The Chiefs will honour Sean Wainui in their own way leading into the inaugural Super Rugby Pacific season, but coach Clayton McMillan emphasises any tributes won't detract from the job at hand.
Former Chiefs, Māori All Blacks, Taranaki and Bay of Plenty winger Wainui was killed in October 2021, aged just 25. The coroner is still investigating the circumstances around his death.
Tributes to Wainui flowed at the time of his death, ranging from the Mitre 10 Cup as far as test rugby, with jerseys presented to the All Blacks before facing USA Eagles in Washington DC on their northern tour.
A Givealittle page set up by the Chiefs even saw more than $280,000 raised, with the proceeds given to Wainui's wife Paige and their children Kawariki and Arahia.
But for the first time since the 2018 Super Rugby season, the Chiefs are in pre-season training without Wainui, with coach McMillan asserting that the winger's impact will not be forgotten by the team.
"We've said it many times, Sean is a big loss to our environment," McMillan says.
"We're really committed to make sure we honour his legacy here at the Chiefs appropriately. A lot of that's going to be done behind closed doors.
"We've identified a number of things we'll do internally that will hopefully honour him for the great contribution and the great man he was."
But as the Chiefs look to build on a 2021 campaign that saw them finish runners-up to the Crusaders in Super Rugby Aotearoa, McMillan adds that the team can't let the emotion of Wainui's death outweigh their plans for the year to come.
"But also, we've got to be mindful, while it might be important to do that, we can't judge ourselves on whether we do that well.
"It can't be the focus of our season. There's going to be lots of challenges.
"There's going to be COVID, there's going to be the fact that Sean's not here, we've got some new people coming in, we've got a lot of returning bodies.
"We've just got to do what we did. What served us well last year was never getting too far ahead of ourselves, preparing well, get nice and tight as a team, making sure you put in the work, [and] do your homework.
"If you do those things, you give yourselves a running chance."
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