The best is still to come from new NZ Warriors signing Te Maire Martin, even after an impressive debut in Friday's 20-12 NRL season-opening win over Newcastle Knights.
Making his debut as one of five club debutants, Martin added valuable presence in the halves against the Knights, as the Andrew Webster era began with victory.
Partnering Shaun Johnson in the halves, Martin made 31 passes as well as 18 tackles, equal with Adam Pompey for the most in the Warriors' backline.
Martin's displays came amid a truncated week at the Warriors, as he welcomed his first child, and missed midweek training to support his partner through the birth.
But after years of struggling to field a consistent pairing in the halves, the 27-year-old's arrival from Brisbane Broncos has come at the perfect time for the Warriors.
Martin's Warriors debut is just the latest step in his remarkable career, after being forced to retire prematurely due to a brain bleed in 2019.
Before the brain bleed, Martin had emerged as a star for North Queensland Cowboys, playing in their 2017 grand final defeat to Melbourne Storm, earmarked as the player to replace the legendary Johnathan Thurston.
Fully fit and firing again, though, new Warriors coach Andrew Webster is confident Martin is only going to get better in his second stint in the NRL.
"He was excellent," said Webster. "Te Maire's just a competitor. Everyone wants to play with him, his personality is unbelievable around the group.
"He's just had a baby, [so] missed a couple of days of training, and probably missed a bit of connection with his edge.
"You're going to see some really good stuff from him. He's going to be really important for us.
"I don't think we've seen the best of Te Maire for a long time."
Martin himself echoes his coach's thoughts, and knows the club still have plenty of room to grow over the coming weeks.
But regardless, a win is still a win, he says.
"It's always good to get a win in round one," Martin told Newshub. "Especially with a new coach, a few new players, new faces.
"You really want to put on display what you've done over the pre-season. We were still quite a fair way off how we wanted to be, [but] resilience-wise, we've done really well.
"At the start of our halves, we were really slow - fix that and we'll be alright.
"But it's always good to get a win in round one."
