Ryan Hoffman has come to defence of Warriors teammate Konrall Hurrell after the hulking centre sent Manly skipper Jake Trbojevic from the field in a medicab at the Auckland Nines.

Hurrell’s running style has again come into question after his raised knee made direct contact with Trbojevic’s head.

“He was obviously feeling bad,” Hoffman said of Hurrell.

“He can feel bad for what happened but we still needed him to focus on the game.

“Konnie always has concern for people, there’s no malice in what he does but we needed him to focus on his next job.

“We were all concerned for the poor bloke on the ground [Trbojevic] but we looked after him at the time but I needed him [Hurrell] to focus for the rest of the game.”