The Warriors made an emotional return to Mt Smart Stadium this week ahead of Sunday's NRL clash with the Wests Tigers, the Auckland club's first home game in more than 1000 days.
The Warriors are back at Mt Smart. Photo: Andrew Cornaga / www.photosport.nz
The team has spent the last two and a half years based in Australia due to the Covid pandemic and they were welcomed back to Mt Smart with a pōwhiri earlier this week.
Halfback Shaun Johnson says there's no place like home.
"I'm not sure I can put it into words to be honest. It's been a long time away for a lot of the boys and this year has been probably a little bit indifferent. So, to actually be home and to feel you're back where you belong, it's a feeling I can't actually describe."
The Warriors have had a tumultuous season.
They lost a frontline player following a confrontation in a bar with the club owner, before losing their coach Nathan Brown, who bailed with a year left on his contract, claiming he couldn't live in New Zealand.
The club has taken plenty of hits off the field and their on field results haven't been great, they sit 15th in the NRL standings with four wins from 15 games.
Shaun Johnson and Mark 'Mahi Man' Dekker. Warriors pōwhiri welcome at Mt Smart. Photo: Andrew Cornaga / www.photosport.nz
Johnson concedes he was nervous about how they would be received upon their return to Auckland, but he says those misgivings were misplaced.
"The feel around town, people in the shopping centres and wherever I've been, people have been excited to have us back. I've certainly felt the love already and I know the boys are going to get to experience that this weekend heading into the game."
Corey Lelean is a self described Warriors super fan. He has supported the team since their inception and grew up playing and watching league at Carlaw Park and then Mt Smart.
He hopes a return to their roots will help the team find some form.
"Being home they can connect back to the actual club, the culture, the people, where they represent, where they're from. What it means to kiwis. There are some diehard league fans out there and their weeks revolve around the Warriors."
Chief executive Cameron George believes being back home will lift the team's performance.
"I thought it (coming home) might have really inspired the guys over the last couple of months in Australia. But, I think what's happened is they've had their eye on the prize of coming back and it may of just had their mindset focussing on this."
While the Warriors are out of playoff contention this season following seven straight defeats, George is confident the club is in good health.
"The club's sweet. The club's ready to go. We'll get a coach soon for next year and we're all sorted."
Former Kiwis playmaker Johnson left the Warriors in 2018 after eight years with the team, before rejoining the club this season.
"When I left, this part of me was over at that point. I never thought I would be able to walk through Mt Smart again and see the faces I was used to seeing for the eight years I was here. It was pretty emotional.
"Even driving from the path from my house to Mount Smart, I called my dad and said 'dad, I'm doing it again'. It's stuff that people just don't understand, when you care about a place as much as a lot of us do. To see those familiar faces still working in the office and seeing the emotion on their face, giving them big hugs, I haven't felt that in a long time."
Whether or not the return to Mt Smart will result in a change of fortunes for the Warriors on the field, it's clear Johnson and the team wouldn't want to be anywhere else.
