League: Pack mentality

Only a handful of games away from joining the Warriors' centurion club, Wairangi Koopu is ready to become a player who starts matches, losing the tag of impact player.

The 2004 Warriors Players' Player of the Year is only now cementing his place in the starting 13 in this his sixth year at the club. Last night against the Broncos at Suncorp Stadium he played his 94th game for the Warriors.

His emphatic form in 2004 earned him selection for the Kiwis to play in the Tri-Series and he returned from that tour with a new set of goals.

"I don't want to be an impact player any more," he says. "I'm more prepared to start now than ever before and I want to keep making a contribution for the full 80 minutes."

Since his debut for the Warriors in 1999, Koopu has mostly been used as an interchange player but last year more than half of his 21 appearances were in the run-on side. And he wants that to continue.

"I still saw myself as a youngster last year," the 24-year-old says.

"This year I have to step up and it is my turn to pass on my experience and guide some of the younger guys as I approach 100 games."

He says the addition of experienced signings has made him the middle man between old heads like Ruben Wiki and younger stars like Jerome Ropati.

The quiet achiever of the team, Koopu was desperately unlucky to miss out on the Kiwis' tour of Great Britain and France in 2002, when the Warriors were minor premiers but he says that just motivated him to work harder.

Last year, when the foundations were crumbling around him, Koopu was a rock on defence, leading the Warriors' tackle count with 563 at an average of 27 tackles a game. His philosophy of ensuring he makes every tackle rather than putting in the big hits has been adopted by the side to give the Warriors a resolute defensive line.

Defensive coach Kevin Campion has changed the Warriors' trademark tackling approach of flying out of the line to knock players down. "We're not shooting out of the line for the big hit but, in saying that, we're still tackling as hard as we can when we get into contact. We're just not leaving so many holes now," Koopu explains.

"Monty Betham was the big tackler [with 34 tackles] last weekend and he normally makes the big hits."

A staunchly proud Maori whose waka (trace of descent) is Matatua - he belongs to the Ngati Awa and Ngati Whanui iwis (tribes) - Koopu says his whanau are his support system.

"Maori and Pacific Island culture is such that you can never get too big-headed because they will always bring you back down to size," he says.

Koopu's family performed in the kapahaka for the Warriors in their pre-season clash against Parramatta in New Plymouth.

"It was a great achievement because my family won that and they partied for a couple of weeks to celebrate it."

Prior to the game, Koopu was optimistic they could prevent the celebrations of the Broncos, who have adopted an alcohol-free changing room and are partying afterwards with lollies and fizzy pop.

The hard-working second-rower, who's off contract at the end of the season, was also confident he would re-sign with the club that he's invested so much in.

"I've been involved in some awesome games and I hope to play many more seasons for this team."

With his vast experience at such a young age and ongoing maturity, Koopu is sure to be one of the cornerstones of the Warriors' pack for many more seasons to come.

- HERALD ON SUNDAY