League: No halting rookie’s rise up the ranks

When 18-year-old Simon Mannering takes the field for the Warriors against Souths tomorrow he will have just over 30 games of league behind him.

Mannering has had a meteoric rise, from college football straight to the national secondary schools' side after three games, to Wellington's junior representative sides then the capital's Bartercard Cup team, the Junior Kiwis then New Zealand A, and now the NRL.

He's nervous, but his mentor, Paul Bergman, who saw him playing for the Nelson College 1st XV and assured him he could have a big future in the 13-man game, told Mannering this week that it should be his Rabbitohs midfield opponents, Shannon Hegarty and Lee Hookey, who are anxious.

"All they know about you is that you're 18 and good enough to play for the Warriors," Bergman told the teenager, reassuring him he has an advantage because they won't have been able to study video of his play, as is the norm for NRL teams.

Bergman was development officer for the NZRL in Nelson when he watched that rugby game in August 2003, tapped Mannering on the shoulder and asked him to switch codes.

He was coach of the New Zealand secondary schools team that year and admits he virtually promised the lanky teen a spot.

"We were on our way to the national tournament at Hopu Hopu and I said if he played well there there was a very good chance he'd make the secondary schools team."

Nelson won the second division of the national tournament and on the back of the three games there, Mannering played in the second row against an Aussie side who included Benji Marshall, Karmichael Hunt and six other New Zealand-linked players.

The Kiwis were close losers.

Bergman shifted to Wellington to take its junior rep teams in the national juniors competition and the Bartercard Cup side, and asked Mannering to go with him.

At 16, Mannering shifted across Cook Strait to sleep on a couch in Bergman's central-city apartment, working with him as a ceiling installer.

"So he's done it tough," Bergman said. "He was probably one of my best performers in Bartercard."

Bergman played Mannering in the second row.

"He's like a Steve Menzies. He's got height, he's fast, he's got good ball skills, he's aggressive, and the best thing is he has plenty of football nous.

"It's a hard thing to develop in players, but Simon shows lots of football intelligence."

Mannering has always been a left-side attacker. The game's flow generally runs more that way because right-handers favour passing in that direction.

"Centre and second row are so interchangeable now they're almost the same," Bergman said.

He has no worries about Mannering stepping up.

"Centre is his natural position so he'll be comfortable there. If I was head coach of the Warriors I'd be using him and I'd probably throw in a couple more [youngsters] - it's a young man's game, and with the experience of the likes of Steve Price around them, it's the ideal way to learn.

"There's plenty more like him about," Bergman said.

Eight of his 2004 Bartercard Cup side made the Junior Kiwis or have been signed by NRL clubs, including 17-year-old Josh Davis, who was linked with the Eels; John Te Reo, who is at the Broncos; and Marvin Karawana and Isaac Luke, who are at the Bulldogs.

The Wellington NJC sides started training on November 1 and Bergman has 20 players in an academy fulltime and 26 part-time.

Mannering's father, Guy, isn't worried about Simon's nerves getting the better of him. "Every time the bar has been raised he's stepped up. I'm confident he has the ability."

SIMON MANNERING

* Born: August 26, 1986, Napier.

* Raised in Nelson.

* 190cm, 95kg.

* Centre/second-rower.

* Nelson College 1st XV centre 2003.

* Nelson College XIII second-rower.

* NZ Secondary Schools v Australia 2003.

* Second row 2004 Wellington NJC u-18 team.

* Wellington Bartercard Cup team.

* Junior Kiwis v England.

* NZ A side against New South Wales Country.

* Nominated for NZRL Rookie of the Year 2004.

* 2005 Warriors trial v NZ President's Selection.

* 34 games of rugby league.