Ngongotahā Chiefs players celebrate a try during the 2018 Bay of Plenty/Coastline Premier Rugby League grand final against Mangakino. Photo / File
Ngongotahā Chiefs players celebrate a try during the 2018 Bay of Plenty/Coastline Premier Rugby League grand final against Mangakino. Photo / File
There may be fewer teams battling for the Bay of Plenty Premier Rugby League title this season but don't expect the passion or intensity with which the remaining teams play to be diminished.
The competition, which starts this weekend, was previously a combination of Coastline and Bay of Plenty rugby league clubs, however this year Coastline clubs Ōtūmoetai and Pāpāmoa have joined the Waikato competition. That leaves Pikiao Warriors, Ngongotahā Chiefs, Taupō Phoenix, Mangakino Hawks and Pacific Sharks to battle it out for the Bay of Plenty title.
I was not in the meetings or discussions around the decision for Coastline to move, so I won't go into that here. What I do want to say is I have no doubt the local league games will be as entertaining as ever.
You only have to look at the last two seasons to see the teams remaining in the Bay of Plenty competition have the pride and passion to put together a quality season of big hits and thrilling finishes.
In 2017, Pikiao started slowly but as the season progressed announced themselves as real title contenders. They beat Mangakino 26-12 to book a place in the final against Pacific.
What happened in the last few minutes of the 2017 Grand Final is a sporting moment I will never forget. Trailing 8-6 and stuck in their own half, with seconds left to play, Pikiao looked resigned to second place. When Noel Te Rangi broke away and sprinted 50m to score the match-winning try the loud and passionate home crowd went nuts.
Then in 2018, new title contenders emerged, Mangakino and Ngongotahā. Mangakino started the year on the front foot, winning the Bay of Plenty Nines, and never looked back. They demolished every obstacle in front of them, all the way to the final.
Meanwhile, Ngongotahā, led by the always calm and collected Paul Nahu, steadily improved as the season went on and made their way to the final.
Ngongotahā had lost to Mangakino two weeks earlier and were supposed to be the underdogs. They did not get the memo - they produced a near perfect performance to win 34-10 and claim the title.
Two enthralling seasons and two epic grand finals. The common theme? All the finalists were those Bay of Plenty teams who remain this year.
The storylines for this season have already started being written. Mangakino did everything right last season, except win the final, and will be desperate to go one better this year. At the weekend Pacific Sharks beat Taupō Phoenix in the pre-season Bay of Plenty Nines tournament. Ngongotahā will be chasing rare back-to back titles.
As long as the players approach the season with the same vigour they always have, I have no concerns about the potential quality of the competition, albeit with less teams.
Wests Tigers veterans Marshall and Farah reborn
This week I was going to write about the Warriors. However, I feel that would be akin to flogging a dead horse. After a bright start to the season they have suffered heavy defeats to opponents they should've at least been competitive against. Warriors fans are well and truly back on the rollercoaster.
Enough about them, though.
Whakatāne-born Benji Marshall is back to his best for the Wests Tigers. Photo / Getty Images
I started properly following the NRL in 2005, the year the Tigers, led by young up-and-coming superstars Benji Marshall and Robbie Farah, took their electric form of attack all the way to a Grand Final win over the Cowboys.
I've always been a massive fan of Marshall, how could you not be? The Whakatāne boy with the wicked sidestep who threw no-look flick passes with reckless abandon. That year he was well and truly in the driver's seat and we were all along for the ride.
Now in 2019, after both Marshall and Farah have spent time at other NRL clubs and Marshall even had a crack at Super Rugby with the Blues, the veterans are back pulling the strings at the Tigers.
They've won two from three to start the season and appear to have regained the confidence they had back in 2005. It is a sight that fills me with nostalgia, I was a sports-mad 14-year-old when they won the title and I feel as if I have gone back in time.
It would be one hell of a story if they could go all the way again.
