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NRL finals week one: Panthers v Warriors. Where: BlueBet Stadium, Penrith. When: Saturday, September 9, 6.05pm. Coverage: Live on Sky Sport 4, live updates on Stuff from 5.45pm.
Warriors superstar halfback Shaun Johnson has been ruled out of the club’s first NRL finals appearance in five years.
Johnson will not play in Saturday’s qualifying final against the Penrith Panthers on Saturday after he pulled up with tightness in his left calf at training.
Already major outsiders against the minor premiers and two-time defending NRL champions, the loss of Johnson is a monumental blow for the Warriors.
Johnson, the freshly crowned Warriors player of the year, travelled to Sydney with the team on Thursday, but the club has confirmed he won’t play.
His injury was compounded by the loss of his halves partner for the second half of the season, Luke Metcalf, who went down with a hamstring injury against the Dragons two weeks ago.
STUFF
The Warriors will be forced to play their first finals match in five years without star halfback Shaun Johnson.
Te Maire Martin made his long-awaited return from a broken leg last week and while he was rusty after not playing first grade since April 9, he has big game finals experience.
Head coach Andrew Webster has two likely options to replace Johnson – push Martin into halfback and shift Dylan Walker to partner him in the halves or throw the keys to the team to young halfback Ronald Volkman.
Volkman, who filled in for Johnson last week, was not named in the 22-man Warriors squad on Tuesday, but the Warriors could apply to the NRL for an exemption to have him added.
Bunty Afoa, Taine Tuaupiki and Freddy Lussick could all be chances to move onto the bench if Walker was to be used in the halves.
The club remains confident Johnson will return for their second finals match.
JONO SEARLE/AAP/PHOTOSPORT
Shaun Johnson is out of the finals match against the Panthers with calf soreness.
Due to finishing the regular season in fourth, Saturday’s finals match is not sudden death for the Warriors with a home game in New Zealand, at either Eden Park or Mt Smart, against the winner of Sunday’s Knights and Raiders clash awaiting, should they lose to the Panthers. A Warriors victory over Penrith would earn them a week off before a preliminary final at home on the weekend of September 23-24.
Johnson was one of a number of senior players rested for last Saturday’s final match of the regular season, that resulted in a 34-10 loss to the Dolphins, to enable them to recover from a range of niggling injury issues they had been managing.
Johnson had previously been nursing a quadriceps injury that had seen him, at times, relinquish the goalkicking duties to Adam Pompey.
Despite being best known for his tries and try assists, two of Johnson’s biggest strengths in his stellar 2023 season have been his defence and kicking. The loss of both will be a huge blow for the Warriors.
Regardless of who his halves partner has been at different times during the year, Johnson has always been responsible for almost all of the kicking in general play.
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