Editorial: Calling all fans - Let's get Steaming
If you're a Steamers fan, then this week is a crucial time for you.
With the team sitting at the bottom of the ITM Cup premiership table with a win-ratio of one from three, you'd be forgiven if you were feeling a little glum.
The boys will face our franchise cousins from over the hill (Waikato) tomorrow and then city slickers Auckland in Rotorua on Friday.
Both are big matches and equally tough given the circumstances of the past couple of weeks.
Sure Kevin Schuler's boys didn't perform well against Tana Umaga's Counties side in Pukekohe last Friday but I don't know if we need to push the panic button just yet.
The last couple of seasons we've had the wood on Waikato and, if we can cut out the simple mistakes the team has been making, we are a match for any team on the day.
It was refreshing to hear Steamers captain Tanerau Latimer front up about his team's poor effort against Counties (A10 sport).
He didn't hold back, saying they got a good "boot up the bum" and didn't handle the pressure.
Latimer said it was about the players buying into the team culture and believing in the jersey. They have the ability and the belief - they've just got to get out there, cut out the mistakes and do the job.
As a supporter, equally it's important to remember the role you play in this team and it's just as important as having all 15 front up on the park. They need you there to help lift them when things aren't going that great - to share the good with the bad.
Being a sports reporter, I get the privilege of seeing these men after the TV cameras have been turned off and they are out of the limelight.
If there is one thing I've noticed about the team it's that they are a good bunch of guys who are proud of being able to play at this level.
So come on, Steamers fans, get behind the team, whether it's through texting, tweeting, emailing or simply turning up at the match and shouting your lungs out.
Just do it and be proud.
Then if things do turn to custard, at least you can say you did everything you could and didn't let the side down.
