KEY POINTS:
Ruben Wiki doesn't have to take a kava bowl to Canberra for the after-match rehab following tomorrow's game against the Raiders, he's already got one stored there at a mate's place.
Wiki spent 12 years in the Australian capital, more years than most players' careers.
The game will
be his 285th. Only 14 players are ahead of him on the all-time appearance records list.
"This is the game I love playing," he said after training this week.
Wiki proteges will be running around in both teams tomorrow. He was a leader in Canberra, he's a leader in Auckland.
Talk to the Warriors juniors, not just props such as Evarn Tuimavave and Sam Rapira but also to the wings like Manu Vatuvei, and they hold Wiki in high regard for his record but more so for the time he gives them, providing advice and encouragement.
At the Raiders it was the same with the likes of half/hooker Lincoln Withers, prop Troy Thompson and their captain Alan Tongue.
"If I can give those young guys something that I've learned from the likes of Mal [Meninga], David Lomax, Quentin Pongia then I've done my job and achieved something," Wiki said.
Last year the Warriors lost 14-18 in Canberra and they have won just once in seven games there since 1995.
Canberra lost 52-4 to the Bulldogs last weekend and Wiki knows how much they will be hurting and how hard they'll be preparing.
"They'll be looking at the video and concentrating on where they went wrong. Tongue [who had nose surgery last week] is back and he makes a big difference. They're an attacking team, teams have gone there and they whack three tries on them early."
The Warriors would be looking for a hard and fast start, Wiki said.
They also wanted to reduce their error rate.
"We made too many mistakes last weekend, you don't want that in the game."
They'd had to make well over 300 tackles as a result, and would not win finals games that way.
"We still have a lot to work on so that's good.
"All the boys want to put more stuff in their game. Those young boys that are coming through are not rookies any more, they're showing some leadership now and that's making it easier on me and Pricey [captain Steve Price] and Logan [Swann]."
At 34, Wiki still shows flashes of the turn of speed he had as a young centre, turning to run down Roosters wing Amos Roberts two weekends ago.
He had an ordinary patch form-wise by his standards earlier this year while carrying a rib injury but now is back to form, doing lots of work and providing inspirational hits in defence and barging runs with off-loads that lift the team at crucial times.
Is he injury-free? "I'm still smiling, bro," he replies.
Few forwards are injury-free at this stage of the season.
So the usual post-game kava session will take place in Canberra late tomorrow.
Wiki swears by its recuperative powers.
He's still reluctant to talk about the ruckus that shadowed the start to his career when then-Warriors boss Ian Robson claimed to have secured Wiki's agreement to join the club when the pair met in an airport lounge.
"Hey, I ended up here so in the end it's all worked out."
Ruben Wiki
Born: January 21, 1973 in Auckland
Junior club: Otahuhu
1.86m, 106kg prop/second rower
Debut for Canberra: v Souths, round 11, 1993
A Raider till 2004
Warriors: 2005-07, 59 games, 11 tries
2007 game averages: 12 runs for 98m, 23 tackles
Career: 284 premiership games, 71 tries
55 tests for the Kiwis, the world record for internationals