28 JULY 2009 - Prop Evarn Tuimavave is set to make his long-awaited 100th NRL appearance in the Vodafone Warriors' 21st-round encounter with Penrith at CUA Stadium on Saturday night.

Tuimavave (25), a member of the Kiwis' World Cup-winning squad last year, finished the 2008 NRL season with his career tally sitting on 99 games. But neck and knee injuries which have sidelined him for most of the 2009 campaign have delayed his first game of the year - and his 100th milestone - until now.

Tuimavave will end a 19-game wait on Sunday by becoming the 15th player in all to appear in 100 first-grade matches for the club and the third to reach the mark this year. He has been named on the interchange bench in a Vodafone Warriors side which will be missing captain Steve Price.

He has been ruled out with a rib cartilage complaint but it's hoped he'll be available for the club's home game against Gold Coast on August 9.

With Price out, Russell Packer will be the fellow starting prop with Kiwi Sam Rapira while Kiwi centre Jerome Ropati replaces Patrick Ah Van after missing last Sunday's loss to St George Illawarra with a shoulder injury. In another change, Jacob Lillyman has been named to start in the second row with Ben Matulino going to the bench alongside Tuimavave, Lance Hohaia and Lewis Brown.

Ukuma Ta'ai is travelling as 18th man. "It's been a tough season for Evarn being on the sideline for so long," said coach Ivan Cleary. "He was close to coming back a few weeks ago but then got a knee injury so it's nice to see him getting there in the end. It's always a big achievement playing 100 games in the NRL but for Evarn it's been a longer wait than it might have been."

In fact, it has taken Tuimavave longer than any of the other 14 100-game Vodafone Warriors to reach three figures. Now in his eighth first-grade season since making his debut against the Northern Eagles in 2002, he had played only 26 games by the end of the 2005 campaign.

He then had a run of 73 games over the next three seasons during which time he was out of the side on only a few occasions. Last Sunday Ah Van and hooker Ian Henderson both played their 50th NRL games while centre Joel Moon will lift his total to 49 this weekend.

Second rowers Simon Mannering and Jacob Lillyman will extend their records of being the only players to appear in each of the club's 19 games so far this season, Mannering taking his tally to 96 and on track to join the 100 club in the 25th-round clash against the Bulldogs.