Mannering ponders playing future
It’s not so much a question of which club Simon Mannering will play for next season, but whether he’ll play at all.
The Warriors stalwart is in the last year of his current Warriors contract and with Roger Tuivasa-Sheck putting pen to paper on a new four-year deal, attention turns to Mannering.
At the age of 31 and with 280 games under his belt, Mannering acknowledges he’s in the twilight of his career.
But there hasn’t been any drop off in the quality of his play and he remains one of the Warriors’ most consistent performers, but he says he’s weighing up whether to continue beyond 2018, or if it could be time to hang the boots up.
‘‘I’m at that age where it’s more than just wanting to keep playing footy,’’ Mannering said.
‘‘I’ve got two young kids and there are a lot more things to weigh up than the physical position where you are. You understand what’s required if you do sign for a few more years.
‘‘With my decision, I’m going to take my time. Four years ago I’d be thinking ‘sweet, let’s get this sorted,’ but now I’m going to weigh things up and think about what I want over the next couple of years.
‘‘I’ll have conversations with my family and we’ll see what comes from it.’’
If he does continue, it’s almost certainly to be with the Warriors.
When he’s negotiated previous contracts there have been other options available, like shifting to an Australian club or switching to rugby.
This time though he’s likely to be only talking to the Warriors.
‘‘I wouldn’t say never, but there’s a very big chance that I won’t be playing for anyone else,’’ he said, suggesting that if they don’t want him and he does feel like he wants to continue playing, he may have to go somewhere else.
Like everyone at the Warriors, Mannering was buoyed by Tuesday’s announcement that Tuivasa-Sheck has a new long-term deal with the club.
‘‘Me and Roger are at different stages of out career and if the club gave me a four-year career I think they’d be mad,’’ Mannering laughed.
‘‘It’s great for the club, he never really spoke about it, but I was thinking if he went to rugby, good on him.
‘‘He’d be a big loss for the club, but if he wanted to do it so be it and I’d support him.’’