wellington on Saturday (8.05pm kick-off).
In an injury-forced switch, Taine Tuaupiki returns to the side for Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad who has been ruled out this week with a neck injury after coming back into the side for last Saturday night’s 28-20 win over Gold Coast.
The 27-year-old Harris-Tavita (Warriors #233), who made his debut in 2019, completes a journey to 100 games which was interrupted when he took time away from the game in 2023.
A product of the club’s pathways system, he made his NYC under-20 debut the day he became eligible on his 17th birthday on April 3, 2016 and has since gone on to fashion a first-grade career which has featured starts at halfback and standoff as well as fullback while he has also been an interchange utility.
He becomes the 32nd player to appear in 100 games for the One New Zealand Warriors; of the current squad only Roger Tuivasa-Sheck (#203), Erin Clark (#216) and Nicoll-Klokstad (#218) made their debuts for the Warriors before him.
Harris-Tavita will achieve his major milestone on an auspicious occasion as the Warriors take their Anzac Round match to Wellington for the first time after facing Newcastle in the corresponding match in Christchurch last year and in Auckland in 2024.
While Tuaupiki comes back in for his sixth appearance of the season, added to the extended bench is centre Adam Pompey after being suspended for the last two matches against Melbourne and Gold Coast.
Other than Tuaupiki at fullback the rest of the starting lineup is the same as that used in the Warriors’ fifth win in seven starts last week, a result which has them back up to second on the ladder.
It was a performance which featured outstanding contributions from the forwards led by Dally M leader Jackson Ford who made 239 metres from 23 runs plus a game-high 49 tackles while Mitchell Barnett ran for 165 metres, James Fisher-Harris 131, Erin Clark 119 and Leka Halasima 104.
After three games played at Eden Park in 2011, 2012 and 2013, the 34,500 sell-out at Hnry Stadium on Saturday will be the fourth biggest crowd for a Warriors game played in New Zealand. It will top the previous best in the Capital of 30,112 for the home match against Canterbury Bankstown in 2013.
The Anzac Round match-up is the seventh between the Warriors and the Dolphins with the ledger reading 3-3 in the first six contests.
The last four encounters have been decided by four points or less, the Dolphins winning 20-18 at Go Media Stadium last year, the Warriors 16-12 at Suncorp while in 2024 the Dolphins prevailed 34-32 at Suncorp and the Warriors 24-20 in Auckland.