Manly has predictably said it will target Warriors' winger Manu Vatuvei with a barrage of high balls but Vatuvei merely shrugs his shoulders and invites them to bomb away.
Vatuvei brought back memories of his meltdown against Parramatta in 2007 when he spilled a number of balls in the 40-10 defeat to the Broncos on September 10. He made five errors that night and his game was the nadir of an altogether inept team performance.
But the 25-year-old isn't worried if Manly targets him on Sunday. After all, he followed that game with a man-of-the match performance against the Wests Tigers, has averaged 1.33 errors a game all season and that game against the Broncos was his first since recovering from a damaged wrist.
Vatuvei is a vastly different player to the one who disintegrated against the Eels four years ago. He has spent a lot of work under the high ball and is actually one of the best exponents at timing his leap, particularly on attack. The Warriors score a lot of tries kicking to his wing and base a lot of their last-option plays around Vatuvei. He's not a natural catcher but he's by no means as bad as many believe him to be.
"I just take it as another challenge,'' Vatuvei said in response to Manly's intentions. "I have been kicked to in the past two weeks and I've been up for the challenge. Whatever they kick towards me, I'll try to take.
