Nikorima looking forward to post-bubble life
Freedom outside the NRL bubble is just days away but Kodi Nikorima says that and the emotion of some team-mates and coaching staff moving on won’t be a distraction leading into the Warriors’ last game of the season.
Players from all 16 NRL teams have spent all but a few weeks of the 2020 season in a highly restrictive environment to protect the competition from being shut down by a Covid-19 outbreak.
After Sunday’s final match against Manly, Nikorima will be part of a group of Warriors staying in Australia. But with the bulk of the squad heading back to New Zealand, they will have a 14-day quarantine to complete before getting back to normal life.
The Warriors fiveeighth has two things on his mind when his time in the NRL bubble expires. Extended family and beer. ‘‘Going to a pub, having a beer . . . I think like most people and enjoying that,’’ Nikorima said.
Life inside the NRL bubble has been far from ideal but Nikorima refuses to moan given some at the Warriors have been through far greater sacrifices to keep the NRL season running as a 16-team competition.
‘‘I have my partner and baby here, so I feel quite privileged,’’ Nikorima said.
The sacrifices of injured captain Roger TuivasaSheck – who refused an early flight home to stay with his teammates – and many of the Warriors staff who have now been isolated, in another country, from their children back in New Zealand for five months cannot be praised enough, Nikorima said.
Nikorima feels fortunate the Warriors have been allowed to go out and get takeaway coffees in their bubble. It’s a small glimpse into normality but not something every NRL player can do depending on Covid hotspots.
To protect the NRL’s lucrative broadcasting deal, players were forced to adapt to the conditions.
‘‘Instead of sulking about the rules that were in place, you sort just had to adapt move on,’’ Nikorima said.
The former Bronco has had his fiancee´, Bree Tobler, and their young son, Zavier, with him at the Warriors Terrigal base for months and for that reason he considers himself one of the lucky ones. Given everything the group has been through in the most dramatic year of the club’s history, Nikorima knows how emotional it will be separating on Monday and saying goodbye to those team-mates and coaching staff who will not be at the club next season.
But getting their eighth win, to finish with an 8-12 record will make a team celebration on Sunday night and the next two weeks in quarantine far more bearable.
He also feels finishing on a high against Manly would add confidence to the club heading into pre-season under new coach Nathan Brown.