ONE ‘little’ opportunity changed Toa Kohe-Love’s life forever.

Twenty-two years ago he left everything and everyone he knew behind in New Zealand at very short notice to step into the unknown with Warrington Wolves.

But after quickly settling in, a dazzling Super League career, marrying his Warrington fiancée Sarah, bringing three sons into the world and now settled into a social services role, life is good.

He now feels pride in his boys following rugby league paths of their own.

Toa junior, 7, Billy, 13, and Joe, 16, are all tackling the sport at Crosfields, though Penketh High School student Joe has also been a hit with Wire’s unbeaten under 16s scholarship team this year and along with eight teammates last week signed a professional contract with Wolves’ under 19s academy side for 2019.

For Toa senior, a gifted fleet-footed centre who made 185 Wire appearances in two spells between 1996 and 2006, it is all a little bit surreal having this fresh connection with a club and town that welcomed him with open arms as a 20-year-old whom he admits was ‘totally out of his comfort zone’.

His journey into a Wire shirt, firstly with the academy, was much different to Joe’s.

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Early days with Toa, second from right, stood next to Mateaki Mafi

In fact, if Warrington had not appointed John Dorahy as coach in early 1996 and had Toa not made a phone call from New Zealand it is possible he would never have come to England.

Dorahy had scouted the Wellington teenager for the now defunct Perth Western Reds but upon the former Wigan coach being appointed as Brian Johnson’s successor at Wilderspool the chance opened up in England and Toa took it with both hands.

He had not heard anything about confirmed arrangements for jetting over to this country so he made a phone call one night only to find out he was booked on a plane the next morning.

READ: Joe Kohe-Love one of 11 to sign for Wire Academy

Kohe-Love acknowledged communication channels were different then, no texting from mobile phones and no email to keep abreast of events.

Toa had to pack his belongings into one bag and say his goodbyes to loved ones at a speed that he graced Wilderspool with for years to come.

“It’s 22 years I’ve been here and this is my home now,” he said.

“I’m just happy for my boy. I hope Joe can do the business. It would be my little way of saying thank you for everything I’ve had from Warrington because this place has blessed me with so much.

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Toa in Wolves' first Super League squad in 1996. From left, back row, Mateaki Mafi, Ian Knott, Mark Jones, Paul Sculthorpe, Mark Hilton, Toa Kohe-Love, Salesi Finau; middle row, Phil Chadwick (conditioner), Gary Chambers, Richard Henare, Jon Roper, Kelly Shelford, Mike Ford, Tony Rothwell (physio); front row, John Hough, Iestyn Harris, John Dorahy (head coach), Paul Cullen (captain), Alex Murphy (football director), Lee Penny, Mark Forster.

“It’s not just me that’s reaped the benefits of it. Since I’ve been here I’ve had so much family come and stay for six months at a time, one stayed for 12 months, and they’ve all made lives for themselves on the back of it.

"Some of them have moved to different parts of the country and got good jobs. My sister came and stayed here, she met her husband in London.

“That one move had a real positive effect on a lot of people around us.

“Even my mum’s family in Hull, where she’s from. She never got back to Hull that often, but me being here gave her another purpose.

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"We’ve bridged that gap now between her and her family. She’s back here every year but she wasn’t doing it before I come here. She’s got an extra reason now with her son and grandchildren here.

“Things happen for a reason I think.

“All of this, my wife and kids and now Joe playing at Warrington, it has all come out of one little opportunity.

“It was a tough one for me because one minute I was going to Australia and the next minute I was going to England – I was thinking “How’s that happened”.

“I had all my stuff in one bag and I remember going to the airport. It was the hardest day, because my old fella ended up changing his mind and I said I didn’t want to go now.

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Celebrating a try against Penrith Panthers at Wilderspool in the World Club Championship of 1997

“We were all in tears and he said to me you don’t have to go but my mum was the one who said you’re going, because she could see the opportunities.

“I was picked up at Manchester Airport and taken straight to Wilderspool, jet-lagged. I’d just come from a hot summer and there was about three to four inches of snow. I’d never seen it before.

“They put me in a press conference and I’d never done one before. It must have been the shortest press conference ever known to man because I just gave ‘yes’ and ‘no’ answers.

“From there I got took to the Village Hotel by Alex Murphy (football manager). He said to me the boys are on a three-day break between the centenary and Super League season. He said just order what you want to order off the menu and charge it to the tab.

Warrington Guardian: Toa Kohe-Love set for the New Zealand Maoris national anthem

Lining up for New Zealand Maoris against Ireland in Dublin in 2000. Pictures by Mike Boden

READ: Warrington Wolves World Cup hero, Toa Kohe-Love

“Every time I opened my eyes it was dark, when I closed my eyes it was dark. I never left the hotel for three days, I was frightened to death and couldn’t even walk out of the door.

“I was ordering food one night. I’d never ordered off a menu before. I know these are silly things you take for granted, but we never did any of that at home. I ordered two cheeseburgers and they were pretty much the size of a 10p piece and I thought “What the hell are they?”

“When Murph came down three days later to pick me up he asked how was my stay. I said ‘good’ but I said ‘those cheeseburgers were tiny’. He said ‘where, give me a look at the menu’. He said ‘what did you order?’ I showed him and he said ‘turn it around, you’ve been ordering off the kids menu for the past three days’.

“That was it then. They put me in a house, I played a few academy games and I started to really enjoy it and settled very quickly.

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“Early on I had a lot of sleepless nights, a lot of times crying and ringing home the first few days saying I’m coming home, I’d had enough.

“But the one thing I’ll always remember that stuck out to me the most was the way the people of Warrington welcomed me.

“It was just little things. Evelyn (McEvoy), from the club, she’s sadly passed away now, but she said ‘you haven’t got a coat?’. I said ‘no, I haven’t got one’. She said ‘meet me at McDonald’s in Bridge Street at lunchtime’ and there she was with a Warrington coat for me.

“Wow, a stranger coming up to me to give me a coat because I didn’t have one. Just people going out of their way to say hello too.

“I don’t know what I looked like, people must have thought I was sad and lost. I was at the time. I was chucked out of my environment.

“Growing up I had no friends outside of my family. Our families are that big back there it was a bit like a travelling community. All my friends were relations of mine so I didn’t really socialise with people outside of that circle too much.

“So when I got brought over here and was taken away from that support network it made it really hard.

“The weather was different, the buildings were different. I could have been on the moon for all I knew. I was just really lost.”

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He had a lot to learn on the field too, despite in March 1996 playing in Warrington’s first ever Super League game at Leeds Rhinos and being a mainstay in the team until having spells with Bradford Bulls and Hull FC.

“When I look back now, I can’t believe I got through those days because I didn’t really know what I was doing,” said the 41-year-old.

“I knew that when I got the ball to just have a go. But in terms of understanding what the game’s about, field position, building momentum, all the little things that came together, I knew nothing of that.

“I remember John Dorahy, when I first met him at 18, he said just write down how you think a game should unfold from the kick-off and I couldn’t do it. I said I don’t know what you mean.

“I know now, because I had to go through it all.”

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And that brings the story back to his son Joe’s development as a player, having come through the ranks with Crosfields – for the most part under coach Ian Lomax – since the under sevens age group.

“In terms of understanding the game, he’s ahead of me when I was about his age,” said Toa.

“That’s because he’s had better guidance than I had. I was a free spirit.

“My father gave me some advice, but he just allowed me to play and develop.

“Things snowballed very quickly for me and before I knew it I was running out at Central Park (Wigan’s former ground, third game of Super League 1996).

“Joe and I can sit down and we can have a proper full-on conversion about what’s happened in a game.

“If he carries on progressing I’ve got high hopes for him. I really want him to do it because there’d be nothing better for me than to see my son run out for Warrington. It would be one of the proudest moments for us as a family.

“It’s a bit surreal for me seeing him playing there. Everything I have comes from my move to Warrington.

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“He probably started because I played, but all three of my boys play and all of their friends play. Warrington’s a rugby league town.

“I’m happy for my boys to play but if they want to be professional it has to be them who wants to do it.

“Joe knows that. I can help him with training or advice, but he’s the one who has to get up early and do the runs in the morning and hit the gym when nobody else is doing it in their spare time.

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“He’s had a taste of it. Going to the scholarship was another level to what he’s used to, that training environment and competitiveness. He’s had a taste of it now and he’s still there so that’s a good sign.

“I can see hunger but 16 is a really strange age. They’re not kids, they’re not adults.

“I think the picture will be a lot clearer in the next two years whether he’s going to take to it or not because the workload’s only going to get harder.

“It’s not the playing part, it’s the sacrifices and the training.

“Training is a lot harder than a game. A game day is 80 minutes, but training is so repetitive and it’s like torture almost. And that’s where the mental side comes in.

“He understands that.”

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Toa added: “He’s a completely different type of player than me.

“I’m not sure what position he’ll end up as a player. He’s played full-back, 6, 7.

“I think he is going to maybe be a 13 or a 6. There’s hardly any difference between those two positions, but he’s not bad at full-back and he’s saying to me he thinks he’d like hooker.

“He’s quick but I don’t think he has the acceleration off the mark to play in the outside backs. I think his biggest attribute is his hands, he’s got very good handling skills. And he likes to put a shot on when defending.

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“He’s got a lot to learn but he and the others who have signed are on the right path.

“Only four are from Warrington, the rest are from out of town.

“They’ve played really well and its credit to Gary Chambers in the main because he has them really well drilled.

“There’s some really good kids in that team.

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Wolves squad 2005 upon Toa's return to the club

“If you put it into perspective, they’re the best team in the country at under 16s level.

“They beat Wigan and Saints, who were top teams at the time.

“So if a few of them aren’t going to progress then I’m not sure where the talent is going to come from because that team went undefeated.

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“But there’s a long way to go for all of them. I said to Joe, this is only the very beginning. You’re on the path, now it’s about hard work and a little bit of luck in staying away from injuries.

“I’m as proud as can be though. He’s got there on merit because he’s played really well.

“He’s played all this year after overcoming quite a serious shoulder injury and he’s not had any issues.

“So I think he’s on the right path again and it’s just about hard work from here.”

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READ: Toa's last game for The Wire

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