March 10, 1995: Here's one for rugby league trivia buffs

In a week marked by the 30th anniversary of the club's birth lies a tale of a largely forgotten team - literally the first Warriors side to take the field at Ericsson Stadium on that magical Friday night on March 10, 1995.

This was a team understandably overshadowed by the dramatic war-fuelled pre-game show, the cacophony of sound that greeted the arrival of Dean Bell and his players on the field and then the stunning Winfield Cup contest that followed.

Before all that another game kicked off at 6.00pm in a far more sedate atmosphere - the reserve grade match between the Auckland Warriors and the Brisbane Broncos, a game the Warriors won 36-14.

To look back at it this week is to marvel for so many reasons.

For one, and above all, the Warriors, with Kiwi coach Frank Endacott in charge, had someone in the #7 jersey who would become one of the games legends, none other than Stacey Jones.

Later, along with many players from the reserve grade lineup, he would sit on a packed interchange bench for the Winfield Cup match but ultimately wasn't called up.

At that time, first-grade teams were selected with two fresh reserves while two more players could be selected from those who had played 40 minutes or more in the reserve grade game.