NRL: Fate may give Koopu his dream finish

Koopu's putting his family first. Photo / Getty Images

It's the job nobody wants. Scratch that, it's a fate most players dread - 18th man for the biggest game of the season. Tonight, the unenviable chore is likely to fall to former Warriors' stalwart Wairangi Koopu, when his Storm side take on Brisbane for a place in the NRL grand final.

If Storm coach Craig Bellamy does as expected and opts for an extra prop, Scott Anderson, to help counter the physicality of the Broncos' pack, Koopu will find himself in the twilight zone.

He'll go through all of the pre-match motions, even warming up so he can step in as a late replacement if a team-mate gets injured pre-kick-off. That happens, but not often. The reality is that when the team runs out, he won't.

For Koopu, who is to retire at the end of the season, it will be a particularly bitter pill to swallow.

He got agonisingly close to an NRL champions' ring with the Warriors in 2002, and now he is within tantalising proximity again. But he knows this will be his last shot.

"To go out on a winning note would be a perfect end to my career," he said. "But look, if it doesn't happen then I'm pretty happy to exit with the thought that the last game I played was against last year's grand final winners and leave it at that."

A few weeks ago the 29-year-old thought he'd already played his last game. After a decade of service with the Warriors he was released. In his final year in Auckland he was out of the team more than in it and that pattern continued at the Storm after he was picked up on a one-year contract.

He featured in the club's first eight matches but made only one more appearance over the next 16 rounds.

At that point, he assumed he no longer figured in Bellamy's thinking. But Greg Inglis' suspension upset what had been a stable apple cart. The Storm lost two straight matches and Bellamy called upon Koopu's veteran presence for the final two regular season matches, victories over the Roosters and Warriors.

He held his spot for the playoff victory over Manly, but Anderson's return to fitness has likely squeezed him out of the frame tonight.

"You play well and you get a spot," he said. "You try hard, but that's about all you can do."

He has had offers to continue, particularly in Super League, but the money didn't stack up. A fluent Maori speaker, Koopu was a regular on Maori TV and the Te Reo channel before heading to Melbourne.

A return to media work is his most likely next step. Reading between the lines a little, a player whose habit of fronting up week after week at the Warriors earned him the nickname Mr Consistency, has tired of being a bit part player.

"I am almost being forced into retirement. I've had a few offers though and have been talking with some Super League clubs but I've got a young family and my wife is pretty keen on picking up her career again. So for me to drag my family all the way to the UK, away from all of the opportunities I have in New Zealand, the financial side has got to be worthwhile.

"At this stage it is better for my family to be happy in New Zealand and me hang up the boots, rather than hanging around for a couple of years just for the sheer point of playing football."

The experienced gleaned from being part of the most consistently successful NRL club of recent years is the main thing to come from his time at Melbourne.

"I was under the Warriors' structures for 10 years and I knew the ins and outs of that club. Coming over here and seeing how these guys structure their club ... with three Grand Finals in a row you can't ignore the structures they have got in place.

"If there is an opportunity where I might look at staying involved in rugby league [back in New Zealand], either in a coaching or administration role, then I'm all the richer for it."

First, though, he must play his part in getting the Storm into and hopefully winning another Grand Final. His best chance of a fairytale finish appears to be the Storm winning tonight and a space opening up through injury.

"Playing this game for my whole youth and growing up with this game, to get to the Grand Final and maybe come away with the win - I can't really imagine it. It makes me all the more desperate.

"I think about it almost every night. If I do end up getting there and playing in that game, I will play my heart out."