NRL: Vatuvei highlights greater consistency

Manu Vatuvei had another standout season for the Warriors. Photo / Getty Images

New Zealand Warriors winger Manu Vatuvei says consistency was the key to his prolific year with the National Rugby League (NRL) club.

Vatuvei's NRL season was capped off by being named the Warriors' player of the year last night.

"I was a bit more consistent than other years," he said.

"When I came back this year, I started where I ended and that's something I wanted to give to the team. I wanted to play the best I could every week and improve all the time."

While Vatuvei, 24, was the frontrunner for the award, he said he was surprised to head off fellow contenders Lance Hohaia, Micheal Luck, Sam Rapira and Jerome Ropati.

"I was one of the nominees, but I never expected to get it," he said.

"All the guys that were nominated played well and showed what they could do. I'm grateful and privileged to get it."

Vatuvei, who also took the fans' award for player of the year, finished with 20 tries in his 19 appearances, missing six matches because of a hamstring injury.

His touchdown in the qualifying final loss to Gold Coast last Friday night was the 78th of his career and took him past Stacey Jones as the top tryscorer in the club's history.

He also equalled club records for tries in a regular season (19 set by Sean Hoppe) and tries in consecutive matches (seven set by Todd Byrne).

For Vatuvei, the disappointment of failing to go further in the playoffs hasn't dissipated.

"The Titans are a good team and we had to play to another level to beat them and it wasn't enough," he said.

"We were hoping we had a second chance and we thought we did, but it wasn't our time. Hopefully we can learn from what we did this year and take it on to next year."

The defeat to Gold Coast was the first of three results that went against the Warriors last weekend and abruptly ended their campaign.

The second was Wests Tigers' marathon golden-point defeat to the Sydney Roosters after the Tigers had appeared to have victory wrapped up with just seconds to go in normal time.

It was an emotionally draining match for Warriors fans to watch and no different for Vatuvei.

"It was pretty tough," he said.

"I don't know how upset I was. I never want to watch that match again."

Vatuvei last month re-signed with the Warriors until the end of 2013 and he believed the club had a strong platform for pushing on next year.

The core of the squad was staying on and the Warriors' focus on being a development rather than a recruitment club meant there was plenty of talent coming through in the Junior Warriors, who have made it into the last four in the under-20 Toyota Cup.

Vatuvei's sights now turn to the Kiwis and the Four Nations tournament in October and November.

- NZPA