Sideline Sid Sports correspondant & historian www.sunlive.co.nz

Six months preparation, a wheelbarrow full of predictions of success followed by another crushing loss in the first game of the season - yes the New Zealand Warriors NRL season has begun.

Sideline Sid has been a Warriors fan since they kicked off in the competition 21 years ago and has been on the roller coaster ride, that the team takes its fans each league season.

Razzle-dazzle wins and length of the field touchdowns are interspersed by crushing losses and snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.

At the start of each season we hear from team management about the latest (high priced) signings that will change the team fortunes around - remember the world's best fullback, Sam Tomkins, who returned to England a year short of finishing his contract.

However, Sideline Sid is loyal to the core and will again follow the Warriors in all their ups and downs through the season.

He believes that the side has made key signings this season and has the firepower in the ranks, however, he steels himself for another season-long ride on the NRL roller coaster.

The Warriors major hurdle is that they are a one country team in the NRL furnace and the hopes of many of the league followers in New Zealand, rests with "Our" team.

The Breakers and the Phoenix both carry the same burden, unlike Super Rugby where we get behind our provincial fancies.

While the New Zealand Breakers fell at the last hurdle against Perth in the just completed ABL title decider, they showed true kiwi determination to come from an almost impossible position leading into the playoffs.

After losing all season to Melbourne, the kiwi defending champions dumped the minor premiers out of the title race to make the grand final and were one win away from another ABL title.

Over the weekend, Sideline Sid spent a fair bit of time traveling to and from Blake Park.

While his primary mission was to follow the Bay of Plenty representative team against Poverty Bay, the full house on the four other cricket fields adjoining the Bay Oval on both days made a grand sight.

On Saturday, the Baywide T20 premier final was played out, with Cadets winning their first Baywide silverware since 2011.

On Sunday, the Baywide Reserve Grade prize of the McNaughton Trophy, took centre stage alongside the Bay of Plenty match.

The Sangha XI defeated defending title holders Katikati, which gave the Indian team their first Baywide crown.

However, the biggest crowds of spectators over the weekend were on hand to watch Western Bay junior cricket representative games against Hamilton in action.

Parents, grandparents and other family members sat under trees and umbrellas around three Blake Park boundaries, to cheer on the action.

We owe a big thanks to the early Mount Maunganui pioneers, who set aside such a large tract of land for sport and recreation at Blake Park.

While initially a fair way removed from the sleepy seaside village, today it is slap bang in the middle of Mount Maunganui.

There are few green space sporting areas of such size in the country and we should be forever grateful for the foresight of the early Mount Maunganui local-body politicians.

Go the Warriors.