A day after the Warriors suffered several casualties in their Anzac Day defeat to the Melbourne Storm, coach Andrew Webster will have to rely on the depth of his squad when he names his side to play the Roosters on Sunday.
They will be without skipper Tohu Harris due to the recurrence of a knee problem, Jazz Tevaga to a calf and Achilles injury and Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad to concussion.
Webster must announce his squad for the match at Mount Smart Stadium this afternoon.
Fortunately for Webster and the Warriors, Bayley Sironen, who also left the field with a head knock, will be available.
“Bayley passed [his HIA], which is good,” Webster said after the 30-22 defeat at AAMI Park.
“Jazz will miss some time - he had some Achilles and calf problems. I don’t know yet on Tohu and Charnze has to be stood down because he failed his HIA.
“Fielding a team, I want every player available one week this year. When that happens it will be great, but if it doesn’t honestly, the next guy will do his job.
“Whoever that is, back home, with a full house rocking, we’ll be fine. We don’t make excuses, whatever happens, happens and whoever wears the jersey will do a great job.”
The Warriors made a brilliant start in a match they have traditionally struggled in. Taking the field having lost their previous 13 encounters in the traditional fixture, they hardly made a mistake as they scored through Jackson Ford, Dallin Watene-Zelezniak and Addin Fonua-Blake to lead 18-6 after 22 minutes.
But a combination of injuries, giant prop Nelson Asofa-Solomona’s introduction off the bench for Melbourne, and Dylan Walker’s controversial sinbinning for an alleged head slam on former Warrior Eliesa Katoa combined to set them back as the Storm regained control.
The Warriors finished the match with no reserves.
“You could see how hard the boys were trying to hang in there,” Webster said.
“There was a period where if we got a call or if something went our way, we were still a fighting chance and they would have found a bit of belief.
“But they just kept trying all of the way to the end. I’ve seen those situations blow out and [the opposition] put three tries on a team late, but the boys hung in there and I’m really proud of that.
“It was hard, but if we owned a couple of moments we could have really come home swinging.”
As has become traditional, several tight calls went against the Warriors, and Webster believed Walker’s tackle on Katoa was legal. However, it’s possible the Australian could yet be suspended.
“My reaction was Dylan was taking him to the ground and unfortunately his head slammed and then Dylan came over the top,” Webster said.
“Because they wanted to check it, I looked and thought he’s sweet. Then I started turning to the next part, we were talking about that as a staff, then I turned around, they called him out and gave him 10 [minutes].
“I initially thought it was a good tackle drive, I didn’t see any arm around his head, or slamming his head to the ground."
Harris said he wasn’t overly concerned about his knee injury.
“It’s the same knee I did a couple of weeks ago, but we won’t find out until we’re back home, the extent of the damage,” he said.
“But I’m hoping it’s not that bad, that it’s pretty positive news and I don’t miss any or too many games.”
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