Comment: Simon Mannering has been the ultimate Warrior

When Simon Mannering retires at the end of the 2018 season he will do so as the greatest player in Warriors history.

There have been several superb players call Mt Smart their home - others may opt for Stacey Jones or Ruben Wiki as the greatest Warrior - but Mannering stands on top.

There won't be the brilliant line breaks or bone-crunching hits that Jones or Wiki had on their career highlights reel, but what Mannering has brought to the club has been equally important.

He has been the consummate professional; the player willing to go that extra mile to get the job done; and in many ways the most easily identifiable Warriors player for much of his career.

That career has seen many highlights – particularly in the early part of it when the club was a regular finals contender and when the Kiwis enjoyed unprecedented success. There have also been dark days – the run of six successive years of the club missing the NRL playoffs. Mannering was captain of the side for much of that time and was the one person who had to be accountable for an under-performing club even when he was churning out quality individual displays each week.

Simon Mannering is set to retire. Photo / Getty

Mannering has never been one to seek attention. He has never wanted to be a headline maker and never found it easy to accept praise. I could probably write whatever I wanted to in this column because I doubt he'd ever read it.

It's unlikely there will ever be a desire to take a role working in the media once his playing days are finished – it just isn't who Simon Mannering is. If there were problems - of which there were many - or if he was unfairly criticised he just bit his lip and kept that behind closed doors. You could never accuse Mannering of being a leak at Warriors headquarters.

Should he get injured or suspended between now and the end of the season and he finish on 299 career games he would sail off into the sunset just as satisfied as if he'd hit the 300 mark.

But here's the thing that Mannering has never quite understood. Reaching those milestones and all the fanfare that comes with it isn't that a big deal for him, but it is for those around him. It is for the supporters of the club and the club itself.

He is universally respected and loved and it will be hugely important for those that have watched him over the years to see him go out the way a champion should. He deserves a premiership as much as the fans of the Warriors deserve one.

It will be a long shot but there would be something incredibly fitting if the Warriors could somehow break their drought and bid him farewell in style.