Shaun Johnson, Jazz Tevaga and Addin Fonua-Blake will run out for their last home game together when the NZ Warriors face the Canterbury Bulldogs in Friday night’s Round 25 NRL clash at a sold-out Shaun Johnson Stadium.
The 33-year-old Johnson’s 223rd appearance for the club will be his 87th at his beloved home ground, more than 13 years after his first there against the Wests Tigers in 2011.
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That day he was a two-game rookie surrounded by several players who rank among the longest-serving in the club’s history in Simon Mannering, Manu Vatuvei, Ben Matulino, Jacob Lillyman, Lance Hohaia, Micheal Luck and Russell Packer.
On Friday night, he will stand alone as the most experienced player on the park playing his 267th career game in a journey which has been built around 11 first-grade seasons with the Warriors from 2011-2018 and 2022-2024.
For Tevaga, playing his 137th game on Friday at Mt Smart is equally a place of the heart and a wrench for him to play on for the last time as a Warrior.
In his four-year stay with the club, Fonua-Blake (28) has had just two seasons based at the stadium after Covid-19 ensured his first two campaigns were spent in Australia.
He plays his 84th game for the Warriors this week and is just as attached to the place that has been home for him.
Johnson, Tevaga and Fonua-Blake have been named in a side which shows one change from the one that lost 24-10 to the Manly Sea Eagles last Friday night, with Wayde Egan returning at hooker in place of Freddy Lussick, who moves to the interchange.
That restores the starting pack which had been used in the previous five games. It also means Egan will make his 99th appearance for the Warriors, leaving him in line to join the 100-game club in the season finale against the Cronulla Sharks next week.
Two other milestones are in reach before the season is over, both of them for wing Dallin Watene-Zelezniak.
His 12th try of the season last week left him one short of his 50th try for the Warriors (he has 49 in just 67 appearances) and two away from reaching 100 NRL tries.
After having their slim hopes of playing finals football completely extinguished last week, the Warriors face a formidable assignment against a Canterbury side eyeing the chance of a top-four finish.
The Bulldogs are fifth on 32 points – two behind the Sydney Roosters and Cronulla – after winning four straight and six of their last seven, including a 13-12 win over the Warriors on July 6.
NZ WARRIORS: Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad, Dallin Watene-Zelezniak, Adam Pompey, Roger Tuivasa-Sheck, Marcelo Montoya, Luke Metcalf, Shaun Johnson, Addin Fonua-Blake, Wayde Egan, Mitchell Barnett, Marata Niukore, Kurt Capewell, Dylan Walker. Interchange: Freddy Lussick, Tom Ale, Jazz Tevaga, Demitric Sifakula. Reserves: Chanel Harris-Tavita, Leka Halasima, Taine Tuaupiki, Edward Kosi, Bunty Afoa
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