New Zealand Warriors Suspend Two Players Due……

Zyon Maiu’u, a prop for the New Zealand Warriors, will miss two games after his high tackle charge was successfully dropped during yesterday night’s NRL judicial hearing.

After a high tackle on Wests Tigers center Casey Declan in the 20th minute of Sunday’s Preseason Challenge in Christchurch, the 20-year-old was sent off.

Following that, Maiu’u was charged with grade two reckless high tackle, which carries a four-game penalty for an early guilty plea and a five-game ban if a not guilty plea is entered and the case is unsuccessfully tried in court.

In their protest, the One New Zealand Warriors attempted to have the high tackle downgraded from a rating two reckless to a grade three careless.

Because of this fortunate outcome, Maiu’u’s ban was lowered to two games.

Four NRL regulars will be absent from the One New Zealand Warriors’ 16th-round match against the Gold Coast Titans at Cbus Super Stadium in Robina on Saturday (3.00pm local time; 5.00pm NZT), despite Roger Tuivasa-Sheck’s comeback.

Expert back rowers Mitchell Barnett (NSW) and Kurt Capewell (QLD) are not available after being selected for the State of Origin match on June 26.

After only 37 minutes of Saturday night’s match against Melbourne, center Rocco Berry was forced to leave due to a shoulder injury, while winger Dallin Watene-Zelezniak was given a one-game suspension after entering an early guilty plea for a high tackle on his Storm opponent Grant Anderson.

As Berry recovers from a hamstring injury that kept him out of the team’s last five games against the Roosters, Panthers, Dolphins, Cowboys, and Storm, Tuivasa-Sheck takes Berry’s spot in the centers.
With Watene-Zelezniak suspended for just the second time in his 203 games played, Edward Kosi makes his 30th appearance in the NRL.

Dylan Walker, a loose forward, switches to the second row in Barnett’s absence, while captain Tohu Harris, who started his first two games back from a hand injury from the bench, is back in the starting lineup.

36-game prop Tom Ale replaces Capewell on the interchange, joining back rower Jacob Laban, middle forward Jazz Tevaga, and utility Chanel Harris-Tavita.