In life once you have been around a while, proven yourself, developed a track record and a reputation that is admired you reach a stage where you have earned the right to exit on your terms.
An injury you can’t come back from is not that way, he deserves better.
The trouble with contact sport, of course, is sometimes these things are beyond your control. Not that he didn’t look permanently injured.
In talking with Harris in 2023, I joked about the tape and whether he had an endorsement from some bandage company, given he covered himself head to toe in the stuff, in a ‘walking wounded’ sort of way. Lord knows how long it took to put on each week.
What surprised me was the revelation that most of it was for show.
He didn’t need it, but had got used to it so carried on with it each game.
Warriors captain Tohu Harris leaves a hole in the club, writes Mike Hosking. Photo / Photosport
What the Warriors will miss is the leadership. Yes, he is a great player; yes, he has a presence; yes, he is respected, effective, and probably feared. Imagine him coming at you full tilt and thinking about stopping him.
But the greats also had the leadership quality about them as well; from Price to Wiki, Harris joined the group of big blokes who also led the way.
In Harris’ case he was eloquent with it as well. He always seemed to have something considered to say, he avoided the league-wide passion for cliche and actually said something.
When I watched Webster and him in the post-game presser when things hadn’t gone so well ... and let’s be honest there was far too much of that sort of game last year, you were left in no doubt that loss hurt, that lack of performance was unacceptable.
Any number of professionals can explain away a bad day on the field‚ but you are never really sure whether it’s a line or they are out to make things better next week.
Harris left you in no doubt.
Given those skills, I hope he has some sort of future in the game if he wants it - it would be a shame to lose all that talent and experience and 32 is too young to walk away with so much left to give.
League or not, I hope he has a plan.
I will miss his relentlessness, so many hard-fought yards, when he had already run and earned so many hard-fought yards. When he played, he played a lot, and on big guys. That drains you and on some you can see the tank emptying in front of your eyes.
Captain? That is for later this year, fortunately they have several good contenders, but between the talent, the power, the pace, the eloquence he leaves big shoes.
For Webster and co, what a blow, what an unexpected, unplanned-for surprise out of left-field.
With Johnson it was a lovely send off, but he had done his best and the time was right.
