Foran searches for his best form
Warriors assistant coach Stacey Jones is anticipating Kieran Foran’s game goes up another level against the Panthers today, now his contract situation is sorted out.
The five-eighth has confirmed he’s heading to the Bulldogs next season and it was a decision that hardly came as a surprise at Warriors HQ.
When Foran spoke to the media on Wednesday he said he felt his form had dipped over the last couple of weeks, while he made plans for his future.
However, Jones says it shouldn’t come as a shock that his performances weren’t quite as good as they were in his couple of game for the club.
He feels what needs to come into consideration is that he went almost a year without playing a game, following his shoulder injury when with the Eels.
‘‘It’s a big relief for him that he’s made his decision and he doesn’t have to think about his future now,’’ Jones said.
‘‘But he’s come back from a long layoff. He started really well for us and is just going to get better.
‘‘He may not be setting the world on fire and coming up with the big plays at the moment, but he’s certainly making everyone else around him feel comfortable with what he’s bringing to the team, as far as leadership goes on the field.’’
Meanwhile, Jones admits they will lose something without having Simon Mannering on the park against the Panthers.
Mannering has been ruled out of the game at the foot of the Blue Mountains because of a hamstring injury. He has been replaced at lock by Ben Matulino and the club have been granted an exemption by the NRL to bring in Albert Vete to their 21-man squad.
Although Matulino is a prop, he has played in the back row for the Warriors before and Jones feels he’s a good player to fill in for Mannering.
‘‘Ben’s role shouldn’t change too much.
‘‘He plays in the middle anyway and it’s where a lock plays,’’ Jones said.
‘‘Losing Simon is a big loss, but being able to bring in an experienced player like Ben into the middle gives us the experience we’ve lost with Simon.
‘‘There is no way you can turn someone into what Simon does straight away, but he’ll do his job.’’
Mannering is one of the Warriors’ most dependable players and they’re always worse off when he’s not playing, but Jones doesn’t feel he’ll be out of the team for too long.
‘‘It happened on Wednesday early in training and we were still hopeful that he’d be able to play,’’ Jones said.
‘‘I’m not 100 per cent sure, but I’m thinking it’s not too bad because we were hoping he’d be right for this one.’’
Many pundits tipped the Panthers to win the Premiership this season, but they lie in 15th place in the ladder.
They have lost their last seven games with their only wins being against the Tigers 36-2 and the Knights 40-0.
‘‘They play a really expansive brand of footy, where they move the football,’’ Jones said.
‘‘So this week a big focus for us is to make sure we’re all working together defensively.
‘‘The games they’ve won, they’ve won by big scores, even though they’ve only had two wins.
‘‘The game they’ve lost were because of the way they play, they move the footy around and make some errors.
‘‘But they’re a dangerous footy team and when they start getting it right they’re going to be tough to beat.
‘‘We’re expecting a tough game after them regrouping and focussing on being back at home.’’