Warriors women laugh last in black comedy
Three hours’ sleep. Dinner at 1.30am. And a trip from Auckland to Sydney that took almost 30 hours.
Imagining the worst possible prematch preparation for a professional sports outfit, the recent episode endured by the Warriors Women team would take some beating.
Due to a diverted flight, the Warriors had a severely compromised preparation to their NRLW opener against the Roosters last Saturday. That they won 10-4 against the pre-competition favourites was a tribute to their resilience and mental strength.
“It was quite unbelievable, event after event,” said team manager Liz Ah Kuoi. “It was like one of those black comedies, and we were in the middle of it all.”
The Warriors left from Auckland for Sydney last Friday about 4pm, for the inaugural match of the NRLW. As they approached the NSW capital, the pilot announced that an electrical storm meant they were unable to land.
They circled the airport for almost an hour, before the flight was diverted to Brisbane. More hold-ups followed, as other flights had been re-directed too. There was nearly an hour’s wait for their baggage.
Players did some stretching inside the terminal before arriving at their hotel about 11pm. By then, it was a battle to get some nutrition; the 18 players and staff ordered room service, but there was a backlog with so many other transit travellers on the premises.
“A lot of the girls didn't eat until about 1am,” said Ah Kuoi. “Some didn't get their dinner at all; they had fallen asleep before it arrived.”
Lock Louisa Gago was woken by room service at 12.45am.
“I was already asleep but then had to wake back up,” said lock Gago. “We needed some food for energy.”
Their alarms went off at 4am for their red-eye flight to Sydney for the afternoon match. There was no breakfast available, so the players bought what they could at the airport. They had to travel on two separate flights, meaning more delays in Sydney.
“We all have our own ways of preparing so this was a huge disruption, especially to our mental preparation,” said Gago. “We only got a few hours’ sleep.
“It was hard to not show what we were really feeling, because a lot of us were cranky or tired. There was lots of waiting around and our legs were really heavy from all the sitting down.”
They arrived at their Sydney hotel at 10.30am, about 28 hours late. There was breakfast and a team meeting, before some squeezed in a 45-minute nap.
“Seeing the stadium across from our rooms gave us some energy back, some adrenalin,” said Gago. “We were trying to motivate each other, [I] didn’t hear the girls complain at all.”
Ah Kuoi said: “It brought the girls closer together . . . losing a bit of sleep and food wasn't going to stop them.”
The Warriors depart today, ahead of their match against the Dragons tomorrow (7.10pm NZT).
“They are not professionals . . . but they have professional attitudes to what they do,” said coach Luisa Avaiki. “Travel is something we have always known we have to factor in. It won't be easy . . .”