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The Warriors team manager has spoken of his side's "shock and disbelief" at the likely drowning of star centre Sonny Fai.
The 20-year-old is presumed drowned after trying to help save his younger brother who got into difficulty swimming at west Auckland's Bethells Beach last night.
Mr Mann said the Warriors players, who were supposed to begin 2009 training today, would continue in the search for Fai.
"Even now, there is just a sense of shock and disbelief. Everyone's thoughts at the moment are to find Sonny and get him to his family. He has a large family in south Auckland and we'll just have to cross the next bridge when we come to it," he told NZPA.
"We'll be out there again first thing in the morning, working around the tides, with police and lifeguards and we've organised the helicopter again," Mr Mann said.
Mann and Warriors manager John Hart visited the Fai family this morning.
The NRL has offered grief counselling services for Fai's staff as well as teammates and Warriors staff.
As a tragic coincidence, it is almost 10 years since the death of another up and coming New Zealand Warriors player.
Tai Savea drowned in the Port Waikato River while on a fishing trip in January 1999. He was also just 20-years-old.
Today family and friends of Fai were still holding out hope that he would somehow be found alive.
It is believed Fai's younger brother became separated from the group and Fai had swum out to help him. He was then struck by a wave and swept away.
Warriors chief executive Wayne Scurrah earlier confirmed Sonny Fai was missing after going on a training run at Bethell's yesterday.
But Fai's family said they were not giving up hope he could still be alive.
Fai was one of four men believed to have been caught by strong currents after entering the water.
The alarm was raised about 8pm last night, and two inflatable boats and the Westpac Rescue Helicopter were scrambled. Three men were rescued.
Family members and surf life savers kept searching for the sportsman until 1am.
Players and management from the 40-strong Warriors squad also joined the coastline search from 5am.
Surf Lifeguard patrols had finished for the day, when the alarm was raised with an off-duty lifeguard.
The lifeguard was back on the scene with an IRB within 10 minutes.
All four men found themselves in difficulty, with three being swept in a southerly direction and one in a northerly, said Dean Storey, manager at Surf Life Saving Northern Region.
"Surf lifeguards conducted a search in rough conditions with a 1.5m swell but were unable to locate the man. The Westpac Rescue Helicopter also assisted in the search until low light conditions meant the search was called off at 9.30pm last night," Mr Storey said.
"A team of five lifeguards will continue the search of shoreline and coastline until 6pm today, and will resume at 10am tomorrow. We expect to continue the search each morning for the rest of the week," Mr Storey said.
It is understood the Warriors team paid for a helicopter to conduct an aerial search, and a police boat and rescue helicopter also continued the search today.
Lalelei Fai described her brother as her parents' right-hand man and said the extra training session he was on at the beach last night was typical of his hard work ethic.
She said the family were distraught but remained hopeful, and were thankful for the support of the Warriors team, Bethell's surf-club and their church.
Fai has long been touted as the Warriors' next superstar after joining the club as a 14-year-old in 2003.
He made his debut against Parramatta last year and played a total of 15 games, scoring five tries in the process.
The former Junior Kiwi featured mainly in the centres but was regarded as a long-term back-row option after the Warriors fought off interest from rival NRL clubs to sign him until the end of 2010.
Fai also played for the New Zealand Residents in 2005-06 and made the Kiwis train-on squad for last year's World Cup but missed out on final selection.
