Injury rubs Warrior Mannering out for a month
Veteran forward Simon Mannering will miss the Warriors NRL season opener against South Sydney in Perth.
The 31-year-old failed to travel with the side to Western Australia yesterday and is facing up to a month on the sidelines after suffering a shoulder injury in last week's 20-14 trial win over the Gold Coast.
Mannering underwent scans on the injury last week and although it wasn't as bad as first feared he was unable to recover to face the Rabbitohs. Ligi Sao and young forwards Bunty Afoa and Isaiah Papali'i are in contention to replace him.
Meanwhile Melbourne Storm fullback Billy Slater will also miss this weekend’s first round game against the Bulldogs, the other part of the Perth double header.
Kangaroo Darius Boyd has given his troublesome hamstring the allclear but the Brisbane skipper admits he’ll be battling “mental demons” over the injury in the season opener.
Boyd missed the entire pre-season after tweaking his left hamstring in January — the same muscle that forced him to miss Australia’s World Cup campaign.
However, he trained comfortably yesterday and has been given the green light by Broncos medicos to face the Dragons on Thursday.
“It feels really fresh, to be honest,” Boyd said. “I don’t think it’s an ongoing problem. I hope it’s not.’’ TENNIS