Changes have been made to the spine and the pack for the Warriors’ third-round NRLW match against St George Illawarra at ANZ Stadium in Sydney on Saturday (12.30pm kick-off local time; 2.30pm NZT).
With the Warriors hunting a season-ending victory, coach Brad Donald has made moves at halfback and hooker with veteran Hilda Peters switched to the dummy half role and Naomi Kara brought in for her NRLW debut at halfback.
Peters, coming in for Kanyon Paul, will fill her third different position after being used on the wing against Brisbane and on the interchange bench against the Dragons after being named in the second row initially.
Kara (34) will become the 16th player to debut for the Warriors and the 11th to make her NRLW debut this season. She replaces Simone Smith.
The Cambridge-born Kara plays for Wests Tigers in the New South Wales premiership and comes from a strong rugby league family; her brother Kurt Kara spent two seasons with the Vodafone Junior Warriors in the National Youth Competition in 2008-2009 before forging an impressive career in the New South Wales Cup. He appeared in a record 150-plus reserve grade games for the legendary Newtown Jets before retiring in 2017.
The other changes in the starting line-up see Sam Economos brought in at prop for Kayla Sauvao and Shaniah Power replacing Brianna Clark in the second row.
Named on the extended bench are Teaghan Hartigan, Taimane Levu, Smith, Michaela Peck, Clark, Laken Paitai, Steph Ball and Paul.
Coming off losses to Brisbane (14-28) and the Roosters (12-20), the Warriors are
out of contention for the grand final as are the Dragons, who have also lost twice.
In a losing side workhorse captain Georgia Hale and Australian rugby union sevens player Evania Pelite made solid individual contributions, Hale yet again with a game-high tackle count of 36 and just one miss while she also made 106 metres from 12 runs.
Pelite was a try scorer for a second straight week, her stunning 70-metre effort helping her to a game-high 165 metres. She also had six tackle breaks and made 16 tackles with one miss.
