League: Native son full of praise for turnout

WIN: Adam Blair with his three-year-old son Harlem after Saturday's game.

Whangarei's Adam Blair has given Northland the thumbs up after turning out in the masses to support the Kiwis and Samoans at Toll Stadium.

With a whopping 16,912 people turning out to support the event, Blair was proud to call himself a Northlander - and a happy one at that after sneaking a 14-12 win.

The well-spoken Kiwi forward said Saturday's Four Nations match, which was the first ever Kiwis international at Toll Stadium, was everything he hoped it would be.

WIN: Adam Blair with his three-year-old son Harlem after Saturday's game.

"Coming out and seeing everyone get behind the game of rugby league in Whangarei and Northland is a massive kick for everyone," the former Otangarei Primary and Whangarei Boys' High School student said in the changing room after the match.

"These little places like Whangarei need things like this and I was happy this week just to get out there and promote the game. I think Whangarei has done a great job to get behind this.

"I really enjoyed being back home in Whangarei, I got to see my family and a lot of kids who were really excited to see the Kiwis here. It's nice to be part of something special like that."

While there was a sense of getting out of jail about the Kiwis' win, Blair wasn't going to let that jade his obvious enjoyment of playing in front of his home crowd for the first time.

In what was no-doubt an emotional match for Blair, he hoped Northlanders enjoyed seeing top-level rugby league come to them.

As a child Blair wished he could have seen international rugby league at Toll Stadium to show him from an early age what international sport was all about.

"There are kids that are striving to be league players up here," the 28-year-old explained.

"The good thing about coming to these suburban places is you get kids coming out and seeing their idols, role models, people they look up to and only see on TV, so for them to see them and take photos with them is something they'll cherish for the rest of their lives."