Stacey Jones has seen it all at Mt Smart Stadium, the ground where he first played for the Warriors in 1995.
And he says Sunday afternoon’s 22-2 homecoming win over the Wests Tigers in his third game as interim coach was there when it comes to special occasions.
“It was something very unique.
Hannah Peters/Getty Images
Warriors captain Tohu Harris says they need to build on their homecoming win over Wests Tigers.
“We talked about it in team meetings — about how this was a different feeling and that, so it was definitely up there.”
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The Warriors hadn’t played at their Auckland home since August 30, 2019, when the Covid-19 pandemic was still months away from anyone’s radar.
After living and playing in Australia for two and a half NRL seasons due to pandemic border restrictions, they returned to Mt Smart this week and celebrated in style by losing a run of seven matches.
Captain Tohu Harris scored the Warriors’ first try midway through the first half to a sold-out crowd of 26,009 people and said he and his teammates fueled their passionate support.
“We’ve had a lot of good support from here over the past three years, but nothing beats having the support here at home.
“Everyone just drove us and supported us, so it meant a lot to the team and it gave us a lot of energy.”
The Warriors now have a farewell weekend before returning to Australia for games against the Parramatta Eels and Canberra Raiders, and will be back at Mt Smart by the end of the month to face the high-flying Melbourne Storm – this time after a 26-year run. day wait instead of 1038 days.
Sunday’s win meant the Warriors moved from 15th to 13th on the ladder and Harris said he hoped it would be a feat they could build on, not only in their last eight games this season, but next year as well. .
“We’ve had a tough run in the last few months, but we wanted to wipe the slate clean and start fresh today and I thought we did that well.
“We can’t go back now, we have to build from behind.
“We’ve shown that we can put the effort into each other, so there are no excuses for us to keep going.”
Harris was joined by Chanel Harris-Tavita – who started in place of Reece Walsh (Covid-19) as a fullback and was a standout – and Jesse Arthars on the scoring attempts, while Shaun Johnson had a perfect night with the shoe and excellent could send the team around the park.
The Tigers’ lone points came from Adam Doueihi just before half-time and Jones said his defensive effort to keep the visitors out of the game was something to celebrate.
Jackson Hastings stepped in as captain of the Tigers with James Tamou injured and said they prepared for the occasion as best they could, knowing it would be quite a challenge.
“Everyone knew what the audience would be like and what the emotion behind it was.
“We live in the 21st century. Instagram, Facebook – everywhere you looked, it was there.
“Nody” [coach Brett Kimmorley] prepared us well. We had a great week of training and that didn’t translate to the field.”