General Being a Warriors fan …

I’ve been around since the start and it’s been a roller coaster ride but Jeez we’re riding a night ATM.
Fans ( AKA me) have taken a lot of crap over the years from colleagues, friends & family .
On Saturday it was good to get messages from friends around the World saying things like, “ I was thinking of you when the Warriors won - you deserve it”.
My Mondays in winter have been dictated by the Warriors weekend performances .
Today , it feels very good to be a Warriors fan .. for you too??
 
Like you and probably most I have a lot of naysayers in my friendship group, in fact I’ve been copping it all year up until this weekends game from a Bulldogs fan that the “Wahines” will crash and burn.. Radio silence from Bulldog today!! He should take up his grievance with Cleary’s 2nd best…

I’ll be walking on sunshine all week!!
 
Well, I always reckoned that being an Arsenal fan in the '80s when they were at best boring as and at worst shit acts as training for supporting a relatively "ünloved" team like the Warriors.

Never really ever considered dropping them although after being beaten by Manly 24-22 in 2012 after being 18 points up I did cut up my season ticket. Next day it was taped up and survived the rest of the season in working order!

Yep, a pretty happy camper this morning but I can't shake off a couple of concerns:
That this is like 2002, when it frankly felt like no-one took us seriously until we had too much momentum. That made 2003 actaully a bit more impressive for me, despite what Warriors officials at the time might say now about the team's attitude being a bit upthemselves...
That there's another 2012-like season awaiting us in 2024.
 
Something over the Weekend made me laugh.

Googling "2023 Warriors NRL preseason predictions": Andrew Webster the journo obviously has no affinity with his NRL Soon To Be Dally M Coach For 2023 namesake. Reckoned a wooden spoon was heading our way in 2023.

I'd say we're just a tad closer to getting that league manlove moment trophy....Not your best work.
 
This is definitely the 3rd best year I have had as a Warriors fan.

The most special year was 2001, some where out there in VHS and Beta land there is a tape of the Warriors players talking about their first ever finals appearance in the lead up to that game, SKY TV NZ put together a special montage - Motu Tony is talking, the music is epic, and you can see how these nobodies who were almost headed down a route of being kicked from the comp finally made it.

I wish I could find that video it gave me a lump in the throat and teary eyes, it was the best piece of league footage that SKY has ever produced. Motu is an unknown kid and the way his voice is on the verge of breaking, talking about a mans dream is just pure Coach Carter best scenes shit.

We got fifty points put on us by the Eels a week later and that was the bitter sweet end to a great underdog tale, and the rebirth of the 95ers hopes and dreams.

A year later as everyone knows, those same nobodies were playing in a GF as the minor prems, that is the second most special year I have had.

Skip forward to this week, here we are floating on a cloud, after being hurt bad by the loss of SJ and a hiding from the Panthers.

The Parallels with the 2001 side are spooky, new coach, bit of a nobody, fairly average looking Roster on paper
(let me justify that comment) the forward pack looked good but well short of a couple of serious props to compete, and the back line looked horrible.

At the start of this year we had an out of form ageing number 7, two dud Centers, two borderline Wingers, and a tradesman non ball playing fullback, with a utility playing at stand off.
Not the stuff you would dream could make it to this week.

What Webster has done to these players is incredible, they are all able to do things that they have not had the skill set to do in their careers, Stacey, Morgan, Agars have taught them through the steep learning curve how to catch up with their counter parts in the NRL.

Only three coaches in twenty seven years have been able to teach the players new skills. That there is your answer to why this club has never succeeded long term, because the NZ player comes with a lot of skill deficits that other clubs don't have to worry about (look at the new look NSW cup side and their set ups, they are being trained in block shapes), NZ player need Rugby League education, not just training drills and pep talks.


Our difficulty signing the best in the comp means we have to buy people that frankly have something missing in their game.

BTW the three coaches that actually came here and taught Rugby league are Daniel Anderson, Andrew McFadden and Andrew Webster. That is why we struck gold getting the two Andrews back here.

So I feel good, real good, and not because we are winning and all that jazz, I feel good because I can see a foundation for permanent change..

I see the Warriors going with a new small bench that puts them ahead of the curve where this club has always been five to ten years behind the evolution of the game..

Take these examples of NRL quantum leaps in the game and consider it took us more than ten years to adopt any of them:

A) Line speed (introduced in 2002 by the Sydney Rooster adopted by the Warriors 2015, thirteen years and five coaches later)

B) Block shapes and slingshot plays (began appearing around fifteen years ago to counter the Storms wrestle, again not taught at the Warriors till Andrew McFadden)

C) Wrestling (invented by the Storm early two thousands, picked up on by various Warriors coaches, though never mastered by the club, a work in progress boosted this year by an MMA champion).


One of our biggest problems is when a coach makes some ground with the knowledge vacuum, the team still sucks, and the coach gets fired, the good stuff is lost and forgotten (like how our line speed and block shapes disappeared after Cappy was sacked, our low errors after SK was sacked etc).

In a perfect world those assistant coaches who we forced to become NRL coaches, get to stay on at the club and keep instilling the things that worked.,

Well we got two assistants back at the club, one being a former Warriors head coach, a first for this organization and a sign they are maturing.

As if by magic coach Webster unlocks SJ, and other players follow, the confidence grows from this crucial relationship between the coach and the lead play maker.

Mid year the coaches flick the go switch and all these fancy attacking moves ala Cappy style. We turn into a completely different side and everyone starts to think we could do better than 6th place (remember when every fan in here was doing the ladder predictor and they all came back with a 6th place finish at best?).

We went flat for a period, but kept punching and BOOM NRL top four baby locked and loaded.

We just thrashed a good side in a final and get the best possible finals opponent you could dream of in a Warriors Semi....Warrior V the 95 enemy number one.

As much as I am on a cloud, floating this week, my head is also saying that we cannot lose from here, not because we could beat the Broncos, my head is telling me we have the right people, to finally fix, the biggest problem in New Zealand sport - effecting permanent and lasting changes at the Warriors.

This is not a summer or a spring, or one swallow, nor is it a false dawn, this is a well thought out building sea change.

The small bench forwards are the key, they are our way of being first, the first club to even try it so extremely, and that should tell you everything you need to know about where we are going, whether you like that move or not, and plenty struggle with it, take a step back, consider the big picture, what it really is the Warriors finally believe in themselves and are backing their way, not waiting ten years to copy someone else. ''
 
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I’ve been a fan since Ivan’s maiden year as coach circa 05/06…..can’t remember which year and a long time lurker on our forums……quick question, I remember a gentleman on an older forum around the mid to late 2000’s who was a prolific fan and poster, he struck me as quite older and use to sign off alot of his posts with:

“Just grabbing my coat”

Or some words to that effect…..anyone remember him?
 
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There is not a single warriors fan in my friend group 😕 that’s why I’m on here so much haha

If I had a dollar for every time I have herd “are you still supporting those losers”…….my common response is “get f’d your the F’n loser”!!

I don’t mind the bandwagoners as long as they stay quite in the bad times. What’s really grinding my gears atm is the people who talk shit about the warriors 24/7 in the bad times, then since august 2023 they are their number 1 fan 🤬🤬
 
I’ve been a fan since Ivan’s maiden year as coach circa 05/06…..can’t remember which year and a long time lurker on our forums……quick question, I remember a gentleman on an older forum around the mid to late 2000’s who was a prolific fan and poster, he struck me as quite older and use to sign off alot of his posts with:

“Just grabbing my coat”

Or some words to that effect…..anyone remember him?

Mate I do, but I cannot for the life of me remember his handle

He is probably still around under a new name.

That is where I learned the phrase I will grab my coat....
 
I watched the first game in 1995 on TV, but was just a casual fan at best of league and most sports in those days - me and my brother were much more interested in pro wrestling than 'real sports' in our school days hah!

I didn't consider myself a Warriors fan proper until April 2002 - one weekend that month I bussed down to Welly from Palmy by myself for a Tool concert, but couldn't get in touch with the mate I was supposed to be staying with, randomly bumped into old school friends who were also in town for the concert who I stayed with that night, and they invited me to the Doggies game the next day which I had no idea was on and seeing the Warriors live truly lit the fire of Warriors fandom in me.

Ended up moving into a flat with that lot a month or so later and rode the wave with them all the way to the grand final. Ended up going to all the Warriors games in Wellington since then (except Sharks in 2019 which I somehow completely missed was a thing) and have gone to Mt Smart about 8 times now since 2007 to catch the boys in person.

This is the only year I've attended 3 games in a season and sitting at 100% winning record for 2023 (R1 Knights in Welly, R25 Manly & W2 Finals Knights at Mt Smart) - starting to think I'm a lucky charm 😅 (hopefully I can sort out flights and a grand final ticket to ride that luck all the way!!!)
 
Mate I do, but I cannot for the life of me remember his handle

He is probably still around under a new name.

That is where I learned the phrase I will grab my coat....
Ah I knew someone would remember him, yeah I can’t remember his handle either but I would know if I heard it….. I hope the old fulla is still around, I think it’s all one of our dreams to see us win a premiership before we push up daisies!
 
I used to watch Roos vs kiwis where Wally Lewis and mal meninga would thrash us. I loved Olsen Filipaina but we never had Winfield cup on tv 1 or tv2. So the first Winfield cup game I ever saw was GF tigers vs Raiders.

Years after that into the 1990s I simply followed teams that had NZers in. Tigers because of Gary Freeman. Clayton Friend and Mark Graham. Sam Stewart and a lot more. But when the Warriors arrived I finally had a team to belong to.

There was my beginning of being a Warriors fan. I've loved watching our teams play each year and have ridden the good years better years and rubbish years. So to see this version of the Warriors performing beautifully sometimes is wonderful. Even watching ugly wins is marvellous compared to some of our ugly because of lack of care and effort losses.

Wins generate attention, I get that. But seeing the committed defence on the tryline has been scary because it's so often been non existent.

Seeing CNK take hard hit ups is the kind of change I've loved as much as wins.

Seeing SJ grow out of his limitations and into a mature leader and playmaker has been as awesome as his young slick moves but better for the team.

Like you all I can't wait to rejoice at the first premiership. Could it be this year? Ask the Broncos. Then if need be ask the Panthers
 
I’ve been a fan since Ivan’s maiden year as coach circa 05/06…..can’t remember which year and a long time lurker on our forums……quick question, I remember a gentleman on an older forum around the mid to late 2000’s who was a prolific fan and poster, he struck me as quite older and use to sign off alot of his posts with:

“Just grabbing my coat”

Or some words to that effect…..anyone remember him?
Sounds like Warriors Ambassador or Ambo. Pretty strong in his opinions and never wrong…. even when he was. In the last year of the VOT, he got quite sick but would still drive up from Palmerston North till that got too much.

Still see him posting sometimes of FB but mostly about lawn bowls these days.
 
Sounds like Warriors Ambassador or Ambo. Pretty strong in his opinions and never wrong…. even when he was. In the last year of the VOT, he got quite sick but would still drive up from Palmerston North till that got too much.

Still see him posting sometimes of FB but mostly about lawn bowls these days.
That’s him! Ambo! Wow…..glad he’s still ticking along, real blast from the past and very insightful…..

I remember him telling me off about a post I made way back when I was younger but he was relatively tactful 😅

Lawn bowls is better on the blood pressure so good on him!
 
Most know I'm a fan so I've been having people comment to me how good they are going at the moment. It always captivates the nation (including supporters across the ditch) when the Warriors are on a roll, but to be honest this is the most hype in a season I can ever recall. And I think much of it has to do with the fact that the club was living out of a suitcase for 3 years and felt so distant, so it's been massive to rebound so well in the first season back.
 
Most know I'm a fan so I've been having people comment to me how good they are going at the moment. It always captivates the nation (including supporters across the ditch) when the Warriors are on a roll, but to be honest this is the most hype in a season I can ever recall. And I think much of it has to do with the fact that the club was living out of a suitcase for 3 years and felt so distant, so it's been massive to rebound so well in the first season back.

The fan buzz is at 95 level, which is crazy. In 95 the fan buzz lasted the entire season and it was a given, all the team had to do was win a few games.

This is different, this hype was created out of nowhere by performance, and you are absolutely bang on the money about the fans realizing only after it was taken away, how special it is to have your own NRL team in the competition.

I love the bandwagoners myself, I love them more than the faithful. I spose it is like the parable of the prodigal son in the Bible (I am not religious, I studied western philosophy) good old God says that the lost sheep is far more precious than the believers when they return.

The thing about the bandwagon, is that you have to earn their respect, unlike us cultists who have no free will.

New Zealand sports fans are fickle, because of the All Blacks, they expect to win every time, and you can throw in names like Walker, Snell, Helberg, Blake, Ferguson, McDonald.

But I think our countrymen have finally realized that the NRL is on another level, I think they finally get it, that it is almost impossible to win, and unlike the unrealistic dreamers from 95, today's audience are more discerning - the bandwagon get that playing well and losing is a team worth supporting.

And I base that conclusion off the eighteen thousand people who showed up at Mt Smart after we copped a run of losses.

We need to just keep doing what we are doing and keep the wagon there, especially when we lose, hats off to the game day events team at Mt Smart for understanding that.
 
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