The start of the NRL season also signals the start of a whole lot of rugby league goodness and as usual, we're going to be riding the wave with the other Warriors. The first graders are taking on Newcastle, which means that it's a bit of a party at Hunter Stadium on Saturday as the Under 20's get underway at 12 pm local time, the NSW Cup Warriors side play at 2:10pm local time and then the Warriors get underway later on in the afternoon.

The Under 20's side named is once again very strong with Brad Abbey likely to benefit from a big off season with the first grade side. He's been named at fullback while Marata Niukore who impressed in a trial match with the first graders is in the centres. Other names to keep an eye on are Paul Ulberg on the wing, Bunty Afoa at prop, Nathaniel Roache at hooker who also featured over the off season with the first grade crew, Toafofoa Sipley and Jazz Tevaga.

The NYC Warriors will need to quickly establish a strong halves combination and having Ata Hingano holding things down will help. He's partnered by Erin Clark who is a very promising young halfback and was named the player of the tournament for the National Secondary Schools tournament last year.

1 BRAD ABBEY

2 TOMAS AOAKE

3 MARATA NIUKORE

4 SEMISI TYRELL

5 PAUL ULBERG

6 ATA HINGANO

7 ERIN CLARK

8 BUNTY AFOA

9 NATHANIEL ROACHE (c)

10 TOAFOFOA SIPLEY

11 OFAHIKI OGDEN

12 MATIU LOVE-HENRY

13 JAZZ TEVAGA

Interchange

14 PAUL TULI

15 TUALIMA TUALIMA

16 TAMATI IOANE-NIKO

17 ISAIAH COOPER-TETEVANO

18 SHELDON PITAMA

The NSWarriors side is also looking very strong, but it could face a last minute remix if Sam Tomkins isn't fit to play in first grade. We'll all be interested to see how Mathew Allwood goes in the centres along with fellow new recruit Api Pewhairangi who features in the halves.

Sam Cook has impressed for a while now and he's someone to watch at halfback, a classic half who controls the game, Cook will be eager to lead the NSWarriors side around the park all year.

The forward pack reads like a who's who of talented forwards who are on the fringe of first grade selection. Sione Lousi must be pretty keen to get himself back in the mix for the first graders, same with Sebastine Ikahihifo. I love David Bhana, but with Simon Mannering likely to hold down that workhorse spot, Bhana will have to toil away in NSW Cup for a while. That's definitely not a bad thing and he'll be the key man in the middle of the field.

1 VILIAMI KAVEINGA

2 KEN MAUMALO

3 MATTHEW ALLWOOD

4 DOMINIQUE PEYROUX

5 JARROD TUA

6 API PEWHAIRANGI

7 SAM COOK

8 NATHANIEL PETERU

9 ZAC TIPPINS

10 SEBASTINE IKAHIHIFO

11 RAYMOND FAITALA-MARINER

12 SIONE LOUSI