Set of six: Mannering leaves Nines to the speedsters

Warriors captain Simon Mannering. Photo / Getty Images

Warriors and Kiwis captain Simon Mannering is confident he will be right to start round one of the NRL despite being ruled out of the NRL Auckland Nines due to a few "little niggles".

"Hopefully, yeah," Mannering said. "I'm not getting any younger so the body takes a bit longer to get ready for the season and a bit longer to recover from the last one. We've got a great team as it is and they don't need me slowing them down."

Thompson enjoying Kiwi life
New Warriors signing Bodene Thompson is loving being back in New Zealand after 10-years across the ditch and enjoying the chance to get back to his hometown of Tauranga.

"I've been back twice in the last three weeks," the 26-year-old back-rower said. "I've had a couple of weekends off training so I shoot down there and just chill out with the family. We take dad's boat out to Rabbit Island just off the Mount and dive around there for a few hours."

Kiwi JT no fan of Maroonz
Kiwis lock and one time Queensland State of Origin target, Jason Taumalolo, chuckled when asked his thoughts on the Maroonz membership drive in Auckland this week.
"Funny how that works," he said. "One moment they're trying to take New Zealand players and the next they're trying to get members here. I don't know how that works but obviously the NRL in general and the State of Origin is all about business and I guess that's what they're doing."

Aussies 'created' Lonergan's 'aura'
Queensland coach Mal Meninga is full of praise for what his former Canberra teammate and Kiwis rival, Dean Lonergan, has achieved in establishing the NRL Auckland Nines, but insists his Australian ties proved the making of the Duco Events co-owner. "We made him," joked Meninga. "He played for the Raiders, we were a successful team. We knocked him out when he was playing for the Kiwis and he got back up again, so we created his aura. But he loves a feed and he loves a beer so he mixed in with us Aussies pretty well."

Queensland to host stand-alone rep weekend
Brisbane and the Gold Coast will host a blockbuster stand-alone weekend of representative rugby league in May.
Suncorp Stadium will host the trans-Tasman test between New Zealand and Australia on Friday May 1, with the Kiwi Ferns to face the Jillaroos in the curtain-raiser.
Saturday night (May 2) will see the Junior Kiwis take on the Junior Kangaroos. The PNG Kumuls will then take on Fiji Bati, before Samoa return to the international stage following their successful Four Nations campaign against traditional rivals Tonga.

Eels lose Hoppa to injury
Parramatta star Will Hopoate has withdrawn from the Nines to recover from a groin strain. The Eels said Hopoate suffered some tightness during a midweek training run and will miss the tournament "as a precautionary measure". Bureta Faraimo will fill his place in the 18-man squad, captained by Chris Sandow.