Luke to make Warriors debut in NRL trial

Kiwis hooker Issac Luke has been named to make his first appearance in a Warriors jersey against Gold Coast in an NRL trial in Whangarei on Saturday.

One of two major off-season arrivals at the club along with fullback Roger Tuivasa-Sheck, former South Sydney star Luke sat out the NRL Auckland Nines last weekend.

Also getting their first run of the year at Toll Stadium will be winger Manu Vatuvei and second-rower Ben Henry.

Vatuvei – whose wife, Jennifer, gave birth to the couple’s fourth daughter this week – is making a return from off-season surgery.

Henry was sidelined for most of 2015 with his second serious knee injury in two years.

A number of frontline players will miss the match, including Tuivasa-Sheck and star playmaker Shaun Johnson, who were both part of the Nines.

However, four others will back up from that tournament – winger Ken Maumalo, five-eighth Ata Hingano and props Albert Vete and Charlie Gubb.

Warriors: Tomas Aoake, Ken Maumalo, Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad, Matt Allwood, Manu Vatuvei, Ata Hingano, Erin Clark, Albert Vete, Issac Luke, Charlie Gubb, Raymond Faitala-Mariner, Ben Henry, Ligi Sao.

Interchange: Viliami Kaveinga, James Gavet, Upu Poching, Jazz Tevaga, Bunty Afoa, Marata Niukore, Kane Telea, Semisi Tyrell.

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