NRL: Warriors take big punt

Steve Price played just 14 times for the Warriors last season. Photo / Getty Images

Steve Price is another victim of the Warriors' poor 2009 season.

As the club pore over their failings, when they limped to 14th after starting as one of the favourites, they see change necessary to turn things around.

It's why Tony Iro was appointed assistant coach in place of John Ackland, why Dean Bell has taken over recruitment and part of the reason why Wayne Scurrah has taken on a more overarching role as chief executive without John Hart muddying the waters.

While stripping the captaincy from Price looks absurd on many levels, there is some logic behind the club's thinking and it will be interesting to see how the situation plays out.

Price is an immensely popular figure. He has been captain for one-third of the Warriors' history, has been a willing frontman in all realms of the job and has built up such a profile, people talk about the Price brand. He is the closest an Australian can get to being considered a Kiwi.

Sponsors and fans love him and the club have created a potentially awkward situation for Price and Simon Mannering with this move.

One way of getting around this would have been to appoint Mannering as vice-captain as the obvious heir apparent and mentor him into the role without disempowering Price, a player who clearly loves being a captain.

The club, though, disagreed. Sentiment can't come into it, especially after a disastrous season such as they have just endured.

They clearly felt that instead of giving Mannering training wheels to ease him into the job as vice-captain, why not take a risk and ask him to learn to ride straight away? There is an argument the position of vice-captaincy is meaningless but that's only the case if everyone approaches it that way.

Co-captaincy wasn't an option because the most senior player, in this case Price, would have continued in the same role anyway.

There is a small core of senior players at the Warriors capable of being captain. Price heads this list with Mannering also on it but there are difficulties around the others.

Micheal Luck has been a competent lieutenant in Price's absence but Luck is off contract at the end of the season and it's understood negotiations over an extension quickly broke down.

Brent Tate is also off contract at the end of 2010 and, given two of his past three seasons have been wrecked by injuries, there are no guarantees he will be retained. Appointing one of those two to the job would virtually commit the club to re-signing them.

Beyond that, there is a massive gulf and the club clearly wanted to address that before Price departs.

Mannering might have a few rough edges, not least of all his oratory skills, but he is seen as someone who largely ticks the boxes. He is a Kiwi, who is young, popular with the Polynesian players and approachable, and who plays virtually every minute.

Price's powers are waning. He is still a fantastic player and there's no question of his place in the side but he will be 35 in March, and played only 14 games this season and 17 the year before.

He is also an individual many of the Polynesian players struggle to relate to. They admire him but the differences are like chalk and cheese. Mannering is seen as someone closer to Ruben Wiki's style of leadership.

There is a danger Price might be demotivated this season without the captaincy. The best thing the club can do is not put any pressure on him to give up representative football.

He loves playing for Queensland and Australia and the prestige, statistics and adulation that come with it and allowing him to remain in contention will demand him to play well every week. He won't be picked if he's not playing good club football.

Stripping Price of the captaincy is a risky move. But Brisbane have taken a number of risks in their history (Wally Lewis, Allan Langer) and look where it's got them.