Warriors captain Simon Mannering has made the shock decision to stand down from his post, with Ryan Hoffman taking over immediately.

Mannering has been captain of the club since 2010 and is the current Kiwis captain, but will hand over the reins to Hoffman to focus on his own form.

“That wasn’t easy because the players and the club mean so much to me but I’ve been thinking about this throughout the off-season,” he told the club’s website.

“While it has been a massive honour being captain, I wasn’t enjoying my football and felt the responsibilities of the captaincy were a big factor in that.”