NRL: Injury blow for Vatuvei

Manu Vatuvei will have more checks on his injured left leg this week. Photo / Getty images

Warriors 24 Cowboys 12

Manu Vatuvei may return to the Warriors' casualty ward after coming off injured four minutes into the second half last night against the Cowboys.

X-rays did not show a break in Vatuvei's lower left leg last night but team doctor John Mayhew said more checks will need to be done this week.

The Warriors have now won four of the five games he has taken the field this season - the only four games the team has won.

Warriors management stressed it was not a repeat of his hamstring strain.

Earlier in the week, Ivan Cleary had remarked that "when Manu is on the field, the players play like they're going into a street fight with their big brother behind them."

He was reluctant to remove him unless necessary.

"I was to-ing and fro-ing the whole time, then it got to halftime so I made the call after that. He was becoming a bit of a passenger but Jerome [Ropati] did a good job protecting him."

Cleary said the Cowboys' inability to target Vatuvei on defence made it worth the punt.

"They just didn't control the ball well enough to pinpoint him and their wing John Williams was having trouble under the high ball with Manu chasing him."

Cowboys captain Johnathan Thurston said they failed to pressure Vatuvei.

"I didn't really notice the fact we weren't attacking him because we weren't even completing 50 per cent of our sets."

Coach Neil Henry added: "We had six sets attacking the line in the first half and completed zero."

The Warriors were happier with Brett Seymour's return to halfback where he set up three tries, helped the team's direction and provided more space for James Maloney to think at five-eighth.

"He's one of the better talking halfbacks I've played with," said stand-in skipper Micheal Luck. "You're never left wondering what your role is with Buster [Seymour] on the field, especially late in the game when you really need it.

"Sam Rapira is one of the best props running around at the moment so he benefited. Russell [Packer] had his best game as well this season and Upu Poching ran well on debut. I put that all down to Buster."