By James Bennett
Hello and welcome to Auckland’s Mt Smart Stadium where the Warriors are hosting the Cowboys in NRL action.
The Warriors are coming off the bye and welcome back Nathan Friend to dummy half while the Cowboys are without the Origin stars. Conditions are relatively settled in Auckland with a decent breeze enough to play some havoc with the high ball.
We’ll bring you video live updates throughout the match, including video highlights of all the big plays and tries.
Make sure you refresh your page occasionally. We’ll add VIDEO COMING SOON when we’re cutting the highlights and VIDEO UP when it’s ready to be viewed.
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LIVE COMMENTARY: Warriors 35 – 18 Cowboys
80 mins: That's it! Super win for the Warriors, really gave the fans something to smile about...Final score 35-18.
78 mins: Cowboys looking for a consolation try but an intercept from Mateo! Everything going right for the home side, we are just about at shake hands time...
75 mins: James Maloney seals the deal for the home side with a cheeky one pointer that never looked like missing. Warriors should be home now.
71 mins: Back to back! TRY TIME LEWIS BROWN! A break from Johnson who was just run down by Bowen but the Warriors had the momentum and Lewis Brown from dummy half does the business. Great stuff Warriors, check out the video!
68 mins: TRY! GREAT PRESSURE AND NATHAN FRIEND DOTS DOWN. He took a scoot from dummy half, hit, swivel and try time. Su[per stuff and the fans love it. Maloney adds the extra two points, Warriors with a little cushion.
65 mins: Another repeat set, plenty of pressure but the Cowboys hold firm....ANOTHER repeat set coming after the Maloney chip is backed up by the D...Here we go again.
62 mins: Really opened up in the last 15 minutes, more offloads, more second and third phase... This time it's Maloney with a half break...Close and a repeat set.
59 mins: Great break from Locke but he is run down by Bowen..Real wheels... Ebb and flow this game's all over the show...Matelino in possession now, ohh no now's it's Bowen.
58 mins: If you wanted a classic game of Warriors rugby league this is it...Had a lead, let the opposition back in, look like they are finishing strong..Classic stuff, brilliant stuff..
53 mins: It's the opposite! TRY TIME COWBOYS! Gavin Cooper goes in for the men from Townsville. A break on the left edge and a well taken four pointer. Bowen adds the extra and it's a four point ball game.
50 mins: The lights taking effect at Mt Smart as Kevin Locke flys high and defuses a Cowboy bomb...The Warriors make their kick and look to squeeze a mistake.
45 mins: Back on attack but a mistake from Maloney with the line beckoning brings the move to an end. He was trying to pass it before he caught it.
41 mins: Back up and running in the second forty and literally running for the Warriors a great break and offload from Lousi..He found Johnson and from the next tackle play they went wide, Hurrell smashed and crashed his way through a couple AND... Tupou is over but did he get it down in time? Looking at the vid now...Touch and go...NO TRY.
40 mins: That's halftime in what has been a very entertaining half of league...Quality stuff. Warriors with their noses ahead at the break.
37 mins: Good, hard, honest defence from the home side, Luck at the centre of things...Warriors with their last chance of the half it seems, Brown with a carry...Repeat set and moments left.
34 mins: TRY, WHAT A FINISH FROM GRAHAM! The Cowboys were hot on attack, went wide and Ashley Graham did a superb dive to just dot down. Bowen nails the extras. Game on once more!
33 mins: Big set Cowboys the are going hammer and tongs at the Warriors line...So far the home side hold stron but there's more to come...
30 mins: Awww, Cowboys look rudderless at present, passes going to ground, no one running from depth...As I type that we see a Warriors mastake, Lillyman with a sloppy play the ball. Here's a chance for redemption for the Cows.
27 mins: TRY TIME, Warriors hit back with a beaut...Feleti Mateo was conducting traffic, he put Lillyman in a hole and the big man makes no mistake from 5 metres out.
25 mins: Ohhh! A slice and dice from Kevin Locke, he makes the break then finds Omar Slaimankhel but looks like a foot was in touch....NO TRY
24 mins: This game feels like it has plenty of points in it this afternoon, here come the Warriors once more from the dropout.
23 mins: Big set hot on attack for the Warriors, a bit of ad-lib footy an over the head offload then a little grubber and a repeat set for the home side.
19 mins: TRY, Cowboys are back... Kane Linnett came from deep and with some real pace he sliced through the defensive line and dived over, great try his fifth of the season.
17 mins: A couple of classic rugby league set's of six. Warriors make it to their kick and Maloney puts it in the corner...PENALTY! Cowboys get field position and now a chance to hit back.
14 mins: Mistake from the Warriors and the Cows get a chance to settle things themselves. Fast start from the Warriors , can they keep up this pace?
12 mins: Warriors looking for a solid set after scoring... Matulino with his seventh hit up. Fifth gone and they're beyond halfway, it's pumped high and IT'S TRY NUMBER THREE! Maloney with the high pump and Lock climbs high, looks like he's tapped it back as it bounces off the shoulder of Bowen as well... Henry the beneficiary and he plants it down. Gone upstairs and... GIVEN! Maloney adds the extras and it's 16-0 - what a start for the home side.
8 mins: Here they come again, Cowboys mistake and the Warriors are hot on attack..They shift it wide and easy as you like from Konrad Hurrell goes in right by the sideline. Great stuff. Warriors look the goods today.
5 mins: TRY TIME! Warriors are in early thanks to some Shaun Johnson magic. He threw the dummy and found Ben Henry backing up on the inside who went in under the sticks unopposed. GREAT START.
1 min: Cowboys kickoff and the Warriors make it to their kick, settled start from both sides. Cows make good metres up the middle.
The Warriors have a nice dash of pink on... let's hope pretty in pink relates to tries galore. Huge roar for the home side
We've got our live pictures and it's a chilly one at Mt Smart but it's fine and great conditions for some running rugby league.
While you wait for kickoff, watch Sam Ackerman’s preview when he caught up with the men from Mt Smart earlier in the week.
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Teams
Warriors
K Locke, B Tupou, B Henry, K Hurrell, G Fisiiahi, J Maloney, S Johnson, R Packer, N Friend, B Matulino, L Brown, S Mannering , E Taylor.
Interchange: J Lillyman, M Luck, Sione Lousi, F Mateo, Steve Rapira.
Cowboys
M Bowen, A Graham, A Winterstein, K Linnett, K Fai-Fai Loa, M Morgan, R Thompson, A Sims, A Payne © , R Thorby, G Cooper, G Hall, D Johnson.
Interchange: J Riethmuller, S Bolton, J Taumalolo, C Paterson, M Pangai.
Pregame banter:
The Warriors are adamant North Queensland's team sheet will have no bearing on their mindset on Sunday as they target building some momentum into an NRL campaign that has blown hot and cold.
The Cowboys will have four players missing to representative duty, making them the most State of Origin-depleted side the Warriors have faced this year.
Johnathan Thurston, Matt Scott and former Warrior Brent Tate will be in camp with Queensland ahead of next Wednesday's Origin decider, while James Tamou will be away with the NSW squad.
But lock Micheal Luck says the absentees won't alter the way the Warriors prepare against his former club, who have won five of their past seven matches.
"You can fall into the trap of worrying about who's not there," he said.
"You look at their team and see who they've got, and they've still got some bloody good players."
It will be Luck's first outing at Auckland's Mt Smart Stadium this season after the long rehabilitation from shoulder, wrist and finger injuries.
His first appearance of the year, and his 145th for the Warriors in a 221-game career, came in the 20-19 defeat away to Cronulla before last weekend's bye.
It resulted in his limping off with a knee problem that he said had come right.
With a 6-8 win-loss record, the Warriors are still looking for traction.
They've lost three of their past four fixtures, leaving them ninth on the table before the latest round, four points and four places below the Cowboys.
But Luck's seven seasons in Auckland have given him plenty of experience of late runs by the club.
They include 2011, when the Warriors won seven of their last nine round-robin matches to end the regular season in sixth spot, before going on to make the grand final.
So Luck, who hangs up his boots at the end of the year, remains confident that he can sign off with another foray into the playoffs.
"We've still got 10 games, so there's still a long way to go," he said.
"We were in a pretty similar position last year. We've just got to put some results back to back."
The Warriors welcome back 80-minute hooker Nathan Friend, who was out for almost two months with a broken jaw.
But one of their major strike weapons, winger Manu Vatuvei, remains sidelined by a knee injury.
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