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Sport
Troy Whittaker

Warriors concede NRL home games in doubt

The Warriors remain hopeful they could host up to five of their NRL games in New Zealand this year. (AAP)

The Warriors will be saddened if they can't play in New Zealand this NRL season but concede self-isolation rules could discourage opponents from travelling across the Tasman.

New Zealand's five-step border reopening plan, announced on Thursday, will allow Kiwis returning from Australia later this month to self-isolate instead of quarantining in a hotel.

That will allow the families and loved ones of Warriors players and officials to join the team at their Redcliffe base, safe in the knowledge they could easily return home.

Players could also individually travel to and from New Zealand during the season if needed.

But doubt remains over whether the Warriors will play in Auckland for the first time since August 2019 due to the mandatory self-isolation period for international travellers.

Five matches had been scheduled at Mt Smart Stadium, starting with a clash in round 15 against premiers Penrith on June 18.

"I'm not sure that other sides will want to isolate, to be honest with you," Warriors coach Nathan Brown said.

"That'd be something the Penrith Panthers or the Brisbane Broncos, whoever the teams may be, whether isolating for a week is what they would want to do, to be fair.

"As all this news has just come out, we'd only be speculating on what we're saying at the moment.

"The news we've got is obviously great for our club and great for the people of New Zealand and Australia who want to get out there (to New Zealand).

"But I'm certainly not sure that too many clubs would want to do that (isolation) at this stage."

The New Zealand government has indicated it will continually review the isolation policy, potentially clearing the way for some NRL matches to proceed in Auckland as planned.

However, the Warriors -- having spent the past two seasons in Australia -- are "open-minded" they may again spend the entire season based across the Tasman.

"If it does work out that we get (five home) games, great," Brown said.

"If it works we get four, great. If it works out we get two, great.

"But I think now that we've planned for (five), we'd certainly be disappointed if we got none."

Meanwhile, Brown hopes halfback Chanel Harris-Tavita will remain with the club long-term despite the off-contract 22-year-old opting to test his market value instead of accepting an extension.

"You're never upset when players want to do that because you certainly know they're going to be giving their all to impress when they're coming off-contract," Brown said.

"Credit to Chanel for wanting to back himself."

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