Graham Lowe: Emotions get into the game

Last weekend's opening skirmishes of the NRL demonstrated just what a major role emotion can play in football's toughest and most entertaining transtasman competition.

Much of the interest in the league world focused on two teams, on opposite sides of the ocean, wracked by their own particular emotional demons but for very different reasons.

On the one hand we had the Warriors, with every reason to be brimming with positive energy as they lined up alongside their war-horse captain Steve Price for his 300th NRL appearance.

Yet the tragic off-season loss of their gifted young star Sonny Fai could just as easily have cast a pre-match pall over the Auckland club as Mt Smart Stadium went eerily silent in honour of the 138th Warrior.

On the other side of the Tasman was the Australian team most Kiwis give their support after the Warriors - my old outfit, the Manly Sea Eagles. The emotion surrounding their pre-season was even more raw, but quite different in nature.

On the day they officially launched their bid to win back-to-back premierships (and world club championships) their composure disintegrated into a drunken disgrace allegedly involving star player Brett Stewart.

Dealing with adversity is often the benchmark for a club's resilience and resolve to win. Comparing the two clubs and how they handled their respective situations, makes for interesting observation.

The Warriors publicly merged the mourning for their young teammate with the measured celebration for their much admired captain.

They skilfully harnessed the different emotions involved, and in a perfect hand played by the coach and senior management in the build-up to the Parramatta game, drew on them as required to motivate the players.

Manly chose a different course. Up went the walls and the ramparts. A siege was launched and the high-flying club withdrew into itself, stung by the allegations swirling around it.

Late last week, Manly offered a token fight-back - the players threatening to boycott the end-of-season Dally M awards (notwithstanding the fact their captain Matt Orford is the Dally M player of the year) in protest at the NRL standing Stewart down for five weeks and imposing a $100,000 fine on the club, without a formal hearing.

Manly's ignominy was complete by week's end with a 34-12 thrashing by last year's wooden spooners, the Bulldogs.

The Premiers' strength, resilience and resolve were washed away in a Sydney rainstorm, and they have a long way to come back this weekend if they are to trouble the Warriors at Brookvale Oval. Manly have discovered how suffocating negative emotion can be.

The former great Liverpool player and manager Kenny Dalgleish once told me that prior to his team playing in a huge atmosphere such as that of a Wembley Stadium, he would have the players play the game in their heads before they went to the ground.

He said it was thought that the playing surface at Wembley drained the strength from the players' legs because they weren't used to the atmosphere and the emotion that went with it. He thought that if the players had played the game in their minds the emotion could be held at bay.

Over the years, even ordinary club players have told me how emotion about a particular game has made them feel weak as they take the field. While teams need emotion, it must be tempered with a measure of encouragement and confidence.

It's still early days but there was much to admire in the Warriors' performance last week. The highlight of the weekend was the 20 minute cameo performance by Lance Hohaia on both sides of halftime.

Let's hope he's not sitting on the sideline with his injury for too long - the Warriors need him on the field and I believe he is a bigger loss to the Auckland club than Stewart is to Manly.

In front of a near capacity crowd, the Warriors staged a well organised ambush over an Eels side which I believe will trouble a lot of teams this year. New standoff Joel Moon looks a good buy who will improve each week as he adapts to the No 6 role. He has the pace to trouble defences and offers another dimension to the mercurial Stacey Jones who should begin his season against Manly on Sunday.

Similarly, the other Bronco import Denan Kemp has pace to burn and looks an astute acquisition.

Of course there's room for improvement. At times the Warriors' kicking game was indifferent. They lost intensity at about the three-quarter mark and could have let a skilful Eels side into the game.

And with Wade McKinnon already looking menacing, I would love to see an off-loading forward able to set the blistering fullback away. But I have high hopes for what looks set to be a successful Warriors' season.

Generally, the game seems in great shape despite the off-field dramas. I like the two referees system, and the pace looks even faster than last year. The NRL is back with a vengeance.

* A brickbat to the Auckland Regional Council for the presentation of Mt Smart Stadium on Saturday night. Were fans really supposed to sit on soil and sand on the scoreboard end bank? Just another episode of disgraceful treatment for league fans which wouldn't be tolerated by the other code.

Lowies' crystal ball
Manly have had a shocking couple of weeks, but only a fool would write them off. They'll be in a dangerous mood on Sunday, and will come out fast to try to blow the Warriors away early. No Brett Stewart but still plenty of firepower.

The Sea Eagles will also use Matt Orford's kicking game to test the Warriors on the flanks, and their forwards are skilful, capable of scoring from long range.

The Warriors don't have a great record at Brookvale Oval, and it will be a daunting atmosphere.

On the positive side, look for the return and decisive influence of Stacey Jones. With support from his forwards, he could be the difference between the sides.

However, Manly are the Premiers and World Champions so I see them too hard to beat at home.

Score Prediction:
Sea Eagles 26 Warriors 18