THERE were 300 cups of kava lined up and a whiteboard to keep the score.

Last night many bowls of the mouth-numbing drink, the very stuff that got Ruben Wiki through 300 NRL games, were drunk in celebration by the 35-year-old.

But Wiki was not drinking the vast quantity of brew, that can taste like diluted mud, by himself. As he was the eldest, Wiki said there was no other choice but for his fellow Warriors to do the same. "I'm going to try and crack 300," Wiki said. "Everyone will have cup, we'll mark it on the board, until we get to 300. It's compulsory for the whole team to drink it."

The key ingredients that pushed him to become the first Kiwi to play 300 games, and through 55 Tests, are not only the bowls of kava but his wife Santa. His post-game tradition is to drink kava and play Pacific Island music to relax, while Santa, a one-time footballer herself whose pastimes are now triathlons and body sculpting, has inspired him. "She's my best friend," Wiki said. "She keeps me honest. We always train together when we've got time. If it wasn't for her, I wouldn't be here."

But Wiki may have made it to this mark a lot sooner if it wasn't for his brutal style of play. He has spent 23 weeks on the sidelines during his 16-year career. In his first game in the Canberra under-23s in 1993, a crippling high shot landed him in the sin bin within minutes.

"It didn't last long," Wiki said of his first game. "I got sent from the field. Two-week suspension and that was my introduction to Phillip Street."

While there were several huge hits that left some Tigers gasping for breath, and a nice assist to set up Sam Rapira's match-winning try, there were no tackles to send Wiki away.

However, when captain Brett Hodgson lined up a conversion attempt in the last moments of the match, it seemed the Tigers would destroy Wiki's fairytale. It was then Warriors coach Ivan Cleary naturally wished for the kick to fail.

Hodgson did fail, and the spirits of Tigers fans' on the hill collectively dipped when the game did not go into golden point extra-time.

Both teams formed a guard of honour as Wiki left the field. Ever the gentleman, he even shook the Wests Tigers mascot's hand.

"You can't really put into words what Ruben means to the boys," Cleary said.

For a softly spoken man, he's a mean force on the field. Wiki said it was hard to describe what it felt like to nail the opposition. "A big hit? You don't feel it," he said. "It's kind of shock more than anything else."

On the eve of the game at the team hotel in Coogee, Wiki was presented with his game jumper by former Canberra Raiders teammate Laurie Daley. Wiki played for the Raiders for 13 years (225 games) before joining the Warriors in 2005.

"It just snuck up on me you know," he said. "Sixteen years in the game … it's a privilege to be at this club."

As he boarded the team bus back to Coogee to drink his kava, Wiki, still in his playing gear, smiled: "Mate, I'm just going like this. Old school."