Another positive is NZ league's announcement of its new national talent development programme – designed to keep more young talent on a pathway to reach their potential, and keeping them in their home town while they do it, rather than having them all drawn over to Aussie clubs which just sucks the guts out of the local league scene.
With some financial support coming from the Australian NRL, the system delivered through a network of hubs has the potential to be a much-needed game changer for the code.
With overzealous rugby referees clamping down on anything too aggressive, league still appeals to many, with its simplicity and as a greater test of pure physicality and skill.
Rugby league in New Zealandstill has all the potential in the worldif it can seize the opportunity.
The size of the opportunity for growth can be measured by a combination of interest in the sport, and of existing systems in the sport. If the is no interest for a sport, and the system is already operating at maximum, then the sport isn't going to grow.
However, for rugby league it is the opposite, perhaps more than any other sport in our country the ratio between interest in the sport, and existing systems, is massive.
In some communities you could rank the interest in rugby league pretty high, say 8 out of 10, as evidenced by all the shirts and hats, and general interest in the game – and in those same communities the system would be lucky to register a 1 or 2 out of 10.
Locally, Hastings is a good example. The best schoolboy rugby team in 2017, with loads of talent and enthusiasm for league, but little or no chance to play the game – and certainly no system to speak of.
Get the system right, and the sport can take off.
Still, in this day and age, some people would be amazed at the lack of opportunity in some schools to play the game. The systemic strangle hold that rugby has over league isn't just a thing of the dark old days.
Rugby has a fantastic system, well done and long may it last, but hopefully rugby league can lift its game too. It's hard to beat a classic hard-fought arm wrestle between the Kiwis and the Kangaroos, and many of us yearn for a return to yesteryear and those great battles of Carlaw and Lang park, featuring the likes of our very own Hawke's Bay icon Kevin Tamati.
Furthermore, league, like perhaps no other sport in New Zealand, has the potential to be more than just a game, and as a sport, connect to more high-need communities for positive health and at-risk youth outcomes - If we can get the system right.
All the best to the Warriors, and here's hoping for a return to glory days for the great game with so much history in our country, so that on and off the field, we can once again "Give 'em a taste of Kiwi!"
• Marcus Agnew is the health and sport development manager at Hawke's Bay Community Fitness Centre Trust and is also a lecturer in sports science at EIT.
• All opinions are his and not those of Hawke's Bay Today.
