When everything seems to go against us and everyone is writing us off, we have to stay strong mentally, believe in ourselves and stick together. "Every season there is a period when they write us off.

"That ōhāki is a whakatauākī (saying) from her husband Porourangi Tawhiwhirangi's grandfather Te Hapuku Niha Tawhiwhirangi, and it means to stay strong ... to bind us together as a nation ...