‘It’s down to mother nature’: Warriors wait on dad-to-be Shaun Johnson’s availability

NRL, round 19: Eels v Warriors. Where: CommBank Stadium, Sydney. When: Saturday, July 8, 7.30pm. Coverage: Live on Sky Sport 4, live updates on Stuff from 7.10pm.

The Warriors are still sweating on the availability of star playmaker Shaun Johnson for Saturday night’s crunch NRL clash with in-form Parramatta in Sydney.

Johnson was named in the starting XIII on Tuesday for the round 19 showdown at CommBank Stadium, as coach Andrew Webster selected an unchanged team despite being heavily beaten by an understrength Rabbitohs at home last Friday.

But the influential halfback remains a doubt for the trip across the Tasman for what would be his landmark 200th appearance for the Auckland-based club as his wife, Silver Fern Kayla Johnson, is due to give birth to their second child at any moment.

The Warriors are set to depart Auckland and head to Australia after Friday’s captain’s run, with Johnson only travelling if Kayla has given birth, leaving his availability in the hands of “mother nature”, according to Webster.

“He’s keen to play if it works out. If it doesn’t work out, then he won’t. Nobody is going to begrudge someone the birth of their child, so we’re fully supportive on that one,” the Warriors coach said.

“We know what we’re going to do if he doesn’t come, so I’m just going to give him every chance. We’ll work it out on Friday.”

The availability of veteran halfback Johnson, who has hit close to career-best form this year to help the Warriors confound gloomy early season predictions and vie for a top eight spot, would be a major boost to their chances of upsetting the red-hot Eels.

Brad Arthur’s side are in the midst of a five-match winning streak which saw them soar to sixth place on the congested NRL ladder, two spots above the eight-placed Warriors.

But they will be without their New South Wales State of Origin representatives Mitchell Moses, Reagan Campbell-Gillard and captain Clint Gutherson when they host the Kiwi outfit, who produced their worst display of the campaign last week in going down 28-6 to Souths.

That comprehensive defeat at a sold-out Mt Smart ended the Warriors’ own three-game winning run and puts their playoff pursuit in peril.

Indeed, a loss to the Eels would see Webster’s men drop out of the top eight for the first time in more than two months, with seven rounds of the regular season to go.

Yet Webster was not allowing himself or indeed his players to get distracted by the finals race and vowed to take a game-by-game approach.

“We don’t focus too much on that. If you start focusing on that, you lose focus on what matters, and for us, that’s football,” he said. “So we just need to get our processes right.”

Despite the Eels being shorn of several frontline players, Webster felt they would still be a formidable force on home turf.

His players would need to deliver a “tough performance” against “one of the best attacking teams in the comp” to avoid successive defeats.

Webster is seeking a reaction from his squad after their poor performance on Friday night, where they struggled to adapt to the atrocious conditions.

“You never want to lose back-to-back games, especially where we’re sitting. Last week, we started well, then we fell off a cliff. This week, we don’t want to fall off a cliff,” he said.

“We’ve just got to take the lessons out of it [the loss to Souths] and learn from them and go out there and action them this week.

“For us, it was ball control. I think that’s been our problem the last couple of weeks. We’ve had a few good results but our ball control I think has dropped off.”

Injuries and suspensions meant that Webster had little option than to stick with the same side that toiled against a streetwise Souths in the Auckland rain, conceding 28 unanswered points having led 6-0 with 18 minutes on the clock.

Second-rower Josh Curran, who was mysteriously scratched from the Warriors lineup before the Souths game, will also miss Saturday’s encounter after being handed down a breach notice following an NRL Integrity Unit investigation.

The Australian pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm at Port Macquarie Local Court last week, having assaulted a then 16-year-old at the city’s Level Up nightclub the morning after last year’s NRL grand final.

The 24-year-old avoided a conviction despite being placed on a 12-month good behaviour conditional release order but faces a two-match ban and a A$10,000 (NZ$10, 800) fine.

The Warriors will also be without enforcer Marata Niukore, who is two games into a three-match high tackle suspension.

Parramatta have some off-field issues of their own, with Kiwis half Dylan Brown facing a mooted seven-game suspension and a hefty fine after being found guilty of sexually touching a woman without consent.

Brown received an 18-month community corrections order after pleading guilty to two counts of unwanted sexual touching in court last week, following a booze-fuelled incident at a Sydney pub on June 3.

He was stood down by the NRL’s chief executive Andrew Abdo, who said the organisation “does not tolerate unlawful conduct of any nature let alone offences against women”.

After facing the Eels, the Warriors will return to New Zealand for back-to-back home games against the Sharks (3rd) and Raiders (5th) that could determine whether they will return to the finals for the first time since 2018.

AT A GLANCE

Warriors: Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad, Dallin Watene-Zelezniak, Rocco Berry, Adam Pompey, Marcelo Montoya, Luke Metcalf, Shaun Johnson, Addin Fonua-Blake, Wayde Egan, Bunty Afoa, Jackson Ford, Mitchell Barnett, Tohu Harris (capt). Interchange: Dylan Walker, Bayley Sironen, Tom Ale, Freddy Lussick. Extended bench: Brayden Wiliame, Ronald Volkman, Kalani Going, Zyon Maiu’u, Taine Tuaupiki.

Eels: Sean Russell, Maika Sivo, Will Penisini, Bailey Simonsson, Isaac Lumelume, Ryan Matterson, Daejarn Asi, Ofahiki Ogden, Brendan Hands, Junior Paulo, Bryce Cartwright, Andrew Davey, J’maine Hopgood. Interchange: Luca Moretti, Joe Ofahengaue, Shaun Lane, Makahesi Makatoa. Extended bench: Haze Dunster, Waqa Blake, Ky Rodwell, Matt Doorey, Jack Murchie