He hasn’t played for the club for nearly 12 years – but Ali Lauitiiti’s incredible road to a comeback for New Zealand Warriors in the NRL will move another step closer to reality this weekend.
Lauitiiti did not play in the club’s trial games ahead of the new NRL season, but at the age of 36, the iconic former Leeds and Wakefield forward gets a chance to impress when he plays the Illawarra Cutters in what used to be known as the New South Wales Cup but is now the Intrust Super Premiership NSW.
This will be the first time the big man has pulled on a Warriors shirt since the last of his 115 NRL outings for the club against Canterbury-Bankstown in Wellington on April 16, 2004.
Back then Stacey Jones was one of his team-mates; this time he’s his coach for this WIN Stadium contest in Wollongong.
