League: Warriors were far from perfect, says Simon Mannering

Simon Mannering hopes to be back in a couple of weeks. Photo / Photosport

Injured forward Simon Mannering hopes to be back "in a couple of weeks" but says the Warriors need to follow up last week's win over South Sydney with another strong showing at home against the Gold Coast on Saturday.

Mannering remained in Auckland while his side claimed a historic 32-20 victory in Perth, as he continues to work his way back to full fitness after partially dislocating his shoulder in the Warriors trial victory over the Titans three weeks ago.

The 31-year-old was initially expected to be out for up to six weeks but the former club captain could be back ahead of schedule in time for the round four clash against the Roosters in Sydney.

"The initial prognosis was around that six-week mark, so hopefully not too much longer, a couple more weeks," Mannering said.

"I'm not too sure. It's feeling quite good. I'm slowly progressing with my rehab and it's coming up to about three weeks now.

"You'd have to ask the medical department for specifics but it was a sublux of my shoulder, so it moved in and out of the socket and just did a bit of damage there.

"But it's a week-to-week basis. I've just got to progress it each week and push it to the point where I'm back close to full fitness.

"Hopefully it's not too much longer but the guys are going really well so there's a bit less pressure on me trying to rush back, which is nice."

Mannering was thrilled his teammates were able to break their winless run in Perth and pleased with his second-row replacement Isaiah Papali'i's impressive performance on the left-edge.

The 19-year-old played the full 80 minutes in his first starting appearance for the side after playing five matches off the bench last season and will feature again in Saturday's clash against the Titans.

"I was just really happy for the group that they went all that way and came back with what they deserved," he said.

"(Papali'i) was awesome, probably one of the best on the field.

"I'm really happy for him. He's a young kid and only played a handful of games last year but you see the way he plays and forget he's only 19.

"I'm really happy for him and hopefully he's there all year because it was a great performance and a great way to start his season and I'm sure he'll build off the back of it."

The result in Perth has seen a surge in ticket sales for tomorrow's match with numbers already exceeding any attendance from last season's 12 home games and a crowd close to 18,000 expected at Mt Smart Stadium.

Despite the positive mood around the camp, the 280-game veteran said the Warriors needed to build on last week and repay their long-suffering supporters in a match they are heavily favoured to win.

"It wasn't a perfect performance and was very far off where we're going to need to be towards the end of the season.

"There's a lot of things to work on which is good and the challenge for us now is backing it up after a big trip home and backing up our performances which we haven't been very good at.

"We've got to show with our first game here at Mt Smart what it means to us.

"It's nice (to get a big crowd) but it won't mean anything if we don't perform in front of our fans coming out to support us."