Graham Lowe: Playing with Zeus as the 14th man

Gods, ghostbusters and good old-fashioned superstitions have all been blamed and acclaimed for results on the field.

So it was not surprising to hear talk of divine intervention in the Warriors win over the West Tigers at Ericsson Stadium last weekend.

As the wind swirled and the rain sheeted down, the speculation was that Warriors coach Tony Kemp may have somehow offended Zeus, the god of the sky (and the weather).

At least twice during my coaching career, rival coaches have tried to call on the forces of the god of all gods against me.

The first was the Tigers' Warren Ryan, the best coach I came up against.

My team, Manly, were playing Balmain at Leichhardt Oval in Sydney, in a match that began in brilliant sunshine.

My side, with 17-year-old Frankie Stokes playing at fullback in his first game at first grade, were heavily tipped to lose because of their inexperience.

Well into the second half, we were in front and travelling well. Out of nowhere came one of Sydney's "southerly busters", preceding a violent hailstorm that turned the sky green and the field white.

I could hear Ryan in the adjacent coach's box screaming his head off for most of the match about how his team were performing.

As the heavens opened, Ryan saw his opportunity and sent a message down to his captain, Benny Elias, to insist the game was called off, as the golf ball-sized hailstones made conditions so dangerous.

I couldn't see our blokes backing up with a repeat performance in a replay, so I sent instructions to Manly captain Michael O'Connor to make the ref play on and to tell Elias to bugger off.

Michael won the argument, and we won the game against all odds.

A similar episode happened at Cumbria, England, during the 1985 Kiwi tour.

Our blokes were leading easily when a pea-souper fog descended, making it impossible to see players on the far side of the field.

The Cumbria coach asked for the game to be called off and replayed the following day.

It wasn't and we duly won - but I can't tell you the score because at no time through the mist could I see the scoreboard!

I'm pleased to have won both those encounters with the gods of the weather.

I' M NOT quite sure what to make of my later encounter with the "ghostbusters".

That was the term Tainui's Jeff Green used for the members of his tribe who decreed, when we jointly owned the Warriors in 1998, that the curled tongue on the Maori motif for the club was bringing bad luck and must be straightened.

So straightened it was, and I'm sorry to say without any tangible evidence of a turnaround in the fortunes of the Warriors, or Tainui's (and our own) investment in it.

Perhaps that was just pure superstition.

But superstition ruled the habits of many top players I met throughout the years.

Some had to wear the same gear - including well past its use-by date underwear - in every game.

Some insisted on sitting in the same spot in the dressing room, going through the same pre-game ritual with tape and massage, and running out in exactly the same order.

And it's safe to say, all of them suffered their fair share of losses alongside their wins.

In any event, Warriors coach Tony Kemp wouldn't have been anxious to see the game called off early on Sunday. On the contrary, his side produced what I thought was their best football of the season, and kept the West Tigers on the back foot throughout.

Granted, the weather was hardly conducive to a fast, open game but the Warriors completely closed down the Tigers' dangerous halves, Scott Prince and Benji Marshall, and out-muscled their forward pack. Kemp seems to be building a much more stable combination and this is paying dividends.

Players are noticeably playing with more assurance and confidence, especially Lance Hohaia and Clinton Toopi.

It's a shame Hohaia's after-match activities have seen him left out of tomorrow's game against St George Illawarra, as he looked to be getting into a groove of consistently good football.

Toopi has always impressed me, and after some indifferent performances, he really showed on Sunday that he has heeded the coach's demand for more composure and is as good as any centre playing the game.

He could also make a great loose forward if he was given a roving commission.

Tony Kemp must also be delighted with the form of his youngsters, with Sione Faumuina and Jerome Ropati delivering stand-out performances once again.

Faumuina is one of the NRL's most exciting prospects, and pound-for-pound Ropati is as good as any fullback/stand-off utility around.

For his size, he hits hard in attack and defence and has made enormous strides this year.

The Warriors' season could hinge on the next two weeks.

Wins against the Dragons and the Storm will put them into the top eight, and give them the type of confidence that proved almost unstoppable as they went all the way to the grand final in 2003.