NRL: Vatuvei credits Cleary for keeping the faith

Manu Vatuvei has scored 83 NRL tries, including one last week against the Titans. Photo / Getty Images

Ivan Cleary might not deliver an NRL title for the Warriors but he will leave a significant parting gift at the end of the season - a fully functioning Manu Vatuvei.

The blockbusting winger has credited the soon-to-depart coach with saving his career when it hit the skids after a shocking case of the fumbles in 2007.

Vatuvei revealed that Cleary even hoisted bombs himself when no kickers were available for post-training catching sessions designed to restore his confidence under the high ball.

"It was do or die," Vatuvei said of the days after he melted down with a spectacular six-error blitz during a 30-6 loss Parramatta. "If I didn't perform then I think my career would have been over, to be honest."

Vatuvei isn't being melodramatic about what he now calls his "big shut down". In the fallout from the Eels debacle he was widely lampooned, and there were suggestions he might never play first grade again.

His return to the Warriors' line-up after just one match in the wilderness was certainly a bold call, even for a coach with a reputation for backing his players.

"I don't know if there is another coach who would have done that," Vatuvei said. "He had faith in me and he had trust in me."

There was no magic involved in a rehabilitation that transformed Vatuvei from a basket case to one of the game's premier aerial predators in the space of a season.

"Ivan just told me to keep my head up, keep focussing on the little things I needed to practise and go back to catching high balls every time after training. I slowly got my confidence back and when he knew I had it back he put me back in the team.

"It was tough, but knowing I had the backing of the coaching staff and the boys got me back there.

"Ivan was the one who always had faith in me doing the job and knew I could bounce back. I thank him all the time. He means a lot."

Vatuvei began his career under Daniel Anderson and also played under Tony Kemp. But it is under Cleary's guidance that he has emerged as one of the game's premier strike wingers.

Although he has struggled this season after a knee injury in the opening-round defeat by the Eels, Vatuvei has steadily improved and should return to the form that earned him the club's player-of-the-year award last season.

At 25, he has notched 83 tries in 122 games and last year signed a big-money contract extension that will keep him at the Warriors until at least 2013.

Vatuvei probably assumed those years would be spent playing under Cleary. Instead his next big challenge will be playing against his one-time mentor's team next season.

"I'll be pretty sad, but it is just part of his career," Vatuvei said of Cleary's impending departure. "Hopefully things will go well for him in Penrith.

"The real sad thing is that he knows my strong parts and my weaknesses. It will be tough. I'll have to try to change my game when he goes."