Mannering will be the invisible man.
Somewhat Like Blairs first two games.
The reason I say that, is that is the role he plays for the Kiwis. When surrounded by Star runners, off loaders, and ball players.
You don't tend to notice him as he quietly goes about shutting the Kangaroos down in tests, he stays out of the way of the Meter eating forwards and backs and does what he is best at.
The difference between our other two best defensive forwards (
Blair and
Tohu Harris) to Mannering is that Simon slows the ruck by one on one smothering guys.
When Latrell Mitchel burst through the middle (straight through (Sao and
Pulu then fended
Paasi) he busted through and beat three good tacklers who got caught out by Mitchell's explosive speed.
how many times have you seen that happen to Mannering ?
Mannering is the best Wrestler we have, and his one on one's smother the ball, and he slowly off balances them to the ground.
That's where the Defensive line is bought an extra five seconds to reset without giving a way a penalty.
That last part, avoiding penalties, is where Mannerings game will fit in under the new style we are playing.
Blair and
Tohu Harris on the other hand are bred to give away penalties (which is ok but Mannering adds some balance to that).
I don't mind if Simon runs, as long as he doesn't try to offload, the team is full of specialists, and sometimes even that hits saturation point with too many.
As we all know, we will see the great man deliver the same promise to the team he has always kept - stand on the Wall and stop the bad men.