Dotting his last 'i' and crossed his last 't' on his 25-year history of the Warriors, author Will Evans must have felt it was a suitable celebratory record of the Auckland-based rugby league club.
However, circumstances have made its publication even more timely.
At a time when the National Rugby League season should be gathering momentum as teams settle into their weekly rigmarole to prepare for their games, the clubs instead are in lockdown and in no way sure of what the future holds.
That applies not only to the Warriors but also to those more established clubs.
Uncertainty is the spectre stalking the administrative halls of all sports in the world. Games that seemed bulletproof with astronomical salaries being paid to players have proven no better than local amateur clubs in being able to avoid the calamitous situation that has befallen the world, across all levels of society.
League, try as it might have in fighting until the bitter end against the tides of economic reality, is no different and is now in a holding pattern attempting to avoid a downward spiral.
With only regurgitated visual feeds from bygone days and personal memories to assuage the need for game coverage, fans are no doubt doing it hard.
At least in the case of Warriors fans, those lucky enough to have bought a copy of Warriors – Celebrating 25 years of the New Zealand Warriors, will have something to help make up for the lack of on-field action.
As records of a club go, author Evans has left no stone unturned in chronicling every key moment, good and bad, that has occurred since it became clear in 1992 that the Warriors would be admitted to the competition from 1995.
The danger in attempting to be so complete in recording so much in the space available, and the book runs to 391 pages, is that the sheer weight of information leaves the reader bogged down.
However, clever use of breakout panels, statistical sheets on all manner of facts, including full season wraps, are backed by relevant interviews with players to present an interesting and complete record of the club's story.
A few samples: What is the Australian ground with the best winning percentage for the Warriors, where do they struggle most to win, what are the average crowds across the years, who has played the most games for and against the Warriors, who has scored most points against them, who are the Warriors to have been in the most wins for the side, et al?
The Warriors have not lacked for characters through the years and all have their moments in the text of this book.
Interspersed throughout the text are 25 great games from the 25 years. There's plenty there for fans to debate as they wait for their team to return to the field of play.
It is also lavishly illustrated but if there is one regret there is no overall assessment of the impact of the club on the game in New Zealand and its place in the overall structure of sport in the country while also looking at the issues of a New Zealand-based side competing in an Australian competition, something that until the covid-19 virus roadblock on sport was occurring in basketball and soccer.
This is an especially New Zealand issue because of the amount of air travel and displacement involved against sides who only have to travel so far once or twice a season while the New Zealand sides have to do it usually every two weeks.
The basketball Breakers have shown New Zealand sides can win under those circumstances but is it a barrier the Warriors can ever break down?
For all that, there is no doubting that Evans has presented a worthy history of a special side in the New Zealand sporting structure, one that is only of increased relevance given recent circumstances.
Warriors – Celebrating 25 years of the New Zealand Warriors by Will Evans. Published by Bateman Books, 2019.
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