NRL: Winning streak revives memories of debut season

Greg Alexander put on some fine displays for the Warriors. Photo / Supplied

The Warriors are on the verge of equalling their second-best winning run of six games - a cause for minor celebration.

So my assignment was set: take a trip down memory lane to their initial six-game victory streak.

We're talking year one, 1995.

Out came the old record books for a few facts and figures, and to click the memory into gear.

What a year that was, and maybe the Warriors have paid for it ever since.

Mt Smart Stadium was the place to be back then.

Just in front of the media box was an area reserved for our very own superstars - if the memory is correct actors from Shortland Street were among this little throng who got to plonk themselves on padded seats and wave wine glasses at each other.

Little did any of us know that there was a patient-in-waiting on the field where the promise of year one would quickly descend into years of despair.

That six-game run just failed to get the Warriors into the playoffs, because the club had lost the points for an earlier win over Western Suburbs because of an interchange breach.

The record book shows that this winning streak was not a stellar one.

The first victims were Wests, a reasonable club in those days, but South Sydney, Gold Coast, Western Reds, South Queensland and North Queensland represented a mix of a struggling old-timer and four wobbly new clubs.

There were faults aplenty in the way the Auckland club was set up, but the initial team was high on charm.

Take the lineup which started against Wests at the rickety Campbelltown ground: Greg Alexander, Sean Hoppe, Dean Bell, Tea Ropati, John Kirwan, Phil Blake, Stacey Jones, Stephen Kearney, Syd Eru, Andy Platt, Denis Betts, Tony Tatupu, Tony Tuimavave.

That 1995 lineup included legendary players from New Zealand, Australia and Great Britain, plus a superstar ex-All Black. They were designed as an easy team to sell, and we were buyers with stars in our eyes.

Alexander may have typified the spirit of these times. He was a class act, who at his prime was one of the finest players in club league. His playing contribution was perhaps undervalued in Auckland. But he was also a man on the run - from the tragic death of his brother and troubles at Penrith - and Alexander never gave the impression of truly wanting to be in Auckland.

Like a lot of big names from that team and administration, his long-term influence was minimal.

He did play a strong part in the relative success of that 1995 squad, however, which included sparkling football that made them the most watched team behind Brisbane.

Yet Alexander never displayed the wholehearted commitment that Australians such as Micheal Luck and Steve Price brought in subsequent years.

The two home games during that winning run, against lowly Gold Coast and Western Reds, drew crowds of around 20,000, which says plenty about the public appeal of the team.

Nearly 30,000 turned up at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane to watch them fend off the inappropriately named Crushers. (Later that season, they played in front of well over 50,000 people against the Broncos).

These are fondly recalled days - of New Zealand league emerging from the dark, of the little Aussie Blake bouncing over dry grounds, the emergence of Stacey Jones, huge crowds, visiting superstars, and the rest.

Sadly, the spirit of hope and excitement didn't last long, those padded seats weren't required any more and the faithful were left to battle through a few good times and many bad.

Looking back, though, the Warriors' immediate over-reliance on instant star signings came at a cost, and the inaugural coach John Monie displayed a debilitating mistrust of the talent being developed through the reserve grade.

Years of changing Warriors ownership, chief executives, coaches and players - plus the horrible Super League war - added up to an often depressing sight. The club spent money like water in the early years, followed by many years of tears.

The perfect Warriors' formula would involve developing the majority of players from within, aided by a few top class signings. Yet this has proved to be an elusive goal, partly because those initial foundations were all wrong and the club never found sufficient cohesion and know-how to properly right the ship.

Under Ivan Cleary's coaching, a development spirit is more prevalent - aided by changes to lower level structures. It remains to be seen if he can turn this into silverware but hope must spring eternal and the injury-hit Warriors have performed way above expectations this year, a flip side to a disappointing 2009 season.

That six-game winning run from 1995 had slipped from the mind until this assignment came along, but not the game that ended it.

St George pummelled the Warriors at Ericsson Stadium, and the "Raging Bull" Gorden Tallis scored the most memorable individual try seen there, the big second rower storming around 80 metres to the try line in front of a stunned, bumper crowd.