Warriors hooker finally gets to play at Mt Smart At a glance
Somewhere in Auckland, there is a storage unit filled with Wayde Egan’s possessions – items he hasn’t seen since March 2020.
He moved to the city at the end of 2019 to join the New Zealand Warriors, after two seasons in the NRL with the Penrith Panthers.
But he has spent the last two years – and then some – living and playing in Australia, as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Tomorrow, he will play his 51st match for the Warriors, having reached the 50-game milestone in their last outing, a loss to Penrith two weeks ago.
What’s remarkable is that the clash with Wests Tigers will be the hooker’s first outing at the Warriors’ Mt Smart Stadium home, midway through his third season at the club.
He’s played at the venue before with the Panthers, losing in 2018 then winning in 2019, but never for the team that calls it home.
‘‘It’s been crazy,’’ Egan said of the homecoming. ‘‘It feels a bit surreal. There was always talk about coming back here eventually. You thought it was never coming at one point, but here we are.
‘‘It’s been awesome to be around the local people again and interacting with fans on the street.’’
Egan only had a backpack with him when he left Auckland with his team-mates in March 2020, for their round one match against the Newcastle Knights.
They stayed to play the first of
What: NRL round 16, Warriors v Tigers
Where, when: Mt Smart Stadium, Auckland; 4pm tomorrow Warriors: TBC, Dallin WateneZelezniak, Jesse Arthars, Euan Aitken, Marcelo Montoya, Ronald Volkman, Shaun Johnson, Addin Fonua-Blake, Wayde Egan, Jazz Tevaga, Jack Murchie, Tohu Harris (c), Josh Curran. Interchange: Chanel Harris-Tavita, Bunty Afoa, Eliesa Katoa, Bayley Sironen
Tigers: Daine Laurie, David Nofoaluma, Starford To’a, James Roberts, Ken Maumalo, Luke Brook, Jackson Hastings, James Tamou, Fa’amanu Brown, Zane Musgrove, Luke Garne, Kelma Tuilagi, Joe Ofahengaue. Interchange: Stefano Utoikamanu, Adam Doueih, Alex Seyfarth, Fonua Pole.
many home-and-away from home fixtures the following week, against the Canberra Raiders on the Gold Coast, before the onset of the pandemic put everything on pause.
Two years and four months on, he’s excited to be back, after a ‘‘whirlwind’’ stretch living in New South Wales and Brisbane, and he’s looking forward to running out at Mt Smart this weekend.
‘‘It’s going to be awesome,’’ Egan said. ‘‘I played against the Warriors there a couple of years ago and it’s a tough place to win.’’
More than 26,000 fans are set to flock to Mt Smart, with the match officially a sell-out – the club’s first since veteran Simon Mannering’s farewell fixture in 2018.