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Home / Sport / League / Warriors

League: 'Old man' Issac Luke has plenty left in the tank

David Skipwith
By David Skipwith
Reporter·NZ Herald·
9 Aug, 2018 11:29 PM4 mins to read

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Issac Luke of the Warriors. Photo / Getty

Issac Luke of the Warriors. Photo / Getty

Warriors hooker Issac Luke will play his 250th game in tonight's NRL clash against Newcastle but has his sights set on hitting the triple century before his playing days are done.

The 31-year-old describes himself as an "old man" but despite a niggling calf injury has hit career best form this season to help take the Auckland outfit within reach of their first finals appearance since 2011.

Luke was reluctant to talk himself up this week and insists the side's focus needs to be on overcoming the Knights at Mt Smart Stadium and rewarding the club's fans after losing their last four home games.

It remains to be seen whether the Warriors can find room under the salary cap to extend his time in Auckland beyond this season but Luke made it clear he has plenty of running left in his legs.

"I had a talk about it on my 200th, I wanted to get to 250. I'm an old man now and will hopefully get to 300," said Luke.

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"That's definitely a goal I want to get to, but it's not about me, it's about the Knights and what we can produce in front of a home crowd. We haven't won at home for a while now so that's definitely a big focus."

When pressed on his stellar season, Luke deflected attention to the side's forwards while hinting he is primed for a big showing after sitting out the round 20 loss to the Titans before returning for last week's torrid win over St George Illawarra.

"I still have a lot to work on," he said. "I haven't run a lot in the last couple of weeks so like everything else it's something to keep building towards and get better at.

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"[This season] is definitely up there. But that just shows where the team is going. If your team is going well and your forward pack is going well, guys like me out of dummyhalf have a field day.

"Our forwards are getting the best out of each other and competing to be in the team every week and it's helping my job and also the other boys."

The eighth-placed Warriors are desperate to build on the gutsy 18-12 victory over the Dragons and consolidate their spot in the finals to keep them in contention for a top four finish.

Newcastle might be out of the race in 11th spot but boast an experienced forward pack and a potent backline containing Dally M contender Kalyn Ponga, halfback Mitchell Pearce, and former Kiwi international Shaun Kenny-Dowall.

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Luke is confident the Warriors have more improvement in them and says they need to raise their intensity if they are to match it with the competition's frontrunners.

"There's definitely more to come. There were some defensive efforts [against the Dragons] that we were proud of but to be able to compete against the Melbourne's and South Sydney's you've got to wipe teams away. We're working towards that and will keep building."

His playing future might be up in the air but with wife Mickayela having recently given birth to their fifth child, baby daughter, Remi Kathrine, Luke has plenty to keep him occupied outside of football.

"I've got a lot more distractions off the field then I have on the field.

"I've got five kids so they take my mind off a lot of things. You go home and just want to re-set and get away from football and I manage to do that."

Back-rower and former Kiwis teammate Simon Mannering paid tribute to Luke ahead of milestone match and credited him for spearheading their run towards the playoffs.

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"Bully's been a real key for us and you've seen whenever he's not in the team how much we miss him," said Mannering.

"With his milestone coming up this weekend it's a huge achievement for him.

"From when I first met him to now he hasn't changed one bit. Whether that's' a good or bad thing I don't know.

"He's been real quality for us and he's showed the player he is this year. He'll carry on and really help us towards this back end of the year and it's a great achievement for him and his family and I'm sure there will be plenty more games to come."

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