WARRIORS boss Cameron George has thrown down a welcome mat for Novocastrian sports fans to attend a rare pair of Knights and Jets away games in Wellington.
In a unique quirk of the NRL and A-League draws, the Knights were this month allocated a round-one fixture against the Warriors in New Zealand's capital at 8pm (NZDT) on Friday, March 3.
The season-opener is on the night before the Jets take on Wellington Phoenix in an A-League Men's clash at the same venue, Sky Stadium, at 1pm (NZDT) the next day.
"It's a great opportunity for Newcastle fans of sport in general to come and enjoy the capital city of New Zealand," George told the Newcastle Herald.
"It's an easy place to get to, it's a fantastic stadium and to come and watch the Knights take on the New Zealand Warriors in round one followed by your soccer team taking on the Phoenix."
The Warriors were not aware the Phoenix game was on prior to the release of the NRL draw and are taking their game away from regular home Mt Smart Stadium in Auckland as part of a deal with Wellington council.
"There were a couple of reasons," George said of why the season-opener was being played in the capital city.
"Firstly, it's a fantastic partnership we have with Wellington that was unfortunately paused during COVID, so we were always committed to going back there.
"Secondly, just around the stadium availability at Mt Smart. There's a few concerts playing then and it gets quite restricted for games.
"To go to Wellington, we've got a great fan base there and to kick off our 2023 season down there it's a central location that draws people from the north and the south."
George hopes to draw a few from across the Tasman as well and said the two New Zealand clubs would likely partner to offer a combined ticket to both games.
"We'll work through that with the ticketing bodies and stadium and see what we come up with," he said.
"But there will certainly be an offer that will be attractive enough for people to buy a dual opportunity to watch the Warriors and Phoenix take on you Novocastrians.
"Wellington's awesome, the stadium is right in the city if you stay there and it will be great to host as many Newcastle fans as we can."
The Knights and Warriors, who signed former Newcastle player Mitch Barnett, clash again little more than a month after the first game at McDonald Jones Stadium on Easter Sunday in round six.
George said Barnett had settled in well at the club.
"Training the house down and really enjoying his time here," he said.
"We've got a really good feeling about Mitch.
"He's embraced the city and the culture."
WHAT DO YOU THINK? We've made it a whole lot easier for you to have your say. Our new comment platform requires only one log-in to access articles and to join the discussion on the Newcastle Herald website. Find out how to register so you can enjoy civil, friendly and engaging discussions. Sign up for a subscription here.
