Warriors coach Stephen Kearney still faces a selection headache at hooker despite losing his main back-up Nathaniel Roache for the season due to a lumbar disc injury.
The 21-year-old, who made nine appearances at hooker last year behind Issac Luke, was expected to again be the secondary option at dummy half this season, but Kearney still has a few options to fill Roache's vacancy on the bench.
The Warriors announced on Thursday the signing of former Gold Coast Titan utility Karl Lawton, a 12-game NRL player, who covers a number of positions including hooker.
They also extended the contract of promising dummy-half Sam Cook, who played in the club's two trials last month.
But the puzzle doesn't end there.
The Warriors also picked up the services late last year of former Wests Tigers and Cronulla Sharks hooker Manaia Cherrington.
Jazz Tevaga is also on the books and has made 15 first-grade appearances for the club - the majority of which were in the hooking role.
Despite an underwhelming start to his Warriors career, Luke remains Kearney's top option, but the coach doesn't see the Kiwi international as an 80-minute player in the middle and likes to have bench cover in that position.
The injury to Roache and departure of Ata Hingano this week does hurt depth, but Lawton's ability to cover hooker and five-eighth is somewhat of a solution to both problems.
The four contenders have one final week to prove they're the man to fill the vacant bench spot before the Warriors open their 2018 campaign against the South Sydney Rabbitohs next Saturday in Perth.
