KEY POINTS:
Sione Faumuina will receive more attention than most Cowboys today when he runs out on to Mt Smart Stadium.
He got a small taste of it when he emerged from Customs at Auckland Airport on Friday afternoon to find the media waiting to quiz him on his ignominious sacking from the Warriors last year after a series of alcohol-fuelled incidents.
The 26-year-old can also expect a reception from Warriors fans today as cool as the weather besetting this country but he's not likely to be on the end of any extra attention from his former team-mates, according to Simon Mannering.
"We played him in a trial game earlier in the year, so we've already come up against him," Mannering said. "We haven't really talked about it at all. He's a good player and a good bloke so it will be good to see him on the field."
If he was on the field in a Warriors jersey, there's a fair chance that Mannering would be in the centres rather than lining up once again in the second row.
The 20-year-old returned to Mt Smart for pre-season training in January to be told by coach Ivan Cleary that he would play in the centres after mixing it in the forwards for the Kiwis during their Tri Nations campaign. Due to injuries, however, he's started every match in the forwards.
The upshot of this has seen his tackling average skyrocket from 16 a game to nearly 25. He had only one match last season when he made more than 25 tackles.
"My tackling numbers aren't up there with some but I haven't tackled so much before in my life," Mannering admitted.
"You have a much bigger workload in the forwards. But I'm happy to play wherever I'm asked because I enjoy both positions."
Mannering is tipped to make a more permanent move into the forwards later in his career but expects to return to the centres when Louis Anderson and Wairangi Koopu recover from injury.
His tackling statistics are still well short of the 34.5 Micheal Luck has averaged in four games.
The workaholic Australian made a staggering 44 in last weekend's epic against Manly. Luck ranks 11th on the list for total tackles made in the NRL this season with 138.
The Warriors will need to be sound defensively today against a Cowboys side that went into round five with the best attacking record in the NRL, having scored 113 points.
They have attacking threats across the park but particularly in halfback Johnathan Thurston and fullback Matt Bowen, the league's most prolific linebreaker.
Although they scraped past the Tigers 25-24 last weekend, they are already emerging as a title contender in 2007.
Today's game rounds off a difficult opening five weeks for the Warriors, who were drawn against some of the competition's heavyweights.
"It's definitely been a tough start to the season," said Mannering, certain to be named tomorrow in the Kiwis side to take on Australia in Brisbane on Friday night. "But if you want to make the playoffs, you have to beat the top sides."
