Utility Lance Hohaia has returned from injury to claim a spot in the Warriors' squad to play Wests Tigers in their NRL match in Auckland on Sunday.

Hohaia missed the 13-6 away defeat to the Sydney Roosters last weekend with a sternum complaint, but was on Tuesday named on a five-man bench.

His availability is timely, with regular starting dummy half Aaron Heremaia being ruled out with a hand injury.

Heremaia's absence means Shaun Berrigan will go from the bench to the No.9 jersey in one of two changes to the starting 13.

The other change is the inclusion of prop Jacob Lillyman, who had been named to start against the Roosters but began on the bench in a swap with Ben Matulino.

Lillyman, who played in the opening State of Origin match last month, was on Tuesday named as Queensland's 18th man for Origin II next week, allowing him to turn out for the Warriors this weekend.

An unchanged backline means 20-year-old Shaun Johnson will back up his NRL debut by teaming up again with James Maloney in the halves.

The Tigers will head to Auckland buoyed by their 17-16 golden point win over Newcastle on Monday night, a result that lifted them to seventh in the standings.

They are one place and two points below the Warriors, whom they beat in the round-two meeting between the sides in Sydney in March.

Warriors coach Ivan Cleary said his side would need to improve on their display that night.

"While we didn't get the result we wanted against the Roosters, it was a high quality contest and we did a lot of things well," he said.

"We need to polish up on a few things, though, and we know we'll certainly have to step our performance up a lot from what we produced against the Tigers last time."

Brought to you by AAP © 2024 AAP