Why playing in Vegas is on bucket list for Warriors stars
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Warriors captain Tohu Harris believes playing in Las Vegas is now on the bucket list of most NRL players and predicts American fans will be intrigued by the haka and ‘Up the Wahs’ chant.
The Warriors will play the Raiders in the second match of the quadruple header at Allegiant Stadium, with the game to be broadcast live in the United States on the main free-to-air FOX channel to a potential 125 million viewers.
Super League rivals Wigan and Warrington will open the March 1 event, before the Warriors and Raiders meet in the first NRL match of the season, followed by a Test between the Jillaroos and England, and the Panthers-Sharks derby.
It’s a bucket list destination that you want to experience at least once in your career.
Tohu Harris
With tickets on sale to the general public on July 26, Harris and Warriors team-mate Luke Metcalf declared that the New Zealand-based club would have the largest group of supporters in Las Vegas.
NRL Vegas is on sale NOW!
“Our support has been incredible the last couple of years, whether we are playing at home or in Australia,” Harris said.
“It is just unheard of, home teams are getting booed, so hopefully when we go to Vegas we get a big travelling party with us.
“Warriors fans, in my opinion, are the best supporters in the competition so to take them to Las Vegas and hear ‘Up the Wahs’ over there will be pretty special.
“I reckon there are people who have booked to go over already. I hope there is droves of them walking around Vegas in the Warriors colours and yelling out, ‘Up the Wahs’. It’s exciting just thinking about it.”
Asked about the possibility of a haka at Allegiant Stadium, Harris said: “I reckon there is a good chance the fans will do it, there will be a group who travel over who will get one going in the crowd.
“Whether the players want to do one, it probably depends on how it feels at the time and how the games goes, but I reckon there will be a big group in the crowd doing it".
The Warriors are on track to become the first NRL club to sell out every match in a season and have also been drawing big crowds in Australia, where the team was forced to relocate due to COVID travel restrictions from 2020 to 2022.
"It obviously stems from those three years the boys were away and it hasn’t wavered,” Metcalf said.
“To sell out every game is unbelievable, and the support is something you notice everywhere we go. It is all over New Zealand and it just seems to be getting bigger.
The Christchurch fans belt out the Warriors victory song
“We’ve played away games and there has been a Warriors chant. It is a pretty crazy when you are playing away and you have that support.”
Metcalf is due to return in coming weeks from a fractured leg, while Harris is sidelined for the season after undergoing surgery for a wrist injury that has plagued him for 12 months, but he is planning to play in the Round 1 match.
Many of the Warriors players are keen NFL fans, with Metcalf, Wayde Egan, Mitch Barnett, Rocco Berry and Chanel Harris-Tavita playing in a fantasy competition, along with assistant coach Slade Griffin.
Harris, a Green Bay Packers fan, said many of the players were excited about playing at Allegiant Stadium, the home of the Las Vegas Raiders and venue for the 2024 Super Bowl.
Watch the NRL Las Vegas field come to life
"The group is excited, but I think for guys like myself, Shaun [Johnson] and some of the other experienced guys, it is something special because we understand that these things don’t come around every year,” Harris said.
“After seeing the games that were played there this year, seeing the atmosphere and the state-of-the-art stadium, it’s a bucket list destination that you want to experience at least once in your career.”
