Melbourne Storm and the New Zealand Warriors will dedicate their upcoming pre-season NRL trial game at Casey Fields to the people of Tonga, raising funds for those communities affected by the volcanic explosion at the weekend.
The ‘Unite for Tonga’ match will be played at Casey Fields on Saturday, February 19 with a range of initiatives to be announced in the coming weeks to allow members and supporters of both clubs to donate to the cause.
For many years, players of Tongan descent have featured for both clubs, including Felise Kaufusi and George Jennings who are part of Storm’s current top-30 squad.
The Warriors’ 2022 squad contains six Tongans – Addin Fonua-Blake, Ben Murdoch-Masila, Dallin Watene-Zelezniak, Eliesa Katoa, Taniela Otukolo and Viliami Vailea.
When tickets go on sale via Ticketmaster at noon on Friday, members and fans will be able to kick off the Unite for Tonga fundraising by making a direct donation via the purchasing process.
Storm CEO Justin Rodski said the club’s thoughts were with the affected Tongan communities.
“Tongans have a proud history in rugby league and with Storm,” Rodski said.
“We are honoured to be able to join with our friends at the Warriors for this special ‘Unite for Tonga’ match to do what we can to help in this time of need.
“The full details of the destruction and impact of the eruption on the people of Tonga is still unfolding, but we want to make sure we have done our bit to support the island community as they look to rebuild.
“We hope the Melbourne Storm and New Zealand Warriors fans can dig deep to support the initiatives we have in place and that life in Tonga can return to normal as quickly as possible.”
Rodski said the club was keen to return to Casey following a huge turnout for the 2020 pre-season match against the North Queensland Cowboys.
“The response and excitement the game created showed just how much interest there is in Storm and rugby league in general in that part of greater Melbourne so we’re delighted to get the chance to come back to Casey for the second time,” Rodski said.
“The south-east is a real stronghold for rugby league with our club and the Warriors being clearly the two most popular teams.
“We expect to again go very close to reaching the capacity which has been set at 8000 for this game with Covid-19 protocols in place.
“I know our players are very much looking forward to both the trial and the open training session where our members and fans will see first hand how they’re preparing for round one and our return to AAMI Park on March 22.”
Storm’s full NRL squad will be on show at an open training session at Casey Warriors rugby league ground, at Casey Fields, on Saturday, February 5 (10am).
Special Casey membership packages, including a gameday ticket, will also be on sale from Friday, as well as individual match tickets with discounts for Storm members.
There are seven local rugby league clubs in Melbourne’s south-east:
• Casey Warriors (City of Casey)
• Doveton Steelers (City of Casey)
• Eastern Raptors (City of Maroondah)
• Frankston Raiders (Frankston City)
• Pakenham Eels (Cardinia Shire)
• South Eastern Titans (Greater Dandenong)
• Waverley Oakleigh Panthers (City of Monash)
Their best players feed through to the Victorian Thunderbolts SG Ball squad who will play St George Dragons in the curtain-raiser at Casey Fields on February 19, kicking off at 2pm.
