‘Positive’ week in Wellington

The New Zealand Warriors are labelling their week in Wellington as ‘‘positive’’ but are no certainties to return next year.

Warriors chief executive Jim Doyle said the franchise was pleased with the 18,317 fans who turned out in cold, wet and windy conditions to watch the Warriors lose 36-0 to the St George Illawara Dragons on Saturday.

‘‘The result itself, which is the most important thing, was extremely disappointing, but the week as a whole was positive.

‘‘To get a good crowd on a cold, miserable night, shows that

‘‘Our injured players are also our leaders on the field, so we’ve got a lot of young players on the field and without the leadership around them it makes it really tough.’’

The pair do have a point when you consider nine of the Warriors’ we’ve got good support for the team down here.’’

The team’s poor form and the loss of star playmaker Shaun Johnson to a season-ending injury had lead to attendance falling short of the 22,512 who watched the Warriors get their first win in Wellington last year at their seventh visit to the capital, Doyle said. ‘‘Our sales slowed down when it was announced [Johnson] was out for the season.’’

The Warriors’ average attendance at Mt Smart Stadium this season has been 14,372, so even with the added expense of travelling to Wellington, a crowd of 18,000 is still a good result. 17 players on Saturday had played a combined 138 NRL games, 91 fewer than their captain Mannering.

It really was boys.

You have to feel for Mannering, who has the unenviable task of

a man

leading picking his team up after what he described as an ‘‘extremely disappointing performance’’.

‘‘It was pretty quiet [in the changing rooms], disappointing, we need to be disappointed but we can’t kick stones for too long because we’ve got to get ready for next week,’’ Mannering said.

The Warriors have more headaches on the horizon, with Manu Vatuvei suffering a recurrence of a shoulder injury which kept him out for all of July.

Scans this week will reveal the extent of the damage, but at least the team can look forward to easier opposition next week when they travel to Penrith.

The Panthers are in even worse form than the Warriors, losing five on the bounce compared to the Warriors four-in-a-row.

It won’t be a game for

the neutrals – the two teams combined to score four points this weekend, with the Panthers losing 10-4 to the Eels.

The Warriors need to win to keep their top eight hopes alive as they sit in 10th, two points behind the eight-placed Bulldogs.