The coach was on the verge of dropping four players - Danny Levi, Jesse Ramien, Herman Ese'ese and Jamie Buhrer - for the Manly game. Had it not been for his versatility and the fact the cupboard was virtually bear of outside backs, Mann may well have been a fifth casualty.

His defence on the right edge at five-eighth had been off in consecutive losses to the Sydney Roosters and the Tigers but rather than dump him as well, Mann was handed a reprieve. Switched from the halves to play on the wing against the Eagles outside Hymel Hunt.

It was during the conversation with Brown that Mann's true character emerged.

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"Kurt's a very good defensive player but his form was down a bit and I just asked him was his sternum giving him problems or did he need some more time off with his mum [who has terminal cancer],"Brown said.

"He could have used them as an excuse but it says a lot about Kurt because he just put his hand up and said he hadn't been playing great and needed to improve."

Mann is straight down the line. In a lot of ways, it has been a difficult season for the former Dragons and Melbourne Storm utility but he takes every glancing blow on the chin with little complaint.

He was signed by the Knights with another year to go on his contract at St George Illawarra under the premise that Brown was keen to turn him into a hooker. Much of his pre-season was spent learning the new craft of dummy half play.

But just as Kalyn Ponga's five-eighth experiment didn't stand the test of time, Mann's shift to hooker never really got off the ground either.

With Connor Watson making a far better fist of the dummy half role, Mann has found himself as the Mr Fix-it of the backline. Highlighting his versatility, he has played every position bar halfback this season but Brown and his coaching staff concluded reasonably early on, his most productive position for the team was at five-eighth.

He was there during the run of six wins but his form in recent weeks has mirrored that of the team. His injury dramas haven't helped.

In round three against the Canberra Raiders, he demonstrated his toughness when he stuck out the game despite fractured his sternum without realising it. He even played 14 minutes off the bench the following week against the Dragons before getting scans that revealed the extent of the injury.

He ended up missing three matches but was in the wars again a month ago when he re-injured the sternum against the Bulldogs, one of the more uncomfortable injuries a player can have.

"Yeah, it can be pretty painful and something I've been carrying since round three and it's the sort of injury that doesn't really get the chance to come good during the season," he said.

"I get it needled pretty much every week but hopefully, I can get through this year and it will have the time to heal properly over the off-season. In saying that, a lot of players carry them. You see a lot wearing sternum guards as well so you just deal with it."

Sports news: Newcastle Knights

Mann has also had to deal with the off-field trauma of his mother Jane's awful cancer diagnosis back in June.

She was the inspiration for his best game of the season when she was at McDonald Jones Stadium to see him star at fullback in the absence of Kalyn Ponga against the Brisbane Broncos at the end of June. It was the Knights last win.

"She is doing okay," Mann said. "She's had, I think, her fourth lot of chemo now and her tumor hasn't gone up which is a good sign that the treatment is doing its job and we can just hope for the best from now on."

Mann knows he has the support of the entire club when it comes to his mum.

"Everyone knows here that family comes first and it's something Browny is really big on as well so if I ever needed time, he would give that to me," Mann said. "I've got a good support network here and while it's really hard being away from her, mum doesn't want me to leave and loves watching me play on the weekend.

"We speak every day but I think the best way I can keep her happy is to play footy and try and play as well as I can."

Despite a knee strain, Mann is confident of taking on the Eels on Saturday and says it's paramount the team rediscovers the hunger that was evident during the winning streak.

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