Enjoy watching a combustible haka challenge? Mark down February 15 in your diary.
New Zealand Test pair Issac Luke and Adam Blair have delivered some of the more memorable haka on the international sporting stage and can be expected to unleash for the newly-formed New Zealand Maori Kiwis.
The veteran Warriors forwards are thrilled by the concept unveiled this week, setting up a pre-season clash in Melbourne against the Australian Indigenous All-Stars.
Luke wouldn’t bite when it was suggested the team’s creation is long overdue given the large number of quality Maori players scattered throughout the NRL.
However, the classy hooker revealed he has long wished to honour his heritage on the sports field and that Blair had made enquiries about setting up the NRL Maori concept several seasons ago.
Opportunities to play for the official New Zealand Maori team have been rare and often clashed with Kiwis duty.
“If there was one game I wanted to tick off, it was to play in the New Zealand Maori team,” Luke said on Wednesday.
“I haven’t been able to do that but this game is definitely something that I’ll be looking forward to.
“Hopefully I’m part of it. It’s pretty daunting, obviously, the names that have come up.”
State of Origin superstars Kalyn Ponga and Valentine Holmes are two players eligible for the Maori side, along with a flood of past and present Kiwis internationals.
Luke is intensely proud of his heritage.
Mt Smart was silent as he engaged in an emotional haka with friends and whanau after the recent win over Newcastle, marking his 250th NRL game.
It was the same two years ago when the Warriors took a game to his home province of Taranaki.
The Warriors are expected to supply a healthy number of players to the Maori team, although coach Stephen Kearney warned they’d only be cleared if fully fit.
Leading Warriors players Shaun Johnson, Tohu Harris and Roger Tuivasa-Sheck weren’t released for the New Zealand-England Test in Denver in June.
“It all depends where they’re at,” Kearney said of the February fixture.
“They need to be fit and ready to go but it’s a bit far away to comment on that.”