Big Marn
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Thought i would repost this exerpt from 20115. Full article in the link (long read)
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=11455578
After 200 games with the All Blacks and another 10 years with the Warriors, Mayhew has seen his share of tough guys and he says they don't come any tougher than Simon Mannering. Not even legendary All Blacks hard man Buck Shelford.
His first inkling came in 2007, when the then 19-year-old Mannering was pulled from his sick bed to make up the numbers against St George. He had been struggling with a gastric virus all week, losing 5kg in the process, but it was a case of needs-must and after being checked out he was declared medically safe to play. The plan had been to coax him through to halftime, then Jerome Ropati was injured and Mannering's planned replacement went on early. No one would have suspected a drama was brewing in the coaches' box, though, as the teenaged centre ran in two tries and smashed into every tackle with venom.
But he was a grey ruin when the half-time hooter sounded. "He was only running on three cylinders so he was stuffed and looked terrible," says Mayhew. "I took a look at him then I was about to move on when he said, 'Oh, and my hand's a bit sore', just as casual as you like. I had a look and he'd broken it. We taped it up and sent him out again. He just shrugged it off. Remarkable."
Just as remarkably, he was named man of the match in the 44-16 win and ended up back in bed before the first celebratory beer was cracked. The story has been kept under wraps until now.
"We all knew he'd been sick as a dog," says Micheal Luck, one of his team mates that day, "but his threshhold for pain is unbelievable. I look at the guys the same age here at the [North Queensland] Cowboys and there's no way any of them could do what he did that day."
Says Mayhew: "I've seen guys play with broken bones and others get pulled out of sick beds, but never both at once and he's the kind of guy who doesn't think anything of it. He's up there with Buck [Shelford], one of those unflappable, undemonstrative men without the bravado who don't need to throw their fists to show how hard they are. If I was asked to choose a league team he'd be the first name I'd write down."
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=11455578
After 200 games with the All Blacks and another 10 years with the Warriors, Mayhew has seen his share of tough guys and he says they don't come any tougher than Simon Mannering. Not even legendary All Blacks hard man Buck Shelford.
His first inkling came in 2007, when the then 19-year-old Mannering was pulled from his sick bed to make up the numbers against St George. He had been struggling with a gastric virus all week, losing 5kg in the process, but it was a case of needs-must and after being checked out he was declared medically safe to play. The plan had been to coax him through to halftime, then Jerome Ropati was injured and Mannering's planned replacement went on early. No one would have suspected a drama was brewing in the coaches' box, though, as the teenaged centre ran in two tries and smashed into every tackle with venom.
But he was a grey ruin when the half-time hooter sounded. "He was only running on three cylinders so he was stuffed and looked terrible," says Mayhew. "I took a look at him then I was about to move on when he said, 'Oh, and my hand's a bit sore', just as casual as you like. I had a look and he'd broken it. We taped it up and sent him out again. He just shrugged it off. Remarkable."
Just as remarkably, he was named man of the match in the 44-16 win and ended up back in bed before the first celebratory beer was cracked. The story has been kept under wraps until now.
"We all knew he'd been sick as a dog," says Micheal Luck, one of his team mates that day, "but his threshhold for pain is unbelievable. I look at the guys the same age here at the [North Queensland] Cowboys and there's no way any of them could do what he did that day."
Says Mayhew: "I've seen guys play with broken bones and others get pulled out of sick beds, but never both at once and he's the kind of guy who doesn't think anything of it. He's up there with Buck [Shelford], one of those unflappable, undemonstrative men without the bravado who don't need to throw their fists to show how hard they are. If I was asked to choose a league team he'd be the first name I'd write down."
