We get the ball rolling with our inaugural captain and Warriors number 1
Dean Bell. In what I hope will be a recurring theme with this thread we have a very current article where a reporter has done all the work for me. The full article will be posted in his player profile thread.
If I remember correctly the last time we did this thread Bell had just sold a bed and breakfast he was running with his wife just north of Auckland.
Where are they now: Inaugural Warriors captain Dean Bell
March 2, 2025
Dean Bell leads the Warriors onto Mt Smart Stadium against the Wests Magpies in their debut season in 1995.Andrew Cornaga/Photosport
Dean Bell will forever be known as Warrior No 1.
The Kiwi league legend returned from England for the Warriors’ inaugural season in 1995, captaining them as they narrowly missed out on the finals.
His greatest years were spent with English powerhouse, Wigan, from 1986-94, where he won a raft of titles and was named Man of Steel in 1992 – England rugby league’s player of the season.
Bell, now 62, has done it all in rugby league. He coached the Leeds Rhinos for two seasons (1996-97) and served in a variety of off-field roles with the Warriors from 2007-15, including general manager of football.
He speaks to
Brendon Egan in this week’s ‘Where are they now?’.
Dean Bell pictured in 2014 when he was Warriors’ general manager of football operations.Andrew Cornaga/Photosport
You work for Harbour Hospice these days. What does the job involve?
I’m a storeman-driver. I just make sure everything is organised in the shop and do a lot of lifting and stuff that keeps me fit these days. It keeps me out of trouble. It’s a pretty physically demanding role, which is something I like. I just wanted to look for something that was challenging me physically. It’s pretty important I stay fit, especially with what my body has been through over the years.
I want to do something in the community that makes a difference as well. The Hospice is a great organisation to work for –the help they’re giving people and their families in a really emotional time of life.
www.thepost.co.nz
Former New Zealand Warrior Dean Bell on working for hospice and being a granddad
NZ Herald
29 Oct, 2023 05:00 AM
As captain of the inaugural side,
Dean Bell was 'Warrior Number One'. He's pictured in action during a Winfield Cup match against Parramatta Eels in Sydney on April 23 1995. Photo / Andrew Cornaga /
www.photosport.nz
He counts running out to a Wembley Stadium crowd of 100,000 among his greatest moments, but
Kiwi rugby league great Dean Bell reckons he’s living his best life now as a hospice worker and granddad.
Bell, a former player and captain for Wigan, the Warriors and the Kiwis, is a storeman and driver for the Harbour Hospice shop in Whangaparāoa, on Auckland’s Hibiscus Coast.
Rugby league legend-turned-hospice champion
Dean Bell.
Along with the rest of the country, he followed the Warriors’ journey to the preliminary finals this season for the first time in 12 years.
The side was “on the right track”, but there were still areas for improvement, Bell said.
And while he left the playing field on good terms, there’s still part of him that misses his old league star life.
Only coaching young players in Leeds had come close to the same feeling, he said.
“That gave me a buzz watching them develop. But in those first few years after I retired I found it tough - to have done something all your life and to not be able to do it any more was hard.
“I had been that skinny white kid from South Auckland who ran up One Tree Hill every morning and did weights in my dad’s garage because I loved footy that much. My debut for the Kiwi team had been a goal of mine growing up, and knowing how proud it made my family - that was another of my ‘greatest moments’.”
Dean Bell and his wife Jackie are loving being grandparents to Arabella, 8 months, and Lucas, 3 (not pictured).
Now, Bell leads a quieter life with Jackie, his wife of 40 years, and spending time with grandkids Lucas, 3, and 8-month-old Arabella.
“You have your children and obviously you’d do anything for them … but then the grandkids come along and, probably because I’m getting older and I know that we’re in the second half of our lives, you just really appreciate them.
“They’re like therapy for us, and we can’t get enough of them.”
His other focus is his work for Harbour Hospice, where he’s daily humbled by the efforts of volunteers to support a vital service that relied on community grants and fundraising for half its funding.
“Most of the people I work alongside in the shop are volunteers, and just seeing the time and energy they give every day makes me feel very humble.”
Gym membership is no longer necessary for former rugby league legend
Dean Bell since he became a driver and storeman for Harbour Hospice in Whangaparāoa.
And he was enjoying a job that not only kept him active enough to drop his gym membership, but also allowed him to leave work at work.
“As cliched as it sounds, I’m probably living my best life now. I’ve had a lot of pressure in my life and a lot of pressure to perform, so I’ve wanted to turn that tap off a little bit.
“I’ve come to a job … where I don’t have to take it home.”
He's humbled every day by those around him, league legend says.
www.nzherald.co.nz
