KEY POINTS:
If you notice an improvement in Manu Vatuvei's handling this season, mark it down to his four-month-old daughter Makayla.
For Vatuvei is now trying a new technique. The Warriors' coaching staff and fellow players are telling him: "Treat the ball just like it is your baby daughter."
He
doesn't say much more about the correlation between his daughter and his handling but agrees it is high on his priority list. In pretty much every preview of the Warriors' NRL season, there was reference to Manu Vatuvei's hands. In fact, whenever the Warriors' blockbusting winger is mentioned it is inevitably in conjunction with the handling mistakes that have pockmarked his career so far.
Even the Herald on Sunday's pre-season review said: "Manu Vatuvei - either sublime or ridiculous when the pill comes his way."
Sublime is a word Vatuvei might use about fatherhood, although he calls it "awesome".
"'It is great being a father and having a baby; and having a daughter is just such a buzz."
His obvious delight in his infant has transferred itself to his team-mates, who have not lost the opportunity to relate the care of his daughter to the care he must take with the ball.
What makes these handling lapses even more puzzling is that Vatuvei is among the best in the NRL at the highly difficult art of leaping high to take a 'bomb' to score a try.
The latter is far harder than some of the shelled passes and botched grubbers he has produced - leading to some criticism and to an especially irritating Fox Sports commentator who calls him "Mr Fumbles".
Typically, Vatuvei laughs when he is asked about his hands - showing his gold teeth which are masked by a gumshield when you see him on TV.
"Oh, yeah, I am working on it all right," he laughs. "I am getting guys to throw tennis balls and even golf balls to me so I am used to a smaller ball and so I can build up my catching.
"I can't really explain what happens but I have had some trouble with grubbers which bounce everywhere. But I don't see it as a big problem, we're working on it and I am sure it will come right."
Vatuvei practises with the golf and tennis balls both at training and away from the club - working on that all-important, basic skill. Ironically, in the training session, he twice pulls off huge leaps in an opposed session against the Lions to claim the ball.
"I work on that a lot too," he says of his aerial skills. "I am a bigger winger than most guys and I have to be good at getting above them and getting the ball."
Big, he is. Vatuvei is listed as 109kg in some quarters but he looks leaner and harder than last year. He is reputed to be one of those his team-mates rank as a "must-play" option.
There is no doubt a rampaging Vatuvei can damage any defence. In his best form, tacklers bounce off him like raindrops on pavement so investment in his handling skills has to be well worth it.