Veteran all-rounder Chris Green has been named as Thunder captain for Tuesday's Grand Final rematch at the Bellerive Oval, whilst 20-year-old Charlie Anderson has been rewarded for his List A performances with a call-up as a local replacement player.
Warner reportedly suffered a minor right side strain playing with his children on the beach but is not expected to spend a signficant length of time on the sidelines.
"It’s obviously not ideal to not have Davey but we’d rather be careful earlier in the tournament," said Sydney Thunder general manager Trent Copeland.
"I’m confident he’ll be right for our biggest game of the year, the Sydney Smash on Saturday.”
Warner speculated earlier in the pre-season that he could be open to a shift to the middle order, leaving Cameron Bancroft and Sam Konstas at the top of the order, to bolster what team management considers to be one of the weaker parts of their squad.
His absence makes that opening partnership almost certain for Tuesday night.
"That’s more for a match-up and strategic point of view,” Warner told reporters at the weekend.
“We don’t have that left-hander in the middle (order) that we’ve been looking for. It’s a conversation we’re having at the moment.”
Sydney Thunder squad:
Chris Green (c), Charlie Anderson, Cameron Bancroft, Sam Billings*, Ollie Davies, Matt Gilkes, Ryan Hadley, Shadab Khan, Sam Konstas, Nathan McAndrew, Blake Nikitaras, Daniel Sams, Tanveer Sangha, Reece Topley
Hobart Hurricanes squad:
Nathan Ellis (c), Rehan Ahmed*, Nikhil Chaudhury, Tim David, Rishad Hossain*, Chris Jordan*, Ben McDermott, Riley Meredith, Mitch Owen, Will Prestwidge, Billy Stanlake, Matthew Wade, Tim Ward, Mac Wright