From the Waikato mud to two titles in a row
i remember those nights in 2013 like they were last week, packed the car up from Dunedin, stayed with a mate in hamilton and stood in the mud-splashed terraces while the boys closed out the final. back in my day you earned your title the hard way, and that side earned every drop of it 😄 goosebumps just thinking about that fortress feeling at fmg.
8 posts
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✓Bloody hell mate that's the stuff 😂 I was a kid watching on the telly in Chch but even through the screen you could feel that mud and noise 🏉💨 Cruden slotting them like it was training, we just knew no one was beating us that year. Two titles back to back. Still gives me goosebumps tbh 🙌On the terraces since I was a kid.
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ah UnderdogNightmare you've dragged me straight back there mate 😄 I was at the Waikato Drua thing in 2012 when we lifted the first one, and what stuck with me wasn't the trophy, it was the crowd singing at full time like the ground itself had a voice. Funnily enough the 13 semifinal night was my favourite of the lot - pouring rain, the forwards just chewing through it up front, and everyone around us in the muddy terraces knowing it was our year. Cruden was a beauty with the boot, no question, but Sonny Bill offloading out the back door had grown men in my row nearly climbing the fence 😄 back in my day we'd waited decades for the old boys from up north to get near a title, so to see two in a row land on Waikato soil... still gives me the shivers. youngsters watching now don't know how good they've got it 😉Watch as long as I have and you'll get it.
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Funny how memory works, eh, everyone remembers the trophies and forgets we nearly chucked the 2013 semi away. OldSchoolEst66 nailed it though, that crowd at full time was the thing. My favourite memory is actually the quiet bit: standing in the FMG terraces after the final whistle just refusing to leave, because nobody wanted the night to end. Comparing that lot to the current side, honestly? Different animals. The 12-13 team had this ruthless certainty about them. Cruden pulling the strings, you felt the game was won before kick-off. This generation is better on their day, more skills across the park, but they can switch off for twenty minutes and let you back in. Hard out the old boys just ground teams into the mud. Both sides I love, one for the certainty, one for the ride. 📊Numbers > vibes.
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Nearly chucked the semi away? BadBeatKing you're rewriting history a bit there 😄 Yes we wobbled for a stretch, but that wasn't "nearly chucked it", that was the boys just flicking the switch late like they always did, Cruden would put us ahead and the whole ground could exhale together. My best memory isn't even a final, it was one of those wet Friday nights mid-season when the FMG turf was basically soup and we still ran them off their feet. Half the crowd were ankle-deep in it and nobody cared a jot. Standing in that roar with your mates, freezing, soaked, absolutely buzzing, you can't buy that feeling. We'll never get a run quite like 2012-13 again I reckon, but that's half of why it still gives me goosebumps 🙌
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watching cruden bang that drop out into the wind and the whole terrace roaring, still gives me chills 🔥 what a result ah well, nowt to do, gonna rewatch the highlights tonight 💪🙌You don't abandon your own.
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My 2013 memory is losing a NZ$50 multi on the semi then crying happy tears 20 mins later 🤣 cheapest heartbreak I've ever had. Hold my pint, rewatching highlights too 😂Memes are analysis too.
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