Nikorima off to fast start with Warriors

Warriors skipper Roger Tuivasa-Sheck has praised new signing Kodi Nikorima for the way he has started life at the Warriors, saying the playmaker is already adding plenty to the club's training sessions.

After securing an immediate release from the Brisbane Broncos and signing with the Warriors last Friday, Nikorima has been named to make his debut for the Auckland-based club on Saturday as part of the NRL's Magic Round.

Tuivasa-Sheck said the 13-Test Kiwi wasted little time in making his mark, as the club looks to halt a four-gaming losing streak which has them languishing in 12th position on the NRL Telstra Premiership ladder.

"The boys are loving the energy he's bringing. He's dived straight into it and is happy to be here… the session he had today was awesome," Tuivasa-Sheck said.

"We are pretty excited to have him on board. He's got mean speed on him.

"Just a bit of experience, that's the main thing we lost with Shaun [Johnson] going… we were just missing a bit of game awareness and experience, and that's what Kodi has."

Nikorima will slot into the number six jersey for the Warriors, joining Blake Green in the halves at the expense of rookie Chanel Harris-Tavita.

Coach Stephen Kearney said Nikorima was this week receiving a crash course on the club's attacking strategy, while making sure he was on the same page as Green and Tuivasa-Sheck.

"Over the course of the last few days it's been up-speeding him on our process and what we want from him," Kearney said.

"It's about coordinating things with 'Greeny' [Blake Green] and 'Rodg' [Tuivasa-Sheck].

"You saw today [Kodi] adds a bit to the team, just with regards to the speed he comes on to the ball with and pressure that he puts on the defensive line.

"He's a pretty confident character, if you ask him he will tell you that he'll get the job done."

Nikorima's inclusion is one of two spine changes for the Warriors ahead of their match with the Dragons at Suncorp Stadium, with Kearney also dropping veteran hooker Issac Luke due to issues with his defence. 

With Luke named on an extended bench and spending all of Wednesday's field session playing with the reserve-grade group, Nathaniel Roache is set to start at hooker with Karl Lawton joining the interchange.

Tuivasa-Sheck said while news of Luke's demotion came as a shock, he backed the decision by Kearney.

"Yeah it was a surprise, but that's the plan we are going off this weekend and coach has made the call," Tuivasa-Sheck said.

"[Issac] has been good, he trained really well [this week].

"It's always tough to go back to the [Canterbury] Cup side. But Issac is a professional, he'll take it in for a bit but then he will be on to his next job and go out and perform well for the cup side."

Meanwhile despite neither having kicked a goal at NRL level before, the goalkicking responsibilities for Saturday's match look set to fall to either Nikorima or rookie centre Patrick Herbert.

The pair both kicked at the end of Wednesday's training session, while Tohu Harris all but ruled himself out as a candidate. 

"If you ask [Kodi], he's said he's going to be kicking for goal, so he's not short on confidence," Kearney said.

"[But] Patrick is a pretty capable goalkicker, so we will see what happens."