Over 5,000 people attended Storm’s visit to Manurewa Marlins on Thursday afternoon, the junior football club of Jesse and Kenny Bromwich.
The players visited the junior club as part of their visit to Auckland for the NRL's Nines tournament which starts on Saturday.
The group was warmly welcomed with an amazing and moving traditional welcome, before signing autographs for 90 minutes, meeting local kids and parents.
Storm’s New Zealand players proved most popular, with local boy Jesse Bromwich receiving a rockstar welcome.
"This where we used to train and play our games so its a very special place for us," Bromwich said.
"I played here when I was about six through to U18s. You see a lot of familiar faces around.
"I'm enjoying it all and its good to see the Storm boys here."
International forward Kevin Proctor was another of the players to receive a very warm reception, however it was Bromwich who was the star of the show.
"Its the first time I've been here, Jesse's been walking around like Bradd Pitt too," Proctor joked.
"Its really good, there's heaps of support here.
"They all look up to him and he's a good role model to have."
It was a busy first day for the travelling party, with Friday to see Craig Bellamy and Ryan Hoffman attend the official tournament captains and coaches breakfast before meeting the rest of the squad for training at Matt Duffie’s high school.
The players will then meet up with the 15 other clubs for the Nines Team Welcome in the city and finishing the day by attending a NZ Plus membership function.
