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Dexter Traill gave us the Viewpoint tonight ...

My viewpoint tonight is ‘Keep the Faith’. 

Merriam-Webster's Dictionary Definition of 'Keep the Faith' is ‘to continue to believe in, trust, or support someone or something when it is difficult to do so. The team has been playing poorly, but its devoted fans have kept the faith'.

The Apostle Paul, in his second epistle to Timothy, declared, “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.” (2 Tim. 4:7.)

We were born in 1995.

We were borne out by a family of dreamers. 

We were nurtured by team of 5million.

We had our ups and our downs.

We are the Mighty Vodafone Warriors.

The Mighty Vodafone Warriors are a professional rugby league football club based in Auckland, New Zealand that competes in the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership and is the League's only team from outside Australia. They were formed in 1995 as the Auckland Warriors, and are officially known as the Vodafone Warriors.

The Warriors are coached by Stacey Jones and captained by Tohu Harris and Addin Fonua-Blake. The Warriors are based at Mount Smart Stadium in the Auckland suburb of Penrose. We have had 14 Coaches and 25 Captains.

Best year -Minor Premiership and Grand Final – 2002

The Warriors reached their zenith to date in the National Rugby League season 2002. They won the Minor Premiership, finishing in first place at the conclusion of the regular season after Canterbury lost 37 competition points late in the season due to severe salary cap breaches. The club played what stands as the first finals match to have been held outside Australia at Mt Smart Stadium in the first week of the Finals Series. The Warriors would defeat their bogey side Canberra 36–20 after surviving an early scare.

The Grand Final against the Sydney Roosters was a tight match for the first hour. The Warriors trailed 2–6 at half time, but took a lead just after halftime when Jones scored a great grand final try – as he left defenders sprawling in his wake on a 40-metre run to the try line. The Roosters ran away with the match in the final 20 minutes after captain Brad Fittler was involved in a head clash with Warriors prop Richard Villasanti. The final score was an unflattering 8–30.

The Worst Year – 2004

Before the National Rugby League season 2004 started, there were predictions of the Warriors having a highly successful season. These were proved wrong, as the Warriors managed to only win six games to finish equal last, only escaping the wooden spoon by having a superior points differential to South Sydney. Coach Daniel Anderson resigned mid-season after an embarrassing 52-point loss to the Sydney Roosters. His assistant Tony Kemp was given the head coach position, and in his first game in charge the Warriors recorded an emotional 20–14 win over Canberra. A week later, the Warriors' first match in Christchurch since 1996 was a flop, as the Warriors were destroyed by the Wests Tigers 4–50. The season finished with an embarrassing six-game losing streak.

The management looked to rescue a poor year with some high-profile signings. Canterbury captain Steve Price was signed, as was Kiwis captain Ruben Wiki, North Queensland half Nathan Fien and Roosters winger Todd Byrne.

2002 and 2011 were significant years of note.

The 2002 NRL Grand Final was the conclusive and premiership-deciding game of the 2002 NRL season. It took place on Sunday, 6 October 2002, at Sydney's Telstra Stadium. 80,130 people saw the Sydney Roosters beat the New Zealand Warriors 30–8. The Clive Churchill Medalist was Craig Fitzgibbon of the Sydney Roosters. 

The 2011 NRL Grand Final was the conclusive and premiership-deciding game of the NRL's 2011 Telstra Premiership season. It was played between the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles and the New Zealand Warriors on the afternoon of Sunday, 2 October,[1] and it was the first time the two sides have met in a grand final. Manly won the match, 24–10, for the club's eighth premiership.

This team's Fans epitomise the words ‘keep the faith’ they will take you to the highest of highs and very quickly take you back down from whence you came, all within a week. That is the rollercoaster ride you get with this team ‘The Mighty Vodafone Warriors’. So as I stated at the beginning of my viewpoint the Definition of keep the faith - Dictionary, Merriam-Webster - ‘to continue to believe in, trust, or support someone or something when it is difficult to do so. The team has been playing poorly, but its devoted fans have kept the faith’

And as a fan of the ‘The Mighty Vodafone Warriors’ My viewpoint tonight is never give up, rest assured, take as gospel, postulate, be certain of, have no doubt and ‘keep the faith’.

Keep the Faith - 6 September 2022

 
 
 
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