Mixed bag but Vatuvei is back
THE Beast is back – but it was solid and steady rather than anything spectacular as Manu Vatuvei made his much-anticipated return against the Broncos.
Playing his first game since being involved in the Warriors prescription drugs and energy drinks saga, all eyes were on the big winger as the NRL heavyweights came to town.
At the beginning of the season it was unthinkable that he would finish his career anywhere else other than Mt Smart.
But, after being one six players dropped to reserve grade, he admitted to contemplating leaving the Warriors when his family became caught up in the fallout from the night out in Auckland that followed the Anzac Day thrashing in Melbourne,
Six weeks on from the Storm disaster – 42-0 no less – there he was back on the left wing, but it was hardly a vintage Vatuvei performance.
Vatuvei made 90m from 11 carries although his stats were blighted by a simple handling error in the second half, while he took an age to turn and field a Ben Hunt kick, allowing his opposite Jordan Kahu to score.
To be fair to the big man, the ball didn’t come his way.
And with David Fusitu’a pulling off magical put-downs on the opposite wing, the home team could afford to allow Vatuvei to work up to his best.
The warm-up highlighted one of Vatuvei’s key strengths as he fielded cross-field bombs from the halves. Vatuvei’s work getting the Warriors out of trouble has been sorely missed this season.
The team rely on Vatuvei’s thunderous runs from his own end to build momentum on attack and the crowd feeds off watching him carry multiple defenders on his back.
And that’s exactly what happened for the Warriors’ second try as a quick play-the-ball from Vatuvei saw Issac Luke split the defence before Bodene Thompson scored off a piece of Johnson brilliance on the next play.
"He certainly provided a spark for us in that first half," Warriors coach Andrew McFadden said of Vatuvei’s performance.
"Leading up to that [try], I think we went backwards for the first two plays so I could just see him grit his teeth and say this where the team needs me and that’s what Manu does for us."
Like he did in the first half, Vatuvei built into his work after the break. He made more of effort to get involved but that was cancelled out by his error on Kahu’s try, and a wayward Johnson pass prevented him from adding to his vast tally of tries.
It was a solid return from the Warriors star, and you get the feeling it’s just the start.