Warriors coach Ivan Cleary denies pushing the panic button with his sweeping team changes in a bid to turn around their 0-3 NRL season start.

But as the old adage goes, desperate times call for drastic measures after the club's worst start to a season in seven years.

Staring at a possible fourth straight loss against surprise packets Cronulla in the central North Island town of Taupo on Sunday, Cleary wielded the axe like never before. He ditched Test fullback Lance Hohaia and presented an entirely new spine combination, with James Maloney shifting to halfback, Feleti Mateo to five-eighth and Aaron Heremaia to start at hooker in the hope of producing a much-needed spark.

A grim-faced Cleary fronted the media on Wednesday and rejected suggestions of panic in his Tuesday selections.

"It's not like we've thrown the baby out with the bathwater," insisted Cleary.

But the coach conceded that something big had to give if the Warriors were to end their losing ways.

"When you're 0-3, change is needed. It's as simple as that."

Change is everywhere you look on the team list, with just five players from the side which went down to St George Illawarra 25-12 last week retaining their same position.

Senior players Hohaia and Brett Seymour were the highest profile victims, along with centre Joel Moon, and the Warriors will sacrifice more than 350 games worth of NRL experience by axing the trio.

Cleary said the decision to drop them had been "very hard, very hard".

"Decisions are made on individual form and team chemistry. But certainly it was not easy," he said.

One change the coach had no choice in was the loss of centre Jerome Ropati, who will miss the remainder of the season as he undergoes a knee reconstruction.

In Ropati's absence, Cleary decided to offer up a completely new combination in the centres. Captain Simon Mannering will partner utility Shaun Berrigan, in a makeshift pairing the coach hopes will give some defensive strength.

"I'm looking for some solidity out in the centres," he said.

"Our edges over the last couple of games have been a bit too brittle for my liking."

Cleary hopes star signing Mateo's move to five-eighth will show-off his famous running game and offloading abilities.

"Feleti's keen for the challenge and it's time that we gave him that opportunity," he said.

"It's going to change the dynamics of how we play and that's probably a good thing at the moment."

Mateo said he was "pretty excited" at the prospect getting more handling time after a disappointing few weeks.

"Hopefully I can get some more ball in my hands and help turn the team around," he said.

"If we can get into that rhythm and hold onto the ball then I think we'll start putting points on the board."

Amidst the dumpings and shufflings, a whole lot of new faces have been added to the side.

Cleary said he was looking to rookie Glen Fisiiahi to inject some much-needed excitement into the game at fullback, and Ukuma Ta'ai to turn around the team's inability to break the line.

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