The Warriors are counting down the days until they can finally run out in front of a home crowd again after years on the road but there’s still plenty of work to do both before and after that sweet homecoming.
To be precise, when the Warriors take on the West Tigers at Mt Smart Stadium on July 3, it will have been 1038 days since they last appeared at their Penrose playing ground.
In between, they’ve based themselves in Tamworth, Terrigal and now Redcliffe waiting for the return of quarantine-free travel between New Zealand and Australia to allow them to come back.
Injured captain Tohu Harris told media in Auckland on Tuesday realising the three-year absence was about to end was a surreal feeling.
"We never thought we'd have to experience something like this. This is my fifth year at the club, I've spent two in New Zealand, and this is my third in Australia,” Harris said.
"There's a lot of guys that miss being here, miss running out to Mt Smart. We couldn't be more grateful with where we are now in Redcliffe, it's the most normal it's felt, most it's felt like home in a long time.
"But it's a different feeling to being here in Auckland, being here at Mt Smart… there's an old saying, there's no place like home."
Warriors chief executive Cameron George said he too felt a bit out-of-sorts at the realisation tickets for a game at Mt Smart will go on sale on Wednesday but at the same time, it’s also very real.
“We now have to rebuild this club when we come home,” he said.
George pointed out that prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Warriors had four teams under their club but now they’re only left with one; the NRL side.
He added discussions were already underway with officials to reintroduce some of those sides though, including the potential return of the NRLW team in the future.
"At this point, we're having positive discussions," George said.
"We're striving to get as much content as we possibly can in New Zealand next year - for the people of New Zealand.
"There's a lot of opportunities to do it, and we've already, a month ago, started those discussions to get ahead of the game, and then go to the NRL with some proposals."
In the meantime the side is looking to keep their surprise three-game winning streak alive after a stunning 25-24 golden point win over the Cowboys last week.
It’ll be a tough ask though, with their next opponents being the fifth-placed Roosters on Sunday.
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