The flipside to the love fest around the team’s run to the finals is why it took so long for the game to realise its enormous potential in Aotearoa
The train operator just said "up the Wahs" over the speaker and the whole carriage just lost it for about 60 seconds. One guy still has his shirt off.The flipside to this lovefest is why it took so long for rugby league to realise its enormous potential in New Zealand.
A few horror years followed – dismal performances, a salary cap scandal in 2006 – before a fairytale finals run in 2008 and their second grand final in 2011, losing to a star-studded Sea Eagles outfit. Despite the emergence of stars like Johnson and 2018 Dally M medal winner Roger Tuivasa-Sheck, they’ve played just one finals game since then – until this year.Photograph: Fiona Goodall/Getty Images
But rugby league’s difficulties in New Zealand are bigger than the Warriors. The code has been dogged by the sense locally that the Australia-centric NRL consistently takes more out of the game in New Zealand than it gives back.
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