League: Teenage centre hoping to repay coach's faith

Teenage centre Simon Mannering will look to repay the faith coach Tony Kemp has shown in him when he makes his National Rugby League (NRL) debut this weekend.

Mannering, 18, will line up for the New Zealand Warriors against South Sydney in Auckland less than two years after switching codes from rugby union.

His inclusion in the starting 13 comes at the expense of Kiwi test centre Clinton Toopi, who has been relegated to the bench for his 100th first-grade appearance.

Mannering said his reaction was one of surprise when Kemp told him he would be playing at Ericsson Stadium on Sunday.

"I'm just very grateful to him because he's going out on a limb," he said.

"He's got his job to worry about but he's given me a chance. He's shown faith in me."

Mannering was born in Napier but raised in Nelson where he attended Nelson College.

The New Zealand Rugby League's local coaching development manager, Phil Bergman, spotting him playing centre for the college first 15 and told him he had what it took to be a top league player.

After switching codes, Mannering made the New Zealand Secondary School side and then followed Bergman across Cook Strait when Bergman became coach of the Wellington Bartercard Cup team.

Mannering played about a dozen Bartercard Cup matches last season, mostly in the second row.

He went on to win selection for the Junior Kiwis and for New Zealand A.

He has had one match this year -- for the President's Selection against the Warriors in a pre-season trial.

Mannering had set his sights on making his NRL debut this year, "but not this early... I thought I would play in the Bartercard Cup, try to impress from there and hope to have one or two games through injury or what-not".

Bergman said what had impressed him when he first saw Mannering in action was his athleticism, size, footwork and aggression.

"He had all the attributes to be an elite footballer."

But Bergman admitted he was also surprised at the speed with which Mannering had gone from secondary school rugby player to NRL first-grader.

"He's really played only one season of rugby league, a total of about 30 games maximum in his whole career," he said.

"But it's the intelligence of Simon that has sped him up. You need to tell him something only once."

Kemp described Mannering as a stand-out performer during the Warriors' off-season.

"He's shown a lot of promise and he's a big lump of a lad," he said.

"He's got a big future in the game. Once again the farm has turned out a decent type of debutant, so it's an accolade to the junior structures within New Zealand."

Kemp added that Toopi's demotion to the bench was based on form.

"He is one of the classiest centres in the world," Kemp said.

"Clinton will be the first to tell you that he has not been playing to potential."

- NZPA