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<\/p>\nWatch Jake Duke go Face to Face with New Zealand Warriors star Te Maire Martin on Fox League at 7:30pm AEST on Tuesday!<\/p>\n
Pig hunting, Johnathan Thurston and showing up for your mates.<\/p>\n
In isolation, they are an odd assortment of different influences, but in the context of Warriors\u2019 star Te Maire Martin\u2019s season, you could say they have been the secret to his success.<\/p>\n
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With the Warriors sitting atop the NRL ladder, one differential-point clear of Penrith with two rounds of the regular competition remaining, Martin has opened up on his breakthrough season and his on again-off again run with injury in the NRL during a wide-ranging interview with Fox League\u2019s Jake Duke.<\/p>\n
Martin is one of the faces of a hard-charging Warriors outfit that has overcome countless challenges and injury setbacks to become one of the front-runners in this year\u2019s NRL premiership.<\/p>\n
Ironically, the 30-year-old is currently finding his way back from a hamstring injury \u2013 however, he remains resoundingly positive about what the Warriors are capable of this season.<\/p>\n
\u201cI still don\u2019t think we\u2019ve played our best footy. If we can get our best footy on in the back end of this season, I think we\u2019ll go into the finals confident and ready to rip in,\u201d Martin said.<\/p>\n
Martin, Luke Metcalf, Tanah Boyd, Luke Hanson Chanel Harris-Tavita and Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad are the different names that have been used in the halves rotation for the Warriors at different points this season \u2013 all due to injury.<\/p>\n
Despite that, the side keeps finding a way to win. According to Martin, their success comes down to mindset and the values instilled by Warriors coach Andrew Webster.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think everyone just buys in. There\u2019s no egos, there\u2019s no [sulking]. Everyone wants to play, so if you\u2019re playing NSW Cup then you\u2019re trying to play well. We\u2019ve had a lot of injuries so at any moment you could step in. You just want to try and stay ready,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWebby has got a way of simplifying everyone\u2019s role in the team, and especially at half, you want your role to be as simple as possible. You want to tackle well, run the ball, kick in the corners \u2013 all that kind of stuff<\/p>\n
\u201cWebby says it a lot: that you don\u2019t have to do anyone else\u2019s job, you just have to do your job and do it well.\u201d<\/p>\n
Warriors Storm to Top Spot | 02:34<\/p>\n
Martin is no stranger to setbacks. Spending his childhood in New Zealand, he migrated to Australia and was earmarked as a future superstar at a young age \u2013 at one point drawing comparisons with Benji Marshall.<\/p>\n
Martin spend his formative Under 20s years at the Wests Tigers \u2013 coincidentally under current Warriors coach, Andrew Webster \u2013 but with Luke Brooks and Mitch Moses above him in the pecking order, the road to first grade was clouded.<\/p>\n
He eventually signed with the Panthers, and in Round 3 of the 2016 season he debuted at halfback \u2013 scoring a try and kicking the winning field goal in a performance which only fuelled the interest around him. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt was cool. Isaah Yeo was still playing, I think he was my centre. Everything just happened perfectly, I guess. I was in the wrong place and I got the ball and scored,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was all drawn up and [Jamie] Soward got kick pressured and gave it to me, and I got it over.\u201d<\/p>\n
All was going well for Martin in his debut season until it wasn\u2019t; a handful of rounds into the competition he broke his shoulder in a match against the Sharks, ruling him out for the season.<\/p>\n
Martin worked hard at getting back to first grade, making his debut for the New Zealand Test side later that year, before going onto start Round 1 of 2017 for the Panthers alongside a young Nathan Cleary.<\/p>\n
His form dipped and was eventually benched, which led to a mid-season move to North Queensland, where he would help lead the Cowboys to a grand final in place of injured Johnathan Thurston.<\/p>\n
It was at North Queensland that the Kiwi playmaker learned more crucial lessons from JT himself.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt just so happened that on that week I went up, JT got injured in that Origin. I\u2019m in the next week and we go onto the grand final,\u201d Martin reflects.<\/p>\n
\u201cI learned a lot from JT and I wish I went back and asked him a few more questions, because he was real open with anything. I was just riding the wave.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe best thing about JT is just how he competed on everything. You can\u2019t really teach that, it\u2019s more about the ticker inside you<\/p>\n
\u201cYou get a person like JT back and you think everything\u2019s going to happen for you. [The following year] it just didn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a way, the North Queensland-JT experience taught Martin the value of showing up regardless of your personnel or who you\u2019re playing against.<\/p>\n
New Zealand Warriors star Te Maire Martin.Source: FOX SPORTS<\/p>\n
The same mindset has reaped big dividends in his role at the Warriors this year.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt just shows the mindset of things, going into games thinking you\u2019re going to win because this person\u2019s back but you\u2019ve still got to play no matter who you\u2019re playing or who you\u2019ve got in your side,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Martin\u2019s positive outlook has helped him enormously this year, especially upon breaking his leg at the beginning of the season.<\/p>\n
It was also pivotal during a three-year retirement from the game altogether \u2013 forced upon him in 2019 by a bleed on the brain.<\/p>\n
It turned Martin to another big love of his life \u2013 and an unlikely source of what makes him so good on the field \u2013 pig hunting.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had a lot of time to go pig hunting and I had probably a whole year of pig hunting I would say almost every day,\u201d Martin reflected.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s something about it that\u2019s just therapeutic. I spent a lot of time doing it and got into my pig hunting dogs.<\/p>\n
\u201cLooking back at it, it could seem lonely but it\u2019s just not. It\u2019s far from lonely.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven now, my partner \u2013 if I\u2019ve stayed up in Auckland too long and haven\u2019t gone hunting or fishing \u2013 she sort of kicks me out and makes me go. It\u2019s just what I like doing.\u201d<\/p>\n
From head-deep in pig hunting, Martin made a return to club footy before eventually being picked up by the Brisbane Broncos. <\/p>\n
Once again reading the tea leaves – positioned behind Adam Reynolds, Ezra Mam and Reece Walsh – he then moved to the New Zealand Warriors for the 2023 season, reuniting with his former Under 20s coach, Webster.<\/p>\n
Now, he\u2019s dreaming of hoisting the premiership trophy.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been here for a few years now and I\u2019ve figured out the system. Everyone has got their own kind of role,\u201d Martin said of the Warriors.<\/p>\n
\u201cI enjoy being around the boys and playing footy. That\u2019s my favourite time of the week, actual game day. I like playing and I\u2019ll just do whatever.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m just enjoying my footy and that\u2019s all that matters. I\u2019ve had a taste of finishing and I don\u2019t want to go back there any time soon.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll keep going for as long as I can and however long this club needs me.<\/p>\n
\u201cLike I said I\u2019m just enjoying my footy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Watch Jake Duke go Face to Face with New Zealand Warriors star Te Maire Martin on Fox League at 7:30pm AEST on Tuesday!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Watch Jake Duke go Face to Face with New Zealand Warriors star Te Maire Martin on Fox League…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":579336,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[111,139,69,213],"class_list":["post-579335","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/579335","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=579335"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/579335\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/579336"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=579335"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=579335"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=579335"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}