Champ offers his help
World champion boxer Joseph Parker will be in the Warriors’ corner at the Downer NRL Auckland Nines after accepting an offer to be the team’s waterboy.
A vacancy opened up in the Warriors’ support staff after league legend Ruben Wiki announced that he would be coming out of retirement to play at the Eden Park tournament on February 4-5.
After all the support the club showed Parker ahead of his historic WBO heavyweight title triumph over Andy Ruiz in December, Parker was keen to return the favour after making a surprise visit to Mt Smart on Thursday.
‘‘I want to be there at the Nines to help them and to cheer them on. If the offer’s there to be the water boy, I will definitely take that on,’’ Parker told the Warriors’ media manager, who confirmed that coach Stephen Kearney wanted him on board.
‘‘Before the (title) fight last year they were there to wish me luck and I’d like to do the same for them.
‘‘Lots of the boys have been there for me.
‘‘Before the (title) fight last year they were there to wish me luck and I'd like to do the same for them’’
Manu (Vatuvei) has been one of my closest friends from the start and there’s Shaun (Johnson), Roger (Tuivasa-Sheck), Issac (Luke) and a few more. It’s good to see them working hard and it inspires me to do the same.’’
WIKI TO LACE UP FOR NINES
Ruben Wiki will swap his regular role as the Warriors’ strength and conditioning coach to line up alongside the players he trains at Eden Park for the NRL Auckland Nines next month.
’’Some of these guys are half my age,’’ said Wiki, who turns 44 this Saturday. ‘‘I think it’s exciting for myself to be running around with those young bulls.’’
Wiki, who played a record 55 tests for the Kiwis, has stayed in tremendous shape since playing the last of his 312 first-grade games in 2008, running marathons and half-Ironman events. The former Kiwis captain follows Brad Fittler, Steve Menzies, Braith Anasta and his former Raiders teammates Ken Nagas and Jason Croker who have previously made comebacks at the Nines. Although, like them, his return needs to be rubber-stamped by the NRL.
Despite his lengthy absence from the game, Kearney says his old Kiwis teammate will be up for the challenge.
‘‘Rubes didn’t need much convincing.’’