All roads in the Hawke’s Bay and surrounding areas lead to Napier when the One New Zealand Warriors face the Brisbane Broncos at a sold-out McLean Park on Saturday night (7.30pm kick-off).
It’s history in the making as the Warriors play in Napier for the first time, taking their 13th-round NRL encounter to the Bay.
And making the day even more special will be the sight of local favourite Tohu Harris – who was brought up in Hastings – leading the One New Zealand Warriors onto the ground in front of family, friends and fans.
Harris was also part of the only other NRL match played at McLean Park when he played in the centres in Melbourne’s ‘home’ win over St George Illawarra in 2015.
He’ll make his 89th NRL appearances for the Warriors on Saturday and the 206th of his career.
Another highlight will see the home team wearing the club's eye-catching 2023 Indigenous strip, Te Kāhu Kura.
This will be the One New Zealand Warriors’ sixth nominated home game this season but the third played away from Go Media Stadium Mt Smart.
The first was against Newcastle in Wellington while the home game against Penrith was played at Suncorp Stadium.
After playing in front of three packed houses at their home ground in Auckland, the One New Zealand Warriors have generated phenomenal interest in the Hawke’s Bay with this match sold out almost two weeks ahead of kick-off.
Gates will open at 6.00pm on Saturday while there’ll be live entertainment from Jason Mohi at 6.50pm before the teams warm up.
