Leuluai was today named in the Warriors side to play the Wests Tigers in Wellington on Saturday and is expected to see some time off the interchange bench.
It will be his first game since a brief appearance at last year's World Cup, when he lasted only three minutes against Papua New Guinea before damaging the groin injury he sustained in one of the Kiwis' first training sessions ahead of the tournament.
Leuluai played every minute of every game last season and the Warriors have missed his strong defence, organisation and control in their first three games.
He was terrific in the second half of 2013 after re-adjusting to the NRL following a long stint in the UK and was one of their most consistent players.
It's hoped he will refind his combination with fullback Sam Tomkins, who has so far had a quiet start to his Warriors career. The pair were teammates at Wigan and Leuluai was one of the major reasons Tomkins signed with the Mt Smart-based outfit.
Kiwis coach Stephen Kearney will keep a close eye on Leuluai's progress because the 28-year-old is needed for the Anzac test in Sydney on May 2 following news hooker Issac Luke could be sidelined for up to 10 weeks after injuring his shoulder late in the Rabbitohs' defeat to the Wests Tigers last Friday.
Luke is arguably the most important player to the Kiwis and Leuluai, who has played plenty of times at dummy-half in his career, was seen as his backup leading into the World Cup.
Leuluai was close to a return for last week's important 20-16 win over the Cowboys but was held back - he had his first full contact session last week.
"We need to get a full week's preparation into him," coach Matt Elliott said. "We made a mature decision around that [last week] and Tommy is raring to go.
"He was a really important part of our spine last year. He's obviously very handy in the halves and also gives us cover at hooker. He's a fairly handy player to have on the bench."
Konrad Hurrell will also start on the bench, as he did against the Cowboys, and is likely to be used in a similar role. Hurrell, who is a centre, played mainly as a back-rower and scored a try and made a handful of damaging runs in his short stints on the field.
Feleti Mateo is out with a knee injury, breaking a run of 79 consecutive games for the Warriors that started when he joined the club in 2011.
Saturday's match will mark the 92nd time Simon Mannering has captained the Warriors, breaking the previous record of 91 games set by Steve Price, and 100th NRL appearance for centre Dane Nielsen.
Mannering, who is into his fifth season as captain and 10th in the NRL, is also only eight games short of becoming just the second Warriors player behind Stacey Jones to play 200 games for the club - Jones made 261 appearances.
The Wests Tigers come into the match on a high after tipping up a powerful Rabbitohs side 25-16 to record their second win of the season.
Warriors side to play Wests Tigers at Westpac Stadium, Wellington, on Saturday (5pm): Sam Tomkins, Glen Fisiiahi, Dane Nielsen, Jerome Ropati, Manu Vatuvei, Chad Townsend, Shaun Johnson, Sam Rapira, Nathan Friend, Ben Matulino, Jayson Bukuya, Simon Mannering (c), Sione Lousi. Interchange: Jacob Lillyman, Suaia Matagi, Konrad Hurrell, Thomas Leuluai.
- by Michael Brown
