NRL: Cleary sends Mara into front line

Brent Tate says the next three games are crucial for the team's confidence. Photo / Dean Purcell

Uncapped hooker Alehana Mara will take his first NRL splash in the deep end - at Brookvale Oval tonight in a match vital to the Warriors' finals ambitions.

Touted as one of the club's better prospects, the 20-year-old Wellingtonian was this year promoted to a fulltime contract after making 39 appearances over two seasons at NYC level.

With Ian Henderson and Aaron Heremaia forming a potent combination in first grade, Mara has had to bide his time, playing for feeder club Auckland Vulcans.

Now, with Henderson having succumbed to the ankle injury he suffered late on against Newcastle, Mara finally gets his chance. He'll face a Manly side stung by last week's defeat by the Dragons and desperately needing a win to preserve their place in the top eight.

As debuts go, it's a toughie.

"Everyone has got to start somewhere," coach Ivan Cleary said after plumping for Mara ahead of makeshift options Lance Hohaia and Lewis Brown.

Mara's debut comes in a match with more riding on it that two competition points.

With a four-point buffer between them and ninth place, the Warriors could sneak into the finals without winning another game. One more victory will certainly get them there.

But neither of those scenarios will set them up for a good run next month.

Brent Tate, the only current Warrior to have won an NRL Premiership - in 2006 with the Broncos - knows that momentum is every bit as important as where a club finishes on the ladder.

"One thing is for certain, you can't limp into the finals," Tate said. "You have got to be playing well and you have got to be confident.

"These next three games are not only crucial for us to make the eight, but crucial for our confidence. That is huge."

Last week's victory over the Knights was comfortable enough but a repeat of the indifferent first 20 minutes of that match from the Warriors would almost certainly prove fatal against the Sea Eagles.

"We have definitely got to get better," Tate said. "We took a while to find our groove [against Newcastle] but once we got into the game of completing our sets and kicking the ball we found our rhythm pretty quickly and managed to put some points on them."

With a game based around tenacious defence, ruck speed and dummy half running, the Warriors can't claim to be the flashiest team in the NRL.

They might not be thrilling the purists, but they aren't making any apologies for an approach that has returned seven wins from their past nine matches.

It is a style modelled on that of tonight's opponent, Tate said.

"Manly have built that grinding sort of a game over the last couple of years. They and Melbourne have been the standouts in the competition."

To give themselves a chance of doing just that the Warriors will have to match Manly's imposing forward effort.

"They are a big team and they play a physical game and over there at Brookvale where the surface is pretty heavy," Cleary said. "It will be won in the trenches."

Cleary certainly isn't bothered by the frequent off-hand dismissals of his side's prospects.

"A lot of the press we get [in Australia], with respect, is just based on ignorance," he said.

"They just don't know much about us. It doesn't worry me. There is only one way to get [respect] and that is to win."

Back rower Sione Lousi and prop Jesse Royal have also travelled with the squad as cover.

SEA EAGLES v WARRIORS
Brookvale Oval, 7.30 tonight

SEA EAGLES
Will Hopoate
Michael Robertson
Jamie Lyon
Steve Matai
Tony Williams
Kieran Foran
Trent Hodkinson
Jason King
Matt Ballin
Brent Kite
A Watmough
Shane Rodney
Glenn Stewart
Interchange: Joe Galuvao, Matt Cross, George Rose, Chris Bailey.

WARRIORS
Lance Hohaia
Bill Tupou
Brent Tate
Joel Moon
Manu Vatuvei
James Maloney
Brett Seymour
Ben Matulino
Aaron Heremaia
Russell Packer
Simon Mannering
Lewis Brown
Micheal Luck
Interchange: Alehana Mara, Jacob Lillyman, Sam Rapira, U Ta'ai.