Simon Mannering has decided to ease up on his Warriors leadership duties, passing the armband over to Ryan Hoffman.

Captaining the Warriors isn't an easy gig.

Up one week, down the next, so imagine trying to keep all your troops on the same page? 

And that's when things are 'normal' for the Warriors, how about last season when they fell into an almighty slump? Imagine skippering the Warriors through that period?

A period that also included many questions regarding the culture/environment of the Warriors. 

It's understandable that Mannering now feels like he's better off as a player without the burden of captaining the Warriors. You could draw a link between this tough time as Warriors skipper and the illness that ruled Mannering out of the Kiwis' end of season tour to England, it wouldn't have been healthy.

Now we get to see Simon Mannering play without that responsibility, where he can go about his no-nonsense business in a typical understated manner. 

Mannering is after all the closest thing kiwi rugby league has to Richie McCaw.

Hoffman is the best candidate to captain the Warriors, hence I'm happy with this move.

First of all Hoffman is cut from the same cloth as Mannering, the representative cloth and Hoffman also has that Melbourne Storm factor. Perhaps more importantly, Hoffman appears to be a the sort of bloke who barks out orders and instructions naturally, he's a typical Aussie who loves to chirp away and this could be exactly what the Warriors need.

Shout out to Simon Mannering for his service to the Warriors, hopefully he can continue to etch his name in the Warriors history books as a player from this point forth.

Congrats on the captaincy Ryan Hoffman, I look forward to watching the Warriors under your leadership.

Question: who's the next skipper after Hoffman?