Posted by Blogger Name. Category:
Canterbury Bulldogs
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Eden Park
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Eric Watson
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Jacob Lillyman
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NRL
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Simon Mannering
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Vodafone Warriors
It's been a rough week for the Vodafone Warriors. But as the team prepares for its match against the Bulldogs at Eden Park this afternoon, there's been some good and welcome news; Stuff reports:
Simon Mannering and Jacob Lillyman have committed their futures to the Warriors in what is the only piece of good news to come out of the club this week.
Mannering and Lillyman were two of the highest profile players coming off contract at the end of the season and recently Mannering confirmed he was considering moving on.
However, today the club have announced that both will continue their time in Auckland with Mannering signing for another four years and Lillyman for three.
In a week where the Warriors suffered an embarrassing loss, axed their head coach and a war of words erupted between the club's owners, the re-signing of the duo will at last give fans something to smile about.
Whether the timing of the announcement was done to appease fans and move things on from the feud between Sir Owen Glenn and Eric Watson is something that can only be speculated on, but it should lift the mood ahead of tomorrow's game against the Bulldogs at Eden Park.
For co-owner Watson, the signing of Mannering was pivotal to the club's future; read on:
Watson said it was crucial going forward that the Warriors retained Mannering.
"I've spoken at length to Simon," Watson told Fairfax Media.
"Simon has been a real Warrior and he is what typifies what we want to be as a club -tough, uncompromising, turns up every week and leads from the front.
"He travels more metres than nearly anyone in the NRL, makes more tackles - you know the stats.
"He has been very uncertain to the point where I've talked to him many times.
"If Simon were to go it would have given the media a feeding frenzy."
Mannering's agent, Steve Gillis, is sure to have milked the Warriors' crisis for all it was worth to get the most money he could for his client and Watson confirmed Mannering did have large offers from other clubs.
"Simon had many options and with the money in the NRL increasing significantly of late, players like Simon can command large contracts with any team in Australasia," Watson said.
"Simon could have waited and thought about what he wanted to do. Or he could step up now and support his new coach and take any doubt out of the system.
"Doubt is weakness. I believe we will be able to say that Simon's made the right decision."
We hope that Simon Mannering has good a really good contract; he deserves it. He started with the Warriors, and looks like being one of those rare beasts in the modern era; a one-club footballer. That is commendable.
Jacob Lillyman too is an important part of the side. When he comes off the bench he makes plenty of metres with the ball in hand, and he is a ferocious tackler. He is the kind of player that any club would love to have, and needs to have.
We wish the Warriors well this afternoon. Today would be a great day for the players to get the Eden Park monkey off their back, and to get back into a winning habit. If they can shake off the turbulance of the past week, and if they take confidence from the leadership shown by Mannering and Lillyman in re-signing, there's no reason why they cannot win today.
