Harris opens up on family heartbreak
Tohu Harris’ three-year-old son wants him to come home to play.
The Warriors back rower has given an insight into the emotional strain the Warriors players are under in Tamworth as they prepare for the resumption of the NRL season on May 28.
The 28-year-old Harris revealed his son, Harlan, wanted to get on the plane with him when the team flew out on Sunday and it’s also been tough not knowing when he’ll be with his wife, Natalie, again.
There is hope that the players’ families will be able to go to Australia soon and meet up after spending two weeks in quarantine, but no one knows yet when that could happen and for the players and their families, that’s not easy to deal with.
‘‘We’re waiting for the different protocols and calls from the government to come out,’’ Harris said yesterday from his hotel room at the Mercure hotel in Tamworth.
‘‘To see what our options are, in terms of them coming over.
‘‘But to be honest it was very hard saying goodbye, my little three-year-old kept asking to come with me and my wife struggled really bad the night before and the morning, with the thought of me leaving and not knowing when we could see each other again.
‘‘That made it hard to get on the plane and it’s still hard being here. I saw a video of my son before we got on this call, asking for me to come home and play with him.
‘‘So it’s hard to be here. We don’t have other options at the moment, there are a lot of people that rely on us to be here, so that they can get income and help their families.
The prime ministers of Australia and New Zealand spoke this week about setting up a transTasman bubble when it’s safe to do so and that would have a massive impact on the Warriors as it would open up the possibility of playing games at Mt Smart Stadium.
Even if the games are behind closed doors, at least the club’s players and staff will be able to spend time at home.
However, it’s not something the players can get their hopes up about, and they have to keep the mindset that they’ll be in Australia until the season is over.
‘‘We can’t look too far ahead,’’ Harris said. ‘‘We can hope for the best, but we’ve got to prepare for what’s in front of us right now, what the protocols are and adjust once we get told otherwise.
‘‘At the moment, we can’t do too much and I don’t think it’s looking likely we’ll play games back home, but obviously that would be the best case scenario.’’ The Warriors players trained yesterday, still in small groups and Harris said they’ve come up with a novel way to avoid touching each other during on-field sessions.
‘‘At training weird,’’ he said.
‘‘Going out on the field we have to stick to small groups and try our best not to make contact.
‘‘So we’ve got socks that we use like tags to rip out. It’s little things that we have to adjust to and being around here, we’re in our own rooms most of the time.
‘‘We can’t go into anyone else’s room or anything, which I don’t mind to be honest.
‘‘It’s just a bit strange this twoweek period, we’ve got to be really diligent with the protocols that the government and the NRL have sent through, it’s really important we follow those and get through this two-week period.’’ it’s
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