Mannering in the spotlight but eyes must be on ball
WELLINGTON: Forget about entertaining a soldout Mt Smart Stadium.
Or marking Simon Mannering’s NRL triple century with a flourish.
The playoffs are coming, so Adam Blair wants his Warriors to grind it out when they host the freewheeling Canberra Raiders tonight.
The final regularseason game has drawn a capacity 25,600 crowd to quite possibly farewell retiring Kiwi great Mannering, who will become the first player to raise 300 NRL games for the Auckland club.
Unless other results go their way, the playoffs campaign will unfold across the Tasman for the Warriors, which is why Mannering has been front and centre all week.
A giant mural of the secondrower is prominent at Mt Smart and the ingoal area carries a ‘‘Mannering 300’’ message.
Teammates and coaches are growing beards and the tributes have gushed.
Blair goes back a long way with fellow pack workhorse Mannering and knows how uncomfortable the 32yearold will be in the spotlight.
Putting emotion to one side for 80 minutes will be vital if the eighthplaced Warriors are to notch win No 15 this season and give themselves a crack at a home playoff match a week later.
‘‘Obviously the focus is going to be around Simon but we need to have clear focus on what our jobs are for this Raiders team,’’ Blair said.
‘‘We probably want to get them into a grind, play a tough style of footy that’s most probably going to be Septemberstyle footy anyway.’’
The 10thplaced Raiders have scored more tries (91) and points (547) than any team in 2018 yet are somehow out of the finals picture.
The Warriors’ defensive record is, surprisingly, among the best, something that can hold them in good stead in September, according to Blair.
The 32yearold has played 18 finals matches — for Melbourne and Brisbane — which is considerably more than any current Warrior.
He said a loss to the Raiders would be a stumble they could do without, having built some momentum with three wins from their last four games.
Blair suspects Mannering will have the same thoughts.
‘‘Simon has been the most consistent out of any player at this club for a long time,’’ he said.
‘‘Nothing changes with him. He’s been the same person from the time I met him, to what he is now.’’