The 20-year-old Abbey, who hails from New Zealand and represented the Junior Kiwis in 2016, has performed strongly in the pre-season and will fill the slot left by Will Hopoate, who has a fractured eye socket that will keep him out for four to six weeks.

Also missing from the line-up will be winger Kerrod Holland, who has damaged the AC joint in his right shoulder and will be sidelined for up to six weeks.

His place will be taken by 21-year-old Montoya, who took his game to a new level last season, scoring 19 tries in 18 games for the Bulldogs NYC side, in addition to notching a try in Fiji's 20-18 win at Apia Park, in the first ever official Test match in Samoa.

The match also marks the 150th Bulldogs NRL game for hard-working second rower Greg Eastwood. 

Bulldogs line-up

1    Brad Abbey
2    Brett Morris
3    Josh Morris
4    Brenko Lee
5    Marcelo Montoya
6    Josh Reynolds
7    Moses Mbye
8    Aiden Tolman
9    Michael Lichaa
10  James Graham
11  Josh Jackson
12  Greg Eastwood
13  David Klemmer
14  Sam Kasiano
15  Danny Fualalo
16  Adam Elliott
17  Raymond Faitala-Mariner
19  Craig Garvey
20  Matt Frawley
21  Francis Tualau
23   Reimis Smith
    
COACH - Des Hasler