Dominic Bird will partner up with Samuel Whitelock at lock this week, with Luke Romano out of contention after breaking his ankle in last week’s match.

Halfbacks Willi Heinz and Andy Ellis have rotated again so that Heinz takes the starting spot for his fiftieth Crusaders game.

The final change is at fullback, where Tom Taylor will step into the fold in place of Israel Dagg.

“Leaving Izzy out of the mix this week is purely preventative,” Blackadder said.  “We’ve been really happy with the way he’s been playing, but there are some early signs of wear and tear and we just want to make sure that we manage that so that he can continue to play at his best.”

Blackadder said Kieran Read was again ruled out of contention early in the week rather than pressuring him to be ready to play with little time to prepare.

“Kieran was still showing some really minor signs of concussion at the start of the week and, given that it’s been a short week for us to prepare anyway due to a late flight back from Brisbane, we decided the sensible thing to do was to make the call early that he wouldn’t be available.  He hasn’t been able to fully participate in contact training for a little while so we’re better off giving him more space and time to get back to 100 percent,” Blackadder said.

Kick-off for Saturday’s match is at 7:35pm and fans are encouraged to arrive at the stadium early to hear X-Factor sensation Tom Batchelor, and his blues/rock band The River Jesters, play at 6:45pm.

Tickets are still available through Ticket Direct and Blackadder is calling on supporters to pack out the stadium and show the Sharks what a Crusaders crowd sounds like.
“The crowds at our home games this season have been amazing.  It makes a huge difference to the team to play in front of a stadium full of boisterous Crusaders supporters, so we would love to have the stadium packed out again on Saturday night to help us take on this season’s top team.”

Crusaders team to play the Sharks: