KEY POINTS:
Roll forward a year today, the Warriors are about to play their opening game of the 2009 NRL season - there is no Steve Price; no Ruben Wiki.
Another veteran, Logan Swann, will also be gone and in the natural progression of things, the young players who have been around a while will be expected to step up.
Foremost among them is Simon Mannering.
This year, he starts his fourth season in the top squad and although just 21, has great experience at the top level, playing every Warriors game last season plus all six tests for the Kiwis, taking his appearance totals to 50 in the NRL and 11 in test matches.
Mannering is quiet and unassuming and baulks at the idea that he may one day be captain of the club - let alone his country - but the way he's headed, both seem well on the cards.
"I don't see myself in that sort of role," he said at Warriors training as the club prepared for its season opener in Melbourne on Monday night. "When Pricey and Ruben move on they will leave a big hole, for sure. And there's young guys like me and Manu [Vatuvei] who have been around a while and I guess maybe we will have to take on more of a leadership role. We'll do our best."
But captain? "Not really, I see myself more of a doer than a talker, leading by actions on the field. Further down the track, if the boys want me as a leader, fair enough."
It's not a role he is accustomed to in league, having come late to the game. His father is an accountant in the fishing industry and the family moved from Napier, where Simon was born, to Nelson where he went to college, playing rugby union. He was talent-scouted by then New Zealand Rugby League Wellington development officer Paul Bergman and started at the academy in the capital.
His tall frame and long reach are good assets to use in providing off-loads for others. He clearly has a good footballing brain, showing up when needed in both attack and defence. He has great stamina and is sure to be one of those called on to play extended minutes this season as the interchange drops from 12 to 10. His tackling technique is solid. He makes few errors, fewer dumb decisions.
And so followed a rapid rise to the Junior Kiwis, the New Zealand A side and a Warriors contract. He is signed through to the end of 2009. It's a certainty the club will not want to let that get close to expiry before securing him beyond next season.
Mannering is a natural secondrower and it is his preferred position, despite having spent much time in midfield for both his club and country. "I enjoy it a lot more, you're closer to the action." Coach Ivan Cleary has told him that, barring injuries to his intended centres Brent Tate and Jerome Ropati, Mannering will be playing in the forwards this season.
At training last week, he and Tate were the only two of the team expected to start against the Storm who were not running around. Tate is still nursing the knee repaired by surgery. Mannering has had a slight groin strain but his real problem has been fatigue, he admits.
"It was a long year last year," he said, one that ended with the disastrous Kiwis tour of England. He was one of the few to perform to potential. As a result, he was selected in all games and played long minutes, 80 in one of the contests against Great Britain. Coach Cleary is well aware of his physical and mental state, leaving him out of the pre-season trial against Manly.
"I've had a slow start, I missed a lot of the pre-season." But he doesn't feel he will want for fitness nor for cohesion with his team mates. "We've got mostly the same team back, everyone knows what's going on, so that's good."
That stability and their performance in 2007 gave them confidence going into 2008, Mannering said. "We showed a lot of character last year when we dug ourselves a bit of a hole and then dug our way out of it [six losses in a row then finishing fourth]. The team showed a lot of guts."
There's one game he doesn't like being reminded about, the 31-all draw with the Roosters in round 21. "We would have won but for me," he criticises.
Mannering was sent off in the second half for a professional foul: The Roosters scored twice to go from 30-16 down to level at 30-all. Braith Anasta kicked a field goal, Warrior Michael Witt levelled again with 17 seconds remaining. Tell him it was the most entertaining game of the whole year and it's no consolation. "Not for me it wasn't."
Though he agrees they learnt plenty from that, as well as the thrashing in Townsville in the playoff eliminator. They would handle repeats better.
The squad knew there was greater expectation on them this season, Mannering said. They had the same of themselves as they did last year - making the playoffs. "There is no extra burden. [Last year] just gives us self-confidence."
* SIMON MANNERING
Born 28/8/86 Napier
Played rugby for Nelson College, brought to league by Wellington development officer Paul Bergman
Wellington Orcas, Junior Kiwis and NZ A, 2004
NRL debut in round 16 of 2005 against Brisbane. Has played 50 games(7 games 2005, 17 in2006, 26 in 2007) and scored 16 tries
2007 scored 7 tries and played all 26 Warriors games (only player to do so).
Kiwis debut 2006, played all five tests that year, 2007 played all six tests
* Some NRL teams have a foot in front of the pack because of one star playmaker, someone so gifted with the football that opponents never work him out, no matter how much video analysis they do. Newcastle had it with Andrew Johns. Such was his influence that bookmakers refused to accept bets on the team when he was in doubt through injury.
The Herald picks five to watch in 2008: players who can do something special with the ball.
1. ROBBIE FARAH
Second in the Dally Ms was Tigers hooker Robbie Farah, again, a measure of the knowledge his opponents have of his ability to tear defences apart.
Farah is the magician in traffic, leaving fans asking, "How'd he get through there?" Without him, Benji Marshall might look ordinary. Marshall still confuses defences with his step, shuffle and dummy, but Farah has a more varied range of sleights for tacklers.
His speed off the mark is a big asset, as is his ability to keep his feet when running while stooped, avoiding the ball-and-all defenders. He has a great pass, as well as a good no-pass. He steps off both feet.
When Farah was out with a bruised hip in their last crucial games as they tried to sneak into the eight last season, the Tigers looked clueless, going down to Souths and then Newcastle, who had lost eight in a row, on home ground.
Farah, too, is just 24 years of age. He's behind Melbourne's Cameron Smith for the Australian jersey because of Smith's bigger size and 75 per cent goal-kicking record but he may well shade the Knights' Danny Buderus for the NSW job.
2. JOHNATHAN THURSTON
The Cowboys halfback Johnathan Thurston, voted 2007's best player by his peers via the Dally M awards, is the next Johns. Of all the mistakes the Bulldogs have made in recent seasons, letting Thurston go north was their biggest on-field blunder.
The Aussie and Origin halfback is out until round five after undergoing shoulder surgery. But from there, provided the Cowboys can keep the bulk of their pack on the park, Thurston should prosper. He suffered for time and space last season as Carl Webb, Steve Southern Luke O'Donnell and Sione Faumuina all spent long periods on the sidelines.
He's still just 24. He's only going to get better. When you think he's going to run, he kicks. When you expect him to pass, he runs. He has an uncanny understanding with fullback Matt Bowen. He is developing Johns' ability to see plays two or three down the track and hence turn up at exactly the right time to take a hand.
3. CAMERON SMITH
Cameron Smith was third in the Dally M voting last year and he, like the two above, seems sure to compete at top level again this year. Smith has remarkable experience behind him for another who is just 24, captaining Australia and playing in winning and losing grand final teams.
Clearly, he is a key leader in the Storm's game plan.
While the Storm backs are the try scoring stars, it is Smith who opens the path for them in his choice of attack points. He may not have Farah's flash around the ruck but he has better vision for a gap and better planning to produce one.
Smith doesn't have too much field-kicking to do because of half Cooper Cronk's accuracy but he is a capable kicker, making few mistakes.
He is a solid defender in the middle, rarely beaten. As a package, he's the complete hooker and deservedly won last year's Golden Boot as world's best player.
4. SONNY BILL WILLIAMS
Every time Sonny Bill Williams gets near the ball you sit up and take notice.
If he's got the ball, there may be a line break and charge over the fullback, or four defenders dragged in before a blue-and-white sleeve miraculously emerges from the melee to deliver a one-handed off-load to back-up. If the opposition has the ball, there's a shoulder charge of truck-stopping proportions. Ask Joel Clinton.
Sonny Bill is just 22. He's in his fourth year of an NRL career which has been blighted by injury, meaning he's appeared in 41 matches of 98 the Bulldogs have played since 2004.
At his best, Sonny Bill is unstoppable. He's the man you give the ball to near the line, his 14 tries the Dogs' best in 2007 and best-equal with Penrith's Frank Pritchard for all forwards in the NRL.
If he can stay injury-free, 2008 could be the year he achieves the greatness many have predicted.
5. KRISNAN INU
Amazingly, Krisnan Inu is still to turn 21, on Monday, the day the Storm play the Warriors. So he had his party last weekend, a church bash with no alcohol, just soft drinks.
Inu got his chance in round seven last year due to injury and a virus sweeping through the Parramatta team. He grabbed it, playing every subsequent match. That first game convinced the Kiwis to draft Inu in as fullback for the Anzac test and he played well there, then backing up for the Eels two days later.
His co-ordination and control is nothing short of remarkable, though the one-handed juggles will do nothing for his coaches' hairlines.
Perhaps the reason he's so good is the level of enjoyment he takes from the game. The beaming smile breaks open every time he jinks, swerves and beats the defence to head for the try line, and as he lines up kicks at goal.
Inu's spectacular arrival on the scene was a surprise. A repeat won't be.
