Warriors celebrate Mt Smart homecoming
Stacey Jones has seen it all at Mt Smart Stadium, the ground where he first played for the Warriors in 1995.
And he says yesterday afternoon’s 22-2 homecoming win over the Wests Tigers in his third match as interim coach was right up there when it comes to special occasions.
‘‘It was something very unique. ‘‘We spoke about it in team meetings – about how this was a different feel and that, so it was certainly right up there.’’
The Warriors hadn’t played at their Auckland home since August 30, 2019, when the Covid-19 pandemic was still months away from being on anyone’s radar.
After 21⁄2 seasons living and playing in Australia as a result of border restrictions, they returned last week and celebrated in style by snapping a seven-match losing streak.
Captain Tohu Harris scored the Warriors’ first try midway through the first half in front of a sell-out, 26,009-strong crowd and said he and his team-mates fed off their passionate support.
‘‘We’ve had a lot of good support away from here throughout the last three years, but there’s nothing like having the support here at home.
‘‘Every single person was just riding us and supporting us, so it meant a lot to the team and it gave us a lot of energy.’’
The Warriors now have a bye weekend before returning to Australia for games against the Parramatta Eels and Canberra Raiders, then will be back at Mt Smart at the end of the month to face the high-flying Melbourne Storm – this time after a 26-day wait, instead of a 1038-day one.
Yesterday’s win meant the Warriors moved from 15th to 13th on the ladder and Harris said he hoped it would be a performance they could build off.
‘‘We’ve had a tough run the past couple months, but we wanted to wipe the slate clean and start fresh today and I thought we did a good job of that.’’
Harris was joined by Chanel Harris-Tavita, who started in place of Reece Walsh (Covid-19) at fullback and was a standout, and Jesse Arthars in scoring tries, while Shaun Johnson had a perfect match with the boot, kicking two penalties on top of three conversions.
The Tigers’ only points came from the boot of Adam Doueihi right before halftime and Jones said his side’s defensive effort in keeping the visitors tryless was a key takeaway.
Jackson Hastings stood in as captain for the Tigers with James Tamou out injured and said they had prepared for the occasion as best they could, knowing it would be a daunting one.
‘‘Everyone knew what the crowd was going to be like. We live in the 21st century, Instagram, Facebook – everywhere you looked, it was there. Noddy [coach Brett Kimmorley] had us well prepared. We had a great week of training and that didn’t translate onto the field.’’