League: Warrior turned Lion king

Steve Buckingham prompts another attack. Phil Walter / Getty Images

Steve Buckingham flirted with a professional league career. He was there when the Warriors began - a young recruit overawed to be rubbing shoulders with boyhood heroes such as Dean Bell and Denis Betts.

The Buckingham first-grade file reads: two interchange appearances in 1997, towards the end of foundation coach John Monie's reign.

His big memories involve the adrenalin rush of being called from the bench, and a couple of runs out of dummy half. Chapter closed.

It's in the local league that Buckingham has found his feet, if not riches, and this week he claimed his fourth Bartercard Cup when he led the Auckland Lions (aka Mt Albert) to a 25-18 win over the Canterbury Bulls.

Throw in two Fox Memorial titles with Glenora, and Buckingham is among league's most decorated players at local level.

The names Buckingham and Glenora were entwined at one point. Buckingham's father Bruce is a Bears stalwart and, by rights, Steve would still be with the Bears. But a classic minor league spat over money saw him switch to play under one of his old Warriors mentors, John Ackland.

"Glenora were to pay us $2000 a season but, when it came down to it, they said I'd missed a couple of games and they only wanted to pay me $1200," says Buckingham. "I was pretty hacked off. I'd missed a couple of games through injury and I couldn't get the time off to play a midweek game against Canterbury."

Buckingham's career has blossomed as the Mt Albert pivot, and as the national Residents XIII captain. It's also been a catalyst for Mt Albert dominating domestic honours.

Mt Albert had struggled in the early Bartercard Cup years but had promising players who just needed steering around. There's been a high turnover of players since. But Buckingham has gone on to captain them in all four winning finals, become the first player to crack 1000 points in the competition, and is one of only three players in the country to have won four titles.

Buckingham says Mt Albert's magic ingredient is the club's management, which sets everything in place for the coaches and players to perform.

Successive Mt Albert coaches though are unstinting in their praise for Buckingham. "Steve is one of those players who makes everyone else around him play better," says Ackland, now the assistant to Warriors coach Ivan Cleary.

Current Lions coach, Kiwis boss Brian McClennan, says: "Bucky is the jewel in the crown. He's just so calm - he never raises his voice to the other players and just keeps encouraging people."

Increasingly wily on-field ways mean Buckingham is actually getting better at coping with the rigours of the game and despite the annual retirement threat, you suspect he will be back for more.

Football and work commitments have limited the 30-year-old arborist to one family holiday in five years, but he doesn't dwell on what might have been with the Warriors.

And he need look no further than partner Olivia Bloomfield when it comes to enthusiasm for the club scene. She is a renowned bundle of energy, and the woman beneath the team's Lion mascot.

"I think people at the club wondered what had hit them when she arrived with me but people really warm to her," says Buckingham.

On his Warriors career, he says: "I've got no regrets and I've really enjoyed what's happened since. I don't think full time training would have suited me anyway. I couldn't cut out the takeaways for a start.

"I'm not a big drinker but when it comes to food, it's a different story."

There is one more potential assignment on the horizon this season, leading the Residents against the Kiwis in Greymouth during the Tri-Nations. But Buckingham is unsure of his availability, and worried out-of-condition locals will be cannon fodder for the NRL guns.

He might miss that one - but you can bet your boots he'll be back to lead the Lions next season.