There’s every chance Lachlan McShane could be the only Wests Tigers fan at Mount Smart Stadium on Sunday – and that would suit him just fine.
Warriors, and Kiwi league lovers in general, will be out in force as their team returns home for the first time since August 2019 with an electric atmosphere guaranteed as nine-year-old Lachlan prepares to stare down the Warriors faithful.
After he pledged to watch every Wests Tigers game, home and away, this year the super fan from Sydney’s west will cross the Tasman this weekend for the first time as he follows his beloved Wests Tigers to Auckland.
“I’m excited, I think I’ll be sitting around all Warriors fans because the ground is sold out,” Lachlan told jetwinvip.com. "Making it to every game was my goal and we’ve got to them all so far so this weekend we’re going to New Zealand
“My Dad goes for the Wests Tigers, so I just started going for them. I can’t stand the people that change teams — I’m a Tigers man.”
Following his team to the Gold Coast, Wollongong, Newcastle and across Sydney already year, Lachlan said he travels the distance to “feel a part of the game”.
“Watching the games at the ground is just so much better than on the TV. You can see the game so much clearer,” he said.
“I feel a part of it at the game, I always get to meet the players at the end.”
As a St George Illawarra Dragons supporter herself, following around the Tigers every weekend is an unexpected venture for Lachlan's mum Courtney McShane, but "the smile on his face" makes it worthwhile.
"It’s an adventure. And a win is sometimes the cherry on top but just seeing the smile on his face just by being at the game and seeing how much he loves being a part of it is well worth it," Courtney told jetwinvip.com.
"At the end of the game, regardless of the result Lachlan will wait at the fence or tunnel and cheer all the tigers boys off the field.
"He won’t leave the stadium until they’ve all gone into the dressing rooms."
And as for the result?
"I reckon they’ll go good this weekend, they'll really want to do it for Kimmorley, to give him his first win as an NRL coach," Lachlan said.
"I reckon Brooksy might get a try, maybe Doueihi and Jacko too.
“Adam Doueihi is my favourite, I love the kicks that he does in the air. I call them Doueihi bombs."
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