By PETER JESSUP
The National Rugby League's biggest wing, Odell Manuel, has walked out of the Canberra Raiders and is heading home to Otahuhu to try to work his way back into the Warriors.
The 24-year-old said he realised the day he landed in Canberra before the 2001 season that he had done the wrong thing in deserting the club when it was in disarray after the fiasco of Tainui ownership. In hindsight, he felt he had been caught up in bad blood between the Warriors management and his agent, Simon Burgess, who also advised Joe Vagana and others to leave.
"My family didn't like it here from day one and if you're not happy off the field it's hard to play your best football on it," the 24-year-old said.
He had a bad start, a broken finger then a hamstring problem keeping him out for around half the season, but produced some good results in the latter stages of last season. This season he has had only three premiership games.
Manuel said he could accept not getting a walk-up start but when others chosen ahead of him were injured and coach Matthew Elliot shifted players out of position rather than give him a chance, the writing was on the wall.
"I wanted to come home to my family anyway. I asked the Raiders about a release on Wednesday and it's a done deal, they've paid me out. Now I want to concentrate on getting back with the boys. I'll beg the Warriors for a chance if I have to."
He has approached the Otahuhu club about playing Bartercard Cup as a first step towards turning out for the Warriors and they will register him.
Manuel is heavier than any wing in the NRL, 105kg, and at 186cm only Brisbane's Lote Tuquri (191cm) is taller.
The hamstring is fine, he says, and with 58 NRL games behind him he will attract some interest, but an immediate contract is unlikely, considering the form of the incumbents. It is a matter of those hands that let Manuel down when he last played in Auckland.
Rugby League: Manuel on way home to Otahuhu
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