Maori All Stars coach Ben Gardiner admits the Rugby League World Cup has played a part in his loss of six key players

Daejarn Asi, Joey Manu, Starford To'a, Jared Waerea-Hargreaves and Dallin Watene-Zelezniak have all pulled out of Saturday's fixture against the Aboriginal All-Stars due to injury.

Gardiner says rules state players must train for a number of weeks before they can play, so Kiwis who competed at the World Cup late last year might've overdone it.



Nelson Asofa-Solomona is also out because he was bitten by a dog on New Year's Eve.

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