Thursday, September 25, 2008

Biggest game in six years - Warriors v Manly

First up for those in London - hope to see you all at Walkabout Temple branch Saturday morning for the 10.45am kickoff.

Building up to the Warriors game this week has made me reminisce about years gone by and in particular 2002. That game vs the Sharks which got the Warriors to the grand final for their first and only time to date has to be regarded as their most important win ever (close call vs recent win over the Storm).
I watched that game in NZ with my mates and it was a special game full of excitement. Highlights for me were Motu "Tony" Tony stripping the ball near the Sharks line and scoring as well as Toopi burning down the left wing for a 50m run to score in the corner. As I remember it was an extremely stormy day in West Auckland that day, I watched the game in Swanson and we had been worried all day that the weather would knock out the SkyTV at an inopportune moment. As it happened it all worked fine throughout the match and only on fulltime after the Warriors were confirmed winners did the screen go blank. It seemed fitting for the moment which felt like a miracle.

The Warriors find themselves once again on the cusp, back to their usual status as long underdogs. I always feel uncomfortable with the Warriors as favourites, in general they are too inconsistent to deserve it. But it has to be said the last 10+ games the Warriors have delivered consistency and solid defence together with insightful attacking play. The game is there to be won, the Warriors are more than capable of delivering on the dream, lets just hope Menzies and co don't spoil our party.


All the best for the weekend, its either going to be amazing, or not.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

well can't be too disappointed, the warriors performed exceedingly well recovering from a disastrous start to the season. as manly showed in the final, they were just a class above everyone in this finals series.

Still, i have tremendous optimism for 2009. I don't think we will be as flashy as manly, but we are beefing up our contingent of solid australians without losing too much of the talent that emerged in 2008. The junior warriors almost made the grand final this year and the depth in the under 20's is truely impressive. Consider Russell Packer, Sonny Fai, Matulino and Patrick Ah Van as players that are all under 20.

2009 is going to be better than ever and if i get the chance to move to auckland i am definitely getting a season ticket.

pity about the pathetic crowds in the 2008 finals series, maybe aussies dont care about league anymore.