Warriors coach Stephen Kearney is confident Simon Mannering will be fit to play next weekend, after the second-rower injured himself in his 300th game for the club.
Mannering played only 42 minutes for the Warriors in their 20-16 win over the Canberra Raiders, his night cut short by a sternum injury.
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He picked up the injury early in the match and tried to play on, but he was in obvious pain and Kearney made the decision to pull him from the field.
It wasn't the perfect way for Mannering to celebrate his milestone match in front of 24,594 at Mt Smart Stadium, but getting the win was the most important thing.
When the 32-year-old left the field, fans were devastated, wondering if he'd played his last game, but Kearney expects the warhorse to be fit for an elimination final next weekend, regardless of who or where the Warriors play.
"He's pretty sore," Kearney said. "He got a whack in the sternum, which hurts, so we'll wheel him out whenever we play next week.
"[We will] keep him out of contact work this week, that's for sure."
"He was adamant he wanted to go back on [after halftime], but I could just see by his body language, as soon as he went out there for the second half, that he's struggling with it.
"Again, the boys, like we have at times this year, rallied around and got the job done for him, which is really pleasing."
The four-point win was far from pretty for the Warriors, but ultimately, it was the physical test they needed before their first playoffs match since 2011.
Kearney admitted it was far from perfect, but he'll take the win, as it was a style of game the Warriors have blown in the past.
"It wasn't real pretty at times, but sometimes that's what you've got to do," Kearney said.
"We found a way to win, that's important. In the past, we've had physical teams - I'm talking about [when] the Roosters came here, South Sydney came here, Broncos came here and sort of bullied us off the park.
"We've played against two sides [the Panthers and Raiders in the past fortnight] who are fairly big and we ran [for] more metres than them tonight. We didn't let them do that, so my point to the boys is we take confidence from that."
The Warriors will learn who their first-round opponents will be on Sunday.
Only Shaun Johnson and Mannering were part of the last Warriors side to play in the finals.
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