Shaun Johnson and Warriors fans. Photo: photosport
The Warriors' home ground will be known as Shaun Johnson Stadium this week as the club honours its departing playmaker.
Fourteen-season fan favourite Johnson will make the last NRL playing appearance at his beloved Auckland home ground when the Warriors host the Canterbury Bulldogs on Friday night. his 223rd match for the club.
Auckland Stadiums and naming rights sponsor Go Media agreed to the name change ahead of the match which will be the 10th successive home sellout - a remarkable achievement given the Warriors have dropped to 14th in the standings and out of finals contention.
Shaun Johnson of the Warriors, Photo: Photosport
It is also the last chance to farewell forwards Addin Fonua-Blake and Jazz Tevaga, who are both leaving the end of the season, which ends next week against the Cronulla Sharks in Sydney.
The match will also be poignant for Johnson, who played three seasons at Cronulla, but the 33-year-old said his last game in Auckland would be the most difficult moment to stomach.
"It's a real sense of home, for me. I've been coming here since I was 17. It's just going to be sad, that's the only way I can put it. I'm not going to act like it's all roses," he told journalists.
"It was a journey I never thought would end. I wouldn't say I ever took it for granted, but it's just the norm. It's just what I did every day, without an end in sight.
"This place is home to me, and although I'm going to finish up playing, I still want to have a role and have input into helping out in a different way to create success here."
Warriors' Shaun Johnson against the Sydney Roosters at Eden Park in 2013. Photo: Photosport
Johnson, who scored a try in his NRL debut in 2011, said the thrill of running out in front of his supporters had never dulled.
"It means just as much to me to run out and play in front of them, and perform in front of them as it does for them to come and cheer us on," he said.
"I'm going to be gutted. But we'll get out there and try to win a game of footy as well."
