League: Luck goes the Warriors' way

No way out of this smothering Warriors' defence for Shark Reece Williams. Sandra Mu / Getty Images

He may have stepped out on more glorious occasions, but Awen Guttenbeil chose his testimonial match to show why his experience will be missed as the Warriors fended off the Sharks.

In happier seasons that will hopefully come this would be the sort of victory that quickly falls from the memory, yet is essential to playoff hopes.

The Warriors have to be thankful for such small mercies as they hang on to their fans and credibility before trying to regroup for next year.

This match at Mt Smart stadium on Saturday night was one where the crowd wraps up warm, the players wrap up the ball.

In an even battle, as this was, the odd bounce of the ball, a piece of luck, determines the result, and in this case it involved Micheal Luck.

The game done, you head home, convinced that more glamorous days, with far bigger crowds than the 4800 who turned up, lie ahead.

Guttenbeil's early career for Manly and the Warriors was hurt by on and off-field injuries, but he has stormed ahead to play 166 matches for the Auckland club, including 132 out of a possible 149 since 2001.

He would in all likelihood have not played on Saturday but for the testimonial occasion, because of a calf injury that could sideline him from the 23rd round clash against the Cowboys in Auckland next Saturday night.

The Warriors' foundation captain, Dean Bell, was among those present to honour Guttenbeil, and apart from one dropped pass he was in the thick of the good action, on a wet night in which football heroes become throwbacks from a past that Bell would remember.

This was a night in which Ruben Wiki, on yet another suspension, would have thrived, but the Warriors coped admirably without him, and in the process just about put paid to Cronulla's dwindling playoff chances.

The Sharks have now lost six in a row, although three of their final four matches are at home.

Guttenbeil heads to Castleford after this season and the man likely to fill his boots is the energetic Luck, who turned the match the Warriors way early in the final quarter.

Luck raced on to a grubber from Grant Rovelli to beat the scrambling Sharks to the touchdown, the moment at which the Cronulla fans will probably decide that the season took its major turn for the worst.

Wiki returns for the clash against the Cowboys. There were injury concerns around Steve Price, Nathan Fien, Tony Martin and Wairangi Koopu on Saturday night. The worst concerned shoulder problems suffered by Martin and Koopu, but the club believes both should be fit to play the Cowboys.