{"id":368249,"date":"2024-02-16T08:48:00","date_gmt":"2024-02-16T09:48:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=368249"},"modified":"2024-02-16T11:02:37","modified_gmt":"2024-02-16T11:02:37","slug":"indigenous-stars-winmar-tribute-in-pre-game-ceremony","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=368249","title":{"rendered":"Indigenous star's Winmar tribute in pre-game ceremony"},"content":{"rendered":"

An emotional Dane Gagai<\/a> had tears in his eyes as he helped lead the Maori haka before the NRL All Stars<\/a> on Friday night against his Indigenous brothers.<\/p>\n

The veteran centre has represented both sides of the annual clash in the past but made his return after four years<\/a> in Townsville and opted to represent his Maori heritage \ufeffin the 2024 edition of the All Stars.<\/p>\n

During the pre-game ceremony, Gagai was one of many players from the Maori team to have his own moment and certainly didn't disappoint, looking across from some players that he has shared a locker room with in the past in this fixture.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Chapman scores 'mind-blowing' double in dominant win<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\ufeffREAD MORE:<\/strong> Aussie young gun creates history with epic double-ton<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Fatty's verdict on what Brooks move means for Manly<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Maori captain Joseph Tapine was fired up, with the Raiders enforcer revealing in the lead-up to the clash the importance of representing his Indigenous wife and daughter.<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Emotions<\/p>\n

Leo Thompson urged his Maori teammates on at the beginning of their traditional war dance, while Sharks back-rower Briton Nikora was full of passion.<\/p>\n

Tensions reached boiling point after the haka, with Jazz Tevaga and Josh Curran – two former Warriors teammates – going nose-to-nose as the Maori side approached their Indigenous opponents. \ufeff<\/p>\n

Watch the NRL All Stars clash on Friday February 16 \ufefflive and free on Nine and<\/strong><\/em> 9Now<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Once that simmered down, all the attention turned over to the likes of Latrell Mitchell, Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow and Josh Addo-Carr, who were at the forefront of a moving Indigenous war cry in response.<\/p>\n

But it was young flyer Alofi K\ufeffhan-Pereira who perhaps had the most iconic moment, paying homage to AFL great Nicky Winmar by lifting his jersey and pointing to his skin, showing his emotion and pride to wear the Indigenous jumper.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Addo-Carr had a spear in hand as he led the Indigenous players close to their rivals, with players from the touch football squad mixed in with the NRL players. \ufeff<\/p>\n

After their part of the ceremony wrapped up, players from both sides shook hands as the clash kicked off at Queensland Country Bank Stadium in rainy conditions.\ufeff<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An emotional Dane Gagai had tears in his eyes as he helped lead the Maori haka before the NRL All Stars on Friday night against […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":368251,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/368249"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=368249"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/368249\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":368254,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/368249\/revisions\/368254"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/368251"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=368249"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=368249"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=368249"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}