Long before the dawn of this perilous pandemic, certain dates had etched themselves into society’s collective consciousness.
There’s July 20, 1969, when a pair of Americans kicked the moon as a third cut lunar laps.
There’s also October 19, 1987, when a plethora of pinstriped suits were sent packing on Wall Street after their graphs - and highs - plummeted into the black.
And, of course, there’s September 11, 2001, when the tensions between the middle east and the west came to a devastating head just a few blocks further north.
However, there are also those that would barely register a flutter through a windchime, much less the ring of a bell.
Take August 30, 2019, for example, a date that only holds meaning to those that were celebrating a birthday, an anniversary or diehard Warriors supporters.
With COVID-19 having caused chaos right across the globe since the early stages of 2020, nobody in rugby league circles has been spared. Still, none can claim to have copped it harder than the Mount Smart men’s inner sanctum and their faithful band of fanatics.
And given it has been 974 days since the Warriors last played for premiership points at their Penrose home, CEO Cameron George is seeking reparations.
Ahead of the Kiwi franchise’s Round 4 win over the Broncos, the club boss went on the offensive by claiming that his side deserved to play the entirety of their 2023 draw on home soil.
"For the entire season we would like to see the Warriors playing in New Zealand, but not with home ground advantage," George said.
Not content with the prospect of every home clash played out of Auckland’s volcanic surrounds, George believed the expansion franchise should also be afforded the right to play their away games in an array of new homes, at home.
"We'd play our home games at Mt Smart and then instead of playing Canberra, for example, in Canberra, you take the game to Dunedin,” he added.
"I think there's a very big opportunity today for the New Zealand Government to try and rebuild the economy with visitation to places like Christchurch, Wellington or Dunedin.
"People are probably sceptical about travelling long distances, but it's only a three-hour flight to get to New Zealand and then you're straight back to Australia."
While the bespectacled club boss does raise several interesting points, and his case regarding fairness could well be of interest, it must also be considered that this opening stake in the sand is one that is unlikely to stand for long.
So, posturing aside, what can George and the franchise’s front office actually expect to be extended their way when next season’s draw is posted?
With just under three months until the Warriors’ whānau are led back into their digs by Michael Omuka (aka ‘The Mount Smart Joker’), there is more than enough time to have planned a suitable party for their July 3 date with Wests.
And with another six months on top of that before the draw for the 2023 NRL season is, feasibly, released, there is a veritable eon to make sure everyone is fine and dandy with the who and where of their 29th campaign.
But what are the leading options if a nationwide magical mystery tour between Invercargill and Whangārei is off the table?
Is it just a simple equation of playing more of their matches at home?
Is it making sure that a better calibre of games takes place in their backyard?
Would a consistent schedule for these contests serve fans better and allow for game-day planning to become far less of a burden?
Does the premise of playing home games right around the country hold water?
Or would an Origin game at Eden Park be enough to ease the pain of missing out on live action for almost three seasons?
Since running out onto Mount Smart Stadium for their Round 24 clash against Souths in late August of 2019, the Warriors have gone from the sole team in their nation’s market to the travelling salesmen of Australia’s littered east coast.
With the rugby league vagrants plying their trade between the Central and Sunshine Coasts across the course of the last few seasons, there has been an inconsistency across their traipses on foreign soil.
If you place the Warriors’ 2018 and 2019 draws under the microscope, you’ll find the same level of irregularity. Throughout these pre-Covid campaigns, the sides led by ex-steward Stephen Kearney were asked to kick off in eight different timeslots between 6pm local time on a Friday and 4pm on a Sunday.
Although every side within the soon to be 17-team competition is subjected to this style of scheduling, none of the sides with roots between Townsville and Melbourne can lay claim to being displaced for the average length of any New Zealand Warriors coach.
Even if the notion of fairness has gone the way of the contested play the ball, after being forced to carry bindles and live in perpetual motion, some certainty on where and when genuine home games are scheduled is sure to come as comfort for players, officials and fans alike.
Of course, this possible shift towards becoming stationary wouldn’t allow the Warriors to have everything their own way, and even all on their own patch, but it would allow them an edge that has recently been blunted by border closures.
If the prospect of playing each game at the same time each week is unpalatable to the many television networks that broadcast the game, the calibre of opponents the Warriors face in these home games could become a bargaining chip - especially given the franchise’s prayers to pack their yellow seats and reel in the folding stuff.
During the last pair of pre-pandemic seasons – 2018 and 2019 – the pūkana crested club hosted 23 games on their turf with an average attendance of 15,680.
Of these 23 fixtures, nine exceeded this mean figure with a peak of 25,600 coming out to see their side claim a 10-point win in Round 5 of the 2018 season against the North Queensland Cowboys.
With clashes against St George Illawarra, Wests, Souths, Melbourne, Penrith, Brisbane and Canterbury on two separate occasions rounding out the remaining eight, the Warriors may already have a shopping list ready for the sides they wish to face on their side of the ditch next season.
As conversations surrounding the make-up of their 11 or 12 head-to-heads at Mount Smart in 2023 are sure to scale up once October comes and goes, George and his cohorts are sure to request a few extra at their amphitheatre.
But whether Peter V’landys, Andrew Abdo and the other brass buttons in the Harbour City are willing to bite is another matter altogether.
As is the question of whether the competition’s other CEOs are willing to trade the familiarity of home for the burden of promoting games across a body of water.
With the lust for healthy bottom lines, premiership points in the bag and competitive advantages of any kind, it seems likely that Australian clubs will only ever consent to take their own home games across to Aotearoa if there is something in it for them.
So, if there is a hotbed of Titans fans in Timaru, Knights fanatics in Nelson or Raiders in Rotorua, make some noise and the mountain may finally come to Muhammad.
Given the club and its owner, Mark Robinson, have claimed that it will take “years to recover” from the displacement across the past three NRL seasons, any of these prospective alterations should go some way toward eating into the red found on the books of Autex Industries - the sole owners of the franchise.
But while financial gains will be the name of the game for Robinson and company, could the growth of the game actually act as a way of accelerating gains?
Though there are multiple avenues worth pursuing that would provide the Warriors with a long overdue boost to boast about, if the growth of the code in the county is truly the reason behind George’s push towards nailing each fixture into Kiwi soil next season, then perhaps a request to host its showpiece may well prove to be the ultimate antidote.
Since being rebuilt into its current structure in 1980, State of Origin clashes have been held in both Queensland and New South Wales, as well as Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia and even the United States.
And while the 1987 fixture played out in Long Beach, California was only an exhibition game, the mere fact that the likes of Sterling, Pearce, Lewis, Lyons and Ettingshausen took part in the fruitless fight created an international precedent that may soon be cashed in on for the first time in almost 40 years.
In June of 2020, current NSW Blues coach Brad Fittler suggested that New Zealand was in a prime position to host an Origin contest given the country’s then ability to remain on top of the virus.
But while ‘Freddy’s proposal was made due to a necessity during dire times, with the home of L&P, the Finn Brothers and more sheep than you could poke a stick out now open for business again, the notion of taking Origin east again still holds weight for other reasons.
Although Origin’s supposedly stringent eligibility laws claim that those from the land of the long white cloud are unable to ever don maroon or blue jerseys, it hasn’t stopped Kiwis clearing their schedule three times a year and watching the ‘State v State, Mate v Mate’ battles with a greater thirst than ‘Jake the Muss’.
Despite a lack of certainty as to how an Origin clash across the ditch would act as a financial windfall for the Warriors, in a country dominated by the 15-man game, if there is a chance to tear eyes, minds and hearts from the All Blacks, then this is a win for the NRL and, in turn, rugby league on the whole.
And if these same eyes can then be brought through the gates on Beasley Avenue to cheer on Nathan Brown’s boys, then the long game may provide long term gains.
Still, for this utopian blueprint to play out in reality, it is likely that a benevolent Origin fixture would need to run in tandem with one of the other, aforementioned leg ups from league headquarters, even if it means tears and gnashing of teeth from the Australian clubs.
As of yet, there has been no official word from NRL HQ on the makeup of the 2023 draw. But as a league that is meant to stand like Lady Justice herself, it appears decidedly unlikely that the Warriors can expect too much of a head start next season.
But with players opting out of a return – or the first move in some cases – to Auckland and beyond for next year, and with the Robinson family, once again, having to dig deep to feed the game’s coffers in New Zealand, it is probably in the league administrators’ interests to allow the Kiwi club to see some of the answers before sitting next season’s test.
Lord knows the Warriors could do with a chop out rather than just another kick about for once, especially considering the all-time low that was reached on ANZAC Day.
