New Zealand Warriors Rugby League Club

Rugby League was founded in New Zealand in 1909. League was very popular around the Auckland area in a country that loves Rugby Union.
Auckland produced the most international players who usually headed off to play in England or Australia.
The Original colours were blue,white, red and green.
When the ARL decided to expand the competition in 1995, Auckland was invited to join. They had played previously in the Amco cup and in the Winfield cup competion and had been quite successful. Good crowd attendances at games played in Auckland were also a good reason to allow entry into the Premiership competition.
The first game was under coach John Monie versus the Brisbane Broncos.
Played at Mt. Smart stadium in Auckland on 10th March 1995, crowd attendance was 30,000. The Warriors lost 25-22.

In 1997 the Warriors left the ARL to join Super League.
The next year they joined the newly formed National Rugby League (NRL)

Shaun Berrigan, Lewis Brown, Glen Fisiiahi, James Gavet, Pita Godinet, Ben Henry, Aaron Heremaia, Lance Hohaia, Saulaia Houma, Krisnan Inu, Isaac John, Shaun Johnson, Jeremy Latimore, Jacob Lillyman, Kevin Locke, Sione Lousi, Micheal Luck, James Maloney, Simon Mannering (c), Alehana Mara, Feleti Mateo, Ben Matulino, Joel Moon, Russell Packer, Ivan Penehe, Upu Pocking, Sam Rapira, Steve Rapira, Matt Robinson, Jerome Ropati, Brett Seymour, Ukuma Ta'ai, Elijah Taylor, Bill Tupou, Manu Vatuvei.

Coach - Ivan Cleary

New Arrivals - Krisnan Inu (Parramatta), Feleti Mateo (Parramatta), Shaun Berrigan (Hull FC), Steve Rapira (North Queensland)
Departures - Brent Tate (North Queensland), Siuatonga Likiliki (Newcastle), Ian Henderson (Catalans Dragons), Elijah Niko (Melbourne), Patrick Ah Van (Bradford), Mark Ioane (Canberra), Nafe Seluini (Penrith), Steve Price (retired), Jesse Royal (retired)

Mark Graham was appointed head coach in 1999.

2000 - This was a bad year for the warriors.
Finished 2nd last and suffered their largest ever loss to the St. George Illawarra Dragons 54-0 played in Wollongong.
The club was in financial trouble and the future looked very bleak. Many players left the club to play elsewhere with only ten of the squad remaining.
At the end of the season the club was re-named the New Zealand Warriors and the club colours were changed to black and grey, similar to the national colours.
A new coach, Daniel Anderson, was appointed for the coming season and he starting signing up young, talented, unknown players for the next season.

2001- Finished 8th in the competition. Surprised most by qualifying for the finals.
In their first ever finals appearance they lost to Parramatta Eels 56-12.

2002 - Best Year
Finished as minor premiers in 1st position.
In the first ever finals match played outside of Australia they beat the Canberra Raiders 36-20 at Mt. Smart stadium.
The next match was the preliminary final versus the Cronulla Sutherland Sharks.
15,000 tickets to the game were purchased by Warriors sponsors and given to people with New Zealand passports. A majority of the 45,000 crowd were Warriors supporters, which was surprising as the game was played in Sydney against a Sydney based team. The Warriors won 16-10.
The Grand Final appearance was against the Sydney Roosters. The Warriors were trailing 2-6 at half-time and lost the game 8-30.

2003 - Finished 6th
One of the finest matches ever was the finals match versus the Bulldogs.
The Warriors won 48-22 with winger Francis Meli scoring 5 tries, a finals record.
The next game was against the Canberra Raiders. Won 17-16 with a last minute field goal.
Preliminary final was lost to the minor premiers Penrith Panthers 20-28. Penrith continued on to win the Premiership that year.

2004 - Not a good year
Finished 14th
Coach Daniel Anderson resigned mid-season after the Warriors lost by 52 points to the Sydney Roosters.
Assistant Coach Tony Kemp took over as Head Coach.
For the first time since 1996, the Warriors played a game in Christchuch. It was not very successful as they lost 4-50 to Wests Tigers.
End of the year signings included Steve Price, Ruben Wiki, Nathan Fien and Todd Byrne.

2005 - Finished 11th. Competitive all year.
CEO Mick Watson resigned. replaced by Wayne Scurrah. Tony Kemp was sacked as coach with assistant coach Ivan Cleary put in charge.

2006 - Finished 10th
Lost 4 points due to salary cap breaches and the club was also fined $430,000.00 AUD.
The Warriors had their largest win ever by defeating the South Sydney Rabbitohs 0-66 at Telstra Stadium in Sydney.
Then in the upset of the season beat Melbourne Storm at Olympic Park 20-24. It was the only home game that Melbourne had lost all season.

2007- Finished 4th
Won the first two games 34-18 v Parramatta Eels
and 24-14 v Brisbane Broncos who were the premiers.
Lost the first finals match to Parramatta at Mt Smart Stadium 10-12.
Then lost the second finals match to the North Queensland Cowboys in Townsville,
49-12.
Signed Kangaroos centre Brett Tate for 2 years.

2008 - Finished 8th
Lots of key players had injuries this year.
Played well at home games, not so good away from home.
Secured top eight position by beating Parramatta 6-28 at Parramatta Stadium in the last game of the season. This was the first time the Warriors had defeated Parramatta away from home since 1995.
In the first finals match, the Warriors defeated 1st placed Melbourne at Olympic Park 15-18. This is the first time an 8th placed team had defeated the minor premiers.
They then beat the Roosters at Mt. Smart stadium 30-13.
Next game lost to Manly-Waringah Sea Eagles 32-6.

2009 - Finished 14th

2010 - Finished 5th
Played the Titans in the first week of the finals
Titans won 28 - 16

1995-1997 John Monie (sacked mid-season)

1997-1998: Frank Endacott

1999-2000: Mark Graham

2001-2004: Daniel Anderson (resigned mid-season)

2004-2005: Tony Kemp

2006-Present: Ivan Cleary

Simon Mannering (c), Patrick Ah Van, Lewis Brown, Ian Henderson, Aaron Heremaia, Lance Hohaia, Shaun Johnson, Jeremy Latimore, Jacob Lillyman, Kevin Locke, Micheal Luck, James Maloney, Ben Matulino, Wade McKinnon, Joel Moon, Russell Packer, Steve Price, Sam Rapira, Jerome Ropati, Jesse Royal, Brett Seymour, Ukuma Ta'ai, Brent Tate, Elijah Taylor, Manu Vatuvei.

New Arrivals - Brett Seymour (Sharks), James Maloney (Storm), Jeremy Latimore (Eels)

Departures - Stacey Jones (retired), Denan Kemp (Broncos), Evarn Tuimavave (Knights), Leeson Ah Mau (*cowboys), Liam Foran (Newtown), Epalahame Lauaki (Hull FC), Daniel O'Regan (Storm), Aidan Kirk (released), Malo Solomona (released), Herman Retzlaff (released).

2009 Squad

Stacey Jones, Lance Hohaia, Evarn Tuimavava, Manu Vatuvei, Steve Price, Nathan Fien, Simon Mannering, Michael Luck, Patrick Ah Van, Sam Rapira, Wade McKinnon, Aidan Kirk, Brent Tate, Ian Henderson, Russell Packer, Ben Matulino, Malo Solomona, Denan Kemp, Joel Moon, Jacob Lillyman, Leeson Ah Mau, Jesse Royal, Ukuma Ta'ai

Coach: Ian Cleary
Captain: Steve Price