NRL round 18: eel v warriors
Where: CommBank Stadium, Sydney When: Friday, 9.55 pm
Live coverage: Sky Sport 4, live updates on stuff
A third head coach for 2022 could be about to take control of the Warriors with Stacey Jones racing against the clock to be free from Covid-19 sooner Friday night’s clash against the Eels†
jones, who took over when Nathan Brown was hired last month?tested positive after returning to training from the bye week and must produce two negative tests before the team travels to Sydney on Thursday afternoon.
Just over 48 hours from kick-off, Warriors Assistant Coach Justin Morgan could not rule out the possibility of Covid-19 spreading and rule out more than just winger Dallin Watene-Zelezniak†
“Obviously there is a chance to move on, obviously players spent time training together for the first half of the week.
READ MORE:
† Former Kiwi scrum half Kodi Nikorima has signed for Wayne Bennett’s Dolphins
† Kiwis whore Brandon Smith banned from three NRL games for umpire abuse
† ‘We can’t hold a grudge against him’: Warriors team-mates back Reece Walsh’s decision to leave the club
† Covid-19 keeps Queensland star Cameron Munster from making state of origin decisions
† Andrew Webster ‘excited’ after being appointed new Warriors head coach on a three-year deal
“The way things are going here in Queensland and most parts of Australia, there are a lot more cases than maybe three or four months ago,” Morgan said.
Non-coaching members of the Warriors staff have also contracted Covid-19 in recent days and end of last week Queensland State of Origin players Cameron Munster and Murray Taulagic were banned from Game 3 with the virus†
Fiona Goodall/Getty Images
Stacey Jones is an opportunity, but far from a certainty, to coach the Warriors on Friday night.
On Wednesday afternoon, Morgan was unable to provide assurances that Jones would be at CommBank Stadium for the round 18 game, but confirmed the great club didn’t sound right when they spoke on Tuesday.
“I know he was still feeling a little shy when I spoke to him yesterday, but we’ll just have to wait and see,” Morgan said. “He’s an opportunity.”
If Jones cannot travel to Sydney, Morgan will take over the head coach role against the Eels with Slade Griffin as his assistant.
Morgan has been in constant telephone contact with Jones and said the preparation wasn’t too different, apart from the conversations that didn’t take place in person and a different voice delivering his messages to the squad.
When it comes down to it there will be no zoom call from Jones at halftime, but he and Morgan will be in constant contact throughout match day and Jones will relay any information he needs through Morgan.
NRL/Photosport
Dallin Watene-Zelezniak has already been banned from the Eels match with Covid-19.
Morgan said the non-Covid-19 illness that had passed through the camp earlier this week – which ruled out the young half of Ronald Volkman – also made the week more difficult.
Jazz Tevaga was struck by the same illness earlier this week.
“Hopefully we can have 17 fit players on Friday,” said Morgan.
After the team’s best defensive effort of the season against the Tigers, Morgan said matching that effort against Parramatta was the absolute focus.
“We’ve talked about supporting that,” Morgan said. “They took some of that energy out of the crowd [in Auckland] but it is clear that this time we have to create our own energy.”
The Warriors get to see a close-up recruit 2023 Marata Niukore which is mentioned at sluice for the eel.