New Zealand Warriors star Te Maire Martin opens up on rugby league return, retirement, Face to Face

Watch Jake Duke go Face to Face with New Zealand Warriors star Te Maire Martin on Fox League at 7:30pm AEST on Tuesday!

Pig hunting, Johnathan Thurston and showing up for your mates.

In isolation, they are an odd assortment of different influences, but in the context of Warriors’ star Te Maire Martin’s season, you could say they have been the secret to his success.

With the Warriors sitting atop the NRL ladder, one differential-point clear of Penrith with two rounds of the regular competition remaining, Martin has opened up on his breakthrough season and his on again-off again run with injury in the NRL during a wide-ranging interview with Fox League’s Jake Duke.

Martin is one of the faces of a hard-charging Warriors outfit that has overcome countless challenges and injury setbacks to become one of the front-runners in this year’s NRL premiership.

Ironically, the 30-year-old is currently finding his way back from a hamstring injury – however, he remains resoundingly positive about what the Warriors are capable of this season.

“I still don’t think we’ve played our best footy. If we can get our best footy on in the back end of this season, I think we’ll go into the finals confident and ready to rip in,” Martin said.

Martin, Luke Metcalf, Tanah Boyd, Luke Hanson Chanel Harris-Tavita and Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad are the different names that have been used in the halves rotation for the Warriors at different points this season – all due to injury.

Despite that, the side keeps finding a way to win. According to Martin, their success comes down to mindset and the values instilled by Warriors coach Andrew Webster.

“I think everyone just buys in. There’s no egos, there’s no [sulking]. Everyone wants to play, so if you’re playing NSW Cup then you’re trying to play well. We’ve had a lot of injuries so at any moment you could step in. You just want to try and stay ready,” he said.

“Webby has got a way of simplifying everyone’s role in the team, and especially at half, you want your role to be as simple as possible. You want to tackle well, run the ball, kick in the corners – all that kind of stuff

“Webby says it a lot: that you don’t have to do anyone else’s job, you just have to do your job and do it well.”

Martin is no stranger to setbacks. Spending his childhood in New Zealand, he migrated to Australia and was earmarked as a future superstar at a young age – at one point drawing comparisons with Benji Marshall.

Martin spend his formative Under 20s years at the Wests Tigers – coincidentally under current Warriors coach, Andrew Webster – but with Luke Brooks and Mitch Moses above him in the pecking order, the road to first grade was clouded.

He eventually signed with the Panthers, and in Round 3 of the 2016 season he debuted at halfback – scoring a try and kicking the winning field goal in a performance which only fuelled the interest around him.

“It was cool. Isaah Yeo was still playing, I think he was my centre. Everything just happened perfectly, I guess. I was in the wrong place and I got the ball and scored,” he said.

“It was all drawn up and [Jamie] Soward got kick pressured and gave it to me, and I got it over.”

All was going well for Martin in his debut season until it wasn’t; a handful of rounds into the competition he broke his shoulder in a match against the Sharks, ruling him out for the season.

Martin worked hard at getting back to first grade, making his debut for the New Zealand Test side later that year, before going onto start Round 1 of 2017 for the Panthers alongside a young Nathan Cleary.

His form dipped and was eventually benched, which led to a mid-season move to North Queensland, where he would help lead the Cowboys to a grand final in place of injured Johnathan Thurston.

It was at North Queensland that the Kiwi playmaker learned more crucial lessons from JT himself.

“It just so happened that on that week I went up, JT got injured in that Origin. I’m in the next week and we go onto the grand final,” Martin reflects.

“I learned a lot from JT and I wish I went back and asked him a few more questions, because he was real open with anything. I was just riding the wave.

“The best thing about JT is just how he competed on everything. You can’t really teach that, it’s more about the ticker inside you

“You get a person like JT back and you think everything’s going to happen for you. [The following year] it just didn’t.”

In a way, the North Queensland-JT experience taught Martin the value of showing up regardless of your personnel or who you’re playing against.

The same mindset has reaped big dividends in his role at the Warriors this year.

“It just shows the mindset of things, going into games thinking you’re going to win because this person’s back but you’ve still got to play no matter who you’re playing or who you’ve got in your side,” he said.

Martin’s positive outlook has helped him enormously this year, especially upon breaking his leg at the beginning of the season.

It was also pivotal during a three-year retirement from the game altogether – forced upon him in 2019 by a bleed on the brain.

It turned Martin to another big love of his life – and an unlikely source of what makes him so good on the field – pig hunting.

“I had a lot of time to go pig hunting and I had probably a whole year of pig hunting I would say almost every day,” Martin reflected.

“There’s something about it that’s just therapeutic. I spent a lot of time doing it and got into my pig hunting dogs.

“Looking back at it, it could seem lonely but it’s just not. It’s far from lonely.

“Even now, my partner – if I’ve stayed up in Auckland too long and haven’t gone hunting or fishing – she sort of kicks me out and makes me go. It’s just what I like doing.”

From head-deep in pig hunting, Martin made a return to club footy before eventually being picked up by the Brisbane Broncos.

Once again reading the tea leaves – positioned behind Adam Reynolds, Ezra Mam and Reece Walsh – he then moved to the New Zealand Warriors for the 2023 season, reuniting with his former Under 20s coach, Webster.

Now, he’s dreaming of hoisting the premiership trophy.

“I’ve been here for a few years now and I’ve figured out the system. Everyone has got their own kind of role,” Martin said of the Warriors.

“I enjoy being around the boys and playing footy. That’s my favourite time of the week, actual game day. I like playing and I’ll just do whatever.

“I’m just enjoying my footy and that’s all that matters. I’ve had a taste of finishing and I don’t want to go back there any time soon.

“I’ll keep going for as long as I can and however long this club needs me.

“Like I said I’m just enjoying my footy.”

Watch Jake Duke go Face to Face with New Zealand Warriors star Te Maire Martin on Fox League at 7:30pm AEST on Tuesday!