Auckland, New Zealand, July 07, 2009 - Winger Manu Vatuvei and prop Russell Packer return for the Vodafone Warriors' 18th-round NRL match against the Bulldogs at Mount Smart Stadium on Sunday.

Vatuvei has recovered from the hamstring strain that forced him out of last Friday night's clash against Brisbane and Packer comes in for captain Steve Price, who is on State of Origin duty with Queensland. Packer (19) turned out for the Vodafone Junior Warriors in their two NYC matches against Gold Coast and Brisbane over the last two weeks.

He's recalled after last playing for the Vodafone Warriors in their last match at home against Newcastle on June 12. Included on a five-man bench is back rower Ukuma Ta'ai who played four NRL matches earlier in the year but has been a regular for the Auckland Vulcans in the New South Wales Cup since.

The Bulldogs will come to Auckland without halfback Brett Kimmorley and hooker Michael Ennis, both named in the New South Wales side last night for the final Origin match in Brisbane tomorrow week. The Bulldogs may also lose Kiwi back rower Greg Eastwood and prolific try-scoring winger Bryson Goodwin.

They've both been charged with grade two dangerous throw offences after the Bulldogs' 12-19 loss to Manly last night. But Cleary isn't concerned about who the Bulldogs have in their line-up. "While they were beaten last night in a high-quality match, they've shown all season that they've been one of the best sides in the competition," he said.

"Whoever they have they'll still be a huge challenge for us. "Our focus has to be on ourselves. We didn't get the results we wanted in our two matches in Queensland but the performances still showed we're not far away.

"In both games we created plenty of try-scoring opportunities. Unfortunately, we're just not executing to the level we need to. That's something we've been working on and we'll keep working on.

"Our concern is about getting our own game right and we have confidence we can to give us every chance of being in contention."

Sunday's match will establish Cleary as the Vodafone Warriors' most experienced NRL coach. It will be his 93rd match in charge since becoming head coach in 2006 after serving as assistant coach in 2005. He also made 53 appearances for the Vodafone Warriors from 2000-2002 before ending his playing career.

The nature of the draw means the Vodafone Warriors' return match against the Bulldogs in round 25 will be Cleary's 100th as the club's NRL coach.

On Sunday he will go past Daniel Anderson's 2001-2004 record of 92 games. John Monie with 50 games from 1995-1997 is the only other coach who has reached the 50-game mark for the club.