Graham Lowe: Warriors a decade on

They say a week is a long time in politics. But can you begin to imagine how 520 weeks - or 10 years - can consume hopes, dreams and friendships in the dog-eat-dog world of professional league?

This Sunday, the Warriors will repeat their memorable NRL (or as it was in 1995, Winfield Cup) debut against the competition's benchmark club, the Brisbane Broncos, at Ericsson Stadium.

It promises to be an enthralling occasion, not only for the entertainingly retrospective look the Warriors will inject into the day, but also for adding up the body-count of a club that has carried, and dashed, the aspirations of New Zealand league supporters for a decade.

It's worthwhile to note that only two players from that brilliant first night at Ericsson in March 1995 - the Bronco's former Crusader and All Black Brad Thorn and the resilient Darren Smith - will take the field again on Sunday.

In that time, the rigours of weekly legalised assault and battery have chewed through a mountain of young manhood as well as a few silver foxes on the sidelines.

Up to this week, 124 players have played for the Warriors, from Dean Bell, who ran out as captain against the Broncos in 1995, to Paul Atkins and Kane Ferris, who made their debuts in the second-to-last round of last season against the Roosters. Atkins may need a photo to assist his recall of the occasion, as his first touch of the ball ended with an amnesia-inducing tackle by the Roosters' Adrian Morley.

On Sunday, 18-year-old Wellington centre/loose forward Simon Mannering will become number 125 when he comes off the bench.

Over the 10 years, the Warriors have played 254 matches, winning 117, losing 133 and drawing four.

Their best year was 2002, when a 19-win, eight-loss record took them to the grand final, and the worst 2004, a mere six wins against 18 losses to narrowly escape the wooden spoon.

The player with the most number of games, not surprisingly, is Stacey Jones with 228. The least number of games is a dead-heat for nine tyros, including former All Black Mark Robinson, with just one appearance.

Over the 10 years, the club has scored 5431 points, and conceded 5756. No surprise again that Jones tops the points-scorers with 72 tries and 141 goals (plus 12 field goals) for 582.

The numbers only tell part of the story of the drama that has often surrounded, and sometimes nearly choked, the club.

Founded on a dream held by a hard-core bunch of Mt Albert fanatics, the (then) Auckland Warriors were given life through the energy and commitment of people such as former ARL chairman Peter McLeod. At the outset, the team were intended to be the local expression of the colour, skill and athleticism of Australia's Winfield Cup competition. Here was a game that - in contrast to boring local rugby - was actually "sexy" in its participants and presentation.

It was a terrific first season, and the club's presence injected a real buzz into the Auckland and New Zealand sporting scene. Yet from day one, there was off-field drama.

Big-spending chief executive Ian Robson brought a helicopter vision of sports administration. But too often it seemed for grassroots league people, he'd developed it from aboard a chartered helicopter.

A clash of cultures on the early board was clearly demonstrated when debates on governance were interrupted by members demanding their Warriors caps and shirts.

That did not end when the club was sold to a consortium of interests involving the Tainui tribe, and this columnist together with his league associate Malcolm Boyle. Let it be set on the record - had Boyle and I not been passionate enough about the game to engineer the Tainui funding deal (and kick in $50,000 each from our own back pockets), the club would be a distant memory.

But board debate focused on such important business as straightening the tongue on the Maori logo.

Vicious tribal in-fighting and mounting Tainui debt led them to bring in the corporate hatchet-men to dump the two white blokes who were pressing for debts to the Auckland Rugby League to be paid.

Did that fix it? Hell no, but it did create some interesting bedfellows as people rushed to surrender lifelong friendships to protect their employment positions.

And so the Warriors had a new owner - a successful businessman who must still pinch himself about how the game handed him its prime property on a silver platter.

And for a while it seemed Eric Watson's Cullen Investments was indeed the answer. Trouble is, with almost immediate success, Cullen forgot what the initial question was.

And so there was an ill-considered foray into Pacific Island rugby that naively presumed the NZRFU and IRB would sit by and allow parts of their game - albeit neglected parts - to be pillaged by raiders from league.

Almost immediately, rugby slammed the door and the Warriors got the wobbles.

So to the $64,000 question: How far have the Warriors come in a decade?

My verdict is, not nearly as far as they should have, considering they are sitting on the most exciting talent pool in the world.

I remember saying to my old television commentary colleague Graham Hughes on that first night in 1995: "It is going to take some great planning for the game in New Zealand to stuff this up."

But a number of people, and groups, went a long way towards doing that.

My greatest disappointment in many years of involvement in the game is seeing this at close quarters, and not having the ability, when I did get the chance, to make any difference.

Over the years, New Zealand league has been blessed with some great administrators - unfortunately, most came before the Warriors. Our talent pool is not likely to diminish, but we've got light years to go before we build a club with the strength, pride and attitude of the Warriors' opponents on Sunday.