Kearney may select Kiwis trio for Warriors
Warriors coach Stephen Kearney may renege on his pledge and select his three New Zealand internationals for NRL duty this week despite their involvement in the Denver Test loss to England.
Kearney will assess the fitness of winger Ken Maumalo, centre Peta Hiku and hooker Issac Luke when they arrive back in Auckland on Wednesday.
His original stance was that any Kiwis involved in the historic Test in Colorado on Sunday wouldn't be considered for Friday's match against Cronulla.
However, injuries to first-choice backs David Fusitu'a (ankle) and Solomone Kata (hamstring) could open the door for Maumalo and Hiku respectively.
Kearney may also find it difficult to omit veteran hooker Luke, who has been hugely influential this season.
He says the medical staff will be busy this week assessing player welfare.
The five players who represented Samoa in their loss to Tonga in Sydney over the weekend all underwent Tests on Monday and are available to face the Sharks.
"The dilemma that we have is I can't make any definite decisions until later on in the week," he said.
"I spoke about it before with those (Kiwis) guys not playing because it's such a big trip. But with the situation we find ourselves in we may have to play them.
"It will depend how David and Sol pull up in the next couple of days."
If selected, Maumalo, Hiku and Luke would have just one training run this week.
