Tuipulotu's form the key factor in Flanagan's backline reshuffle

Calling up Tuipulotu and shifting Lomax back to right centre is the only change to the 17 that beat the Tigers in Campbelltown on Sunday.

The victory was soured by a category-one head knock suffered by Jack Bird, leaving him subject to a mandatory 11-day stand-down.

Lomax shaped as the logical replacement, but the 24-year-old switching back to his preferred spot came with added intrigue given the selection dropped on the same day Parramatta confirmed it had acquired his services for 2025 and beyond.

Flanagan said following the win over the Tigers that he's rarely inclined to "weaken one position to strengthen another" but said there's no question Tuipulotu's presence will bolster his back five.

"Birdy's 11-day stand-down because of his HIA gives Zac a chance to go into the centres, but more so it gives Christian Tuipulotu an opportunity," Flanagan said.

"He came late to the club after Christmas and had to learn a few things and get himself ready to play for us and he's done that.

"I coached Christian last year at Manly and he played the majority of the games on the wing. He's a powerful back of the field player.

"He brings that to our team and he can definitely finish. He's getting to that age now where he understands what playing NRL is all about.

"He's played well in the reserve grade and he deserves his chance, so I'm really looking forward to seeing him play tomorrow. That gives an opportunity to Zac to go to the centres."

Despite the constant chatter surrounding Lomax's shift to the wing this year, Flanagan has said from his first day in charge that he expected the NSW Origin hopeful to spend time at fullback, centre and wing.

It's come to fruition within seven rounds, with Flanagan saying the noise around Lomax's now decided future hasn't factored into his thinking, or that of his playing group.

"I don't do these things to please anyone, I just do them for the best interests of the club and then the the player comes second," Flanagan said.

"We do these things for a reason and Zac's a quality football player, he's played a bit of fullback, he's played on the wing and he gets his chance at centre tomorrow.

"To Zac's credit, look at his form, it's been outstanding. It hasn't affected him and when he's been at training and within the playing group, he's been fantastic.

"It hasn't really interrupted us bar the external noise, so I'd like to think that it's put to bed now.

"There's a lot of players that aren't going be at the club that they're at at the moment next year. He's one of them so we just move on now."

Tuipulotu is the fifth off-season recruit to debut for the club this season, while Luciano Leilua and Hame Sele have both made return performances for the club after several seasons away.

The club's latest acquisition Fa'amanu Brown was also at training on Thursday after being named in the extended 22-man squad, with Flanagan well down the path of turning the club's roster over.

Off-loading the $1.6 million Lomax was due to be paid over the next two seasons adds to hefty recruitment arsenal for the club, with Flanagan saying the roster rejuvenation will continue at a steady pace.

"There were a couple of sleepless nights there around Christmas time worrying about where we are come round one, but it's sort of fallen into place," Flanagan said.

"We knew what we needed, and you've got to have a bit of luck in recruitment, without a doubt. We've got some players in our club that are doing a good job and over the next 6-12 months, the roster will keep improving.

"I'd like to think that the group we've got now can do the job and for the future every club's always looking to improve their roster. My approach is to get quality players to the club.

"You can talk about coaching ability and all that sort of stuff, but I'm not silly, you need quality players within your club. You can coach as much as you like, but you need quality players and that's what we're striving to do.

"We're heading in that direction and the side we put out tomorrow is definitely good enough to win."

If it can, it would amount to consecutive victories for the first time this season and a big scalp given the form of the high-flying Warriors.

Having struggled for consistency this season, Flanagan's convinced the gap between his side's best and worst has narrowed.

"I think it has, but we need to put in some back-to-back performances," Flanagan said.

"We just can't go one week on, one week off. You've got to put a couple of weeks together, a month together, in this competition. You need to have your perfect preparation week in, week out.

"Our preparation has been pretty good, but whether we've dropped our shoulders after wins and relaxed a little bit, we could probably pinpoint that.

"We've put some halves and we've put some games together, now we need to put some weeks together.

"We've got some standards that we want to set and we're starting to expose what this team's about, our strengths and our weaknesses.

"Coming off a win, we need to back it up without a doubt."