Warriors still dream of home
Warriors coach Nathan Brown says the team will look to play games in New Zealand next season, even if it spends all of it based in Australia.
The Australian Rugby League Commission is expected to make a decision soon on where the Warriors will be based next year, following a report from club chief executive Cameron George.
While it’s an option for the Warriors to be based in Auckland next year, that’s looking less likely as New Zealand and Australia still battle Covid-19 and the border issues related to it.
It’s looking more probable the team will base itself in Redcliffe in 2022, with staff and players moving to the north-eastern suburb of Brisbane for the entire year.
However, Brown said yesterday that despite this, he hoped the team would be able to play NRL games in New Zealand for the first time since August 2019, doing hit-andrun missions, similar to what they were hoping to do for the home game against the Bulldogs in July.
‘‘My understanding is that there would be games in New Zealand when allowed. That would be a part of the deal if staying here is the best thing,’’ Brown said.
‘‘Playing football in New Zealand is something the club wants to do and I would have thought the NRL would have wanted us to do as well, because the game in New Zealand is important for the NRL, as it is for the people in New Zealand.
‘‘If the borders were to open, I’d imagine without knowing the facts of it all that there would be numbers of games in New Zealand whenever possible.’’
Logistically, there would be as many issues relocating to Redcliffe as there would be in returning to Auckland.
Of next year’s squad, 21 players in it have never played a game for the club in New Zealand. ‘‘It’s a big decision for all of us,’’ Brown said. ‘‘If it’s to go back to Auckland, a lot of us have never really been there, so we’d need to find houses and accommodation, but that’s unlikely at this stage with the way the borders are.
‘‘Some of the partners have moved kids to multiple schools and there has probably been a bit of pressure from the partners. That’s one reason why we need some sort of certainty on where we can be for 12 months, because the partners have been through a lot for the past 12 months or two years.’’
After Sunday’s final game of the season against the Titans, the players will remain in their camp on the Gold Coast for a week as the usual postseason reviews and medicals take place.
The players will then be free to stay at the team’s base or travel around Queensland. When they are at the team’s hotel, Brown insists he or the other coaching staff won’t be bothering them with game plans or training programmes.
‘‘We certainly won’t be going out of our way to annoy them,’’ he said.
‘‘Hopefully they get to enjoy each other’s company or see some family if they got some here.
‘‘The Gold Coast is a big place and we’re staying in a nice place, which is very big and we’ll no longer be doing team dinners or anything like that.
‘‘So everyone will have their own apartment and doing their own cooking, although I’m not sure who’ll be doing some of the guys’ cooking.
‘‘Everyone will be living their own life and hopefully they get to enjoy it, but it is a different situation – there’s no doubt about that.’’