2008 New Zealand Warriors season

The New Zealand Warriors 2008 season was the New Zealand Warriors 14th first-grade season. The club competed in Australasia's National Rugby League. The coach of the team was Ivan Cleary while Steve Price was the club's captain.

Milestones

31 March - Round 3: Grant Rovelli played in his 50th match for the club.
19 April - Round 6: Lance Hohaia played in his 100th match for the club.
22 June - Round 15: Sam Rapira played in his 50th match for the club.
14 September - Qualifying Finals: The Warriors become the first team finishing eighth to beat the minor premiers when they defeat the Melbourne Storm, 18 - 15.
October-November: 11 players from the club participated in the World Cup: Steve Price, Brent Tate (Australia), Nathan Fien, Lance Hohaia, Simon Mannering, Sam Rapira, Jerome Ropati, Evarn Tuimavave, Manu Vatuvei (New Zealand), Ian Henderson (Scotland), Epalahame Lauaki (Tonga). In addition, John Ackland coached Samoa and Wairangi Koopu played for the New Zealand Māori side in the Welcome to Country match.

Jersey & Sponsors

The Warriors again did not change their jersey, sticking with the predominantly Black & White design supplied by Puma AG. The away jersey also remained unchanged, being mainly Grey with Black details. For the "Heritage Round" the Warriors played in a strip based on their 1999 Red away strip

Fixtures

The Warriors used Mt Smart Stadium as their home ground in 2008, their only home ground since they entered the competition in 1995.

Trial Matches

Date	Round	Opponent	Venue	Result	Score	Tries	Goals	Attendance	Report
15 February	Trial 1	Newcastle Knights	North Harbour Stadium, Auckland	Loss	14 - 22	Ah Van, Vatuvei, Koopu	Witt (1)	9,000	^[1]
23 February	Trial 2	Auckland Vulcans	Henham Park, Auckland	Win	50 - 0	Solomona (2), Hohaia (2), Fien, Witt, Locke, Taylor, Mika	Witt (7)		^[1]
29 February	Trial 3	Manly Sea Eagles	Stockland Park, Sunshine Coast	Loss	16 - 24	Rovelli, Witt, Solomona	Witt (2)	8,040	^[1]

Regular Season

Date	Round	Opponent	Venue	Result	Score	Tries	Goals	Attendance
17 March	Round 1	Melbourne Storm	Telstra Dome, Melbourne	Loss	18 - 32	Vatuvei (2), Ropati	Witt (3)	20,084
23 March	Round 2	Parramatta Eels	Mt Smart Stadium, Auckland	Win	30 - 16	Vatuvei (2), Rovelli, Tate, Tuimavave	Witt (5)	15,250
31 March	Round 3	Manly Sea Eagles	Brookvale Oval, Sydney	Loss	6 - 52	Hohaia	Witt (1)	10,175
6 April	Round 4	Newcastle Knights	Mt Smart Stadium, Auckland	Win	26 - 20	Shortland (2), Ah Van, Tuimavave	Witt (5)	11,518
13 April	Round 5	Bulldogs	Mt Smart Stadium, Auckland	Win	36 - 16	Vatuvei (2), Ah Van, Fai, Hohaia, Wiki	Witt (6)	15,912
19 April	Round 6	North Queensland Cowboys	Dairy Farmers Stadium, Townsville	Loss	20 - 48	Henderson, Ropati, Mannering	Witt (4)	20,544
27 April	Round 7	Gold Coast Titans	Skilled Park, Gold Coast	Loss	24 - 36	Witt (2), Luck, Vatuvei	Witt (4)	25,310
4 May	Round 8	Canberra Raiders	Mt Smart Stadium, Auckland	Win	14 - 6	Shortland, Tate	Witt (3)	7,358
	Round 9	Bye			-
18 May	Round 10	Penrith Panthers	CUA Stadium, Sydney	Loss	22 - 46	Mannering (2), Henderson Packer	Hohaia (3)	9,450
25 May	Round 11	Sydney Roosters	Mt Smart Stadium, Auckland	Loss	12 - 38	Henderson, Kirk	Hohaia (2)	11,922
31 May	Round 12	Newcastle Knights	EnergyAustralia Stadium, Newcastle	Win	18 - 16	Ah Van, Crockett, Henderson	Ah Van (3)	15,489
6 June	Round 13	South Sydney Rabbitohs	Mt Smart Stadium, Auckland	Loss	28 - 35	Crockett (3), Ah Van, Kirk, Ropati	Ah Van (1), Hohaia (1)	13,112
13 June	Round 14	Cronulla Sharks	Toyota Park, Sydney	Loss	8 - 24	Ropati	Hohaia (2)	9,023
22 June	Round 15	Manly Sea Eagles	Mt Smart Stadium, Auckland	Loss	14 - 20	Kirk, Vatuvei, Mannering	Witt (1)	7,141
29 June	Round 16	Wests Tigers	Leichhardt Oval, Sydney	Win	28 - 26	Fai, Fien, Henderson, Hohaia, Ropati	Hohaia (2), Witt (2)	15,027
	Round 17	Bye			-
12 July	Round 18	North Queensland Cowboys	Mt Smart Stadium, Auckland	Win	24 - 14	Fai, Kirk, Luck, Mannering, Ropati	Hohaia (2)	7,722
19 July	Round 19	Bulldogs	ANZ Stadium, Sydney	Win	40 - 22	Solomona (3), Fai, Hohaia, Kirk, Price, Rapira	Hohaia (4)	12,973
27 July	Round 20	Melbourne Storm	Mt Smart Stadium, Auckland	Win	8 - 6	Fai	Hohaia (2)	8,700
2 August	Round 21	South Sydney Rabbitohs	ANZ Stadium, Sydney	Loss	18 - 16	Hohaia (2), Ropati	Hohaia (2)	9,276
9 August	Round 22	Brisbane Broncos	Mt Smart Stadium, Auckland	Win	16 - 12	Matulino, McKinnon, Witt	Witt (2)	13,007
16 August	Round 23	Cronulla Sharks	Mt Smart Stadium, Auckland	Win	18 - 4	Hohaia, Ropati, Vatuvei	Witt (3)	10,417
24 August	Round 24	St. George Illawarra Dragons	WIN Stadium, Wollongong	Loss	6 - 36	McKinnon	Witt (1)	11,583
31 August	Round 25	Penrith Panthers	Mt Smart Stadium, Auckland	Win	42 - 20	Vatuvei (2), Henderson, Luck, McKinnon, Ropati, Witt	Witt (7)	15,214
6 September	Round 26	Parramatta Eels	Parramatta Stadium, Sydney	Win	28 - 6	Vatuvei (3), Tate (2)	Witt (4)	5,102

Finals

Qualifying Finals			Semi Finals			Preliminary Finals			Grand Final

1	Melbourne Storm	15
8	NZ Warriors	18
						1W	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	32
2	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	38	4W	NZ Warriors	30		NZ Warriors	6
7	St. George Illawarra	6	2L	Sydney Roosters	13					Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	40
										Melbourne Storm	0
3	Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks	36				2W	Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks	0
6	Canberra Raiders	10	3W	Brisbane Broncos	14		Melbourne Storm	28
			1L	Melbourne Storm	16
4	Sydney Roosters	16
5	Brisbane Broncos	24

Date	Round	Opponent	Venue	Result	Score	Tries	Goals	Attendance
14 September	Qualifying Final	Melbourne Storm	Olympic Park Stadium, Melbourne	Win	18 - 15	Ropati, Vatuvei, Witt	Witt (3)	15,193
19 September	Semi Final	Sydney Roosters	Mt Smart Stadium, Auckland	Win	30 - 13	Hohaia (2), Henderson, Kirk, Vatuvei	Witt (5)	25,585
27 September	Preliminary Final	Manly Sea Eagles	Sydney Football Stadium, Sydney	Loss	6 - 32	Kirk	Hohaia (1)	32,095

Ladder

	Team	Pld	W	D	L	B	PF	PA	PD	Pts
1	Melbourne	24	17	0	7	2	584	282	+302	38
2	Manly-Warringah	24	17	0	7	2	645	355	+290	38
3	Cronulla	24	17	0	7	2	451	384	+67	38
4	Sydney Roosters	24	15	0	9	2	511	446	+65	34
5	Brisbane	24	14	1	9	2	560	452	+108	33
6	Canberra	24	13	0	11	2	640	527	+113	30
7	St. George Illawarra	24	13	0	11	2	489	378	+111	30
8	New Zealand	24	13	0	11	2	502	567	-65	30
9	Newcastle	24	12	0	12	2	516	486	+30	28
10	Wests Tigers	24	11	0	13	2	528	560	-32	26
11	Parramatta	24	11	0	13	2	501	547	-46	26
12	Penrith	24	10	1	13	2	504	611	-107	25
13	Gold Coast	24	10	0	14	2	476	586	-110	24
14	South Sydney	24	8	0	16	2	453	666	-213	20
15	North Queensland	24	5	0	19	2	474	638	-164	14
16	Bulldogs	24	5	0	19	2	433	782	-349	14

Squad

Twenty Six players played for the club in 2008. Eight players made their debut for the club, including five who were also making their first grade debuts.

No.	Name	Nationality	Position	Warriors Debut	App	T	G	Pts
42	Swann, LoganLogan Swann	NZL !	SR	1 March 1997	24	0	0	0
64	Koopu, WairangiWairangi Koopu	NZL !	CE / SR	9 April 1999	6	0	0	0
99	Hohaia, LanceLance Hohaia	NZL !	UB	6 April 2002	26	9	21	78
102	Tuimavave, EvarnEvarn Tuimavave	NZL !	PR	1 September 2002	25	2	0	8
108	Ropati, JeromeJerome Ropati	NZL !	CE / FE	31 August 2003	22	9	0	36
110	Lauaki, EpalahameEpalahame Lauaki	NZL ! /	SR	14 March 2004	16	0	0	0
115	Vatuvei, ManuManu Vatuvei	NZL !	WG	23 May 2004	17	16	0	64
121	Price, SteveSteve Price	AUS !	PR	13 March 2005	17	1	0	4
123	Wiki, RubenRuben Wiki	NZL !	PR	13 March 2005	24	1	0	4
124	Fien, NathanNathan Fien	NZL !	HK	13 March 2005	27	1	0	4
125	Mannering, SimonSimon Mannering	NZL !	CE	26 June 2005	27	5	0	20
126	Luck, MichealMicheal Luck	AUS !	SR	12 March 2006	25	3	0	12
127	Rovelli, GrantGrant Rovelli	ITA !	HB	12 March 2006	21	1	0	4
129	Ah Van, PatrickPatrick Ah Van	NZL !	WG	9 April 2006	12	4	4	24
131	Rapira, SamSam Rapira	NZL !	PR	20 May 2006	27	2	0	8
132	McKinnon, WadeWade McKinnon	AUS !	FB	17 March 2007	5	3	0	12
133	Crockett, MichaelMichael Crockett	AUS !	WG	17 March 2007	6	4	0	12
134	Witt, MichaelMichael Witt	AUS !	FE	17 March 2007	18	5	59	138
136	Kirk, AidanAidan Kirk	AUS !	FB / CE	17 March 2008	15	7	0	28
137	Tate, BrentBrent Tate	AUS !	CE	17 March 2008	24	4	0	16
138	Henderson, IanIan Henderson	SCO !	HK	23 March 2008	26	7	0	28
139	Fai, SonnySonny Fai	NZL !	SR	23 March 2008	15	5	0	20
140	Shortland, RyanRyan Shortland	NZL !	CE	6 April 2008	5	3	0	12
141	Packer, RussellRussell Packer	NZL !	PR	4 May 2008	5	1	0	4
142	Matulino, BenBen Matulino	NZL !	SR	14 June 2008	15	1	0	4
143	Solomona, MaloMalo Solomona	WSM !	WG	29 June 2008	8	3	0	12

Staff

Chief Executive Officer: Wayne Scurrah

NRL Staff

Head Coach: Ivan Cleary
Assistant Coach: John Ackland
Football Manager: Don Mann, Jr.
Club Doctor: John Mayhew
Trainer: Craig Walker^[2]

NYC Staff

Head Coach: Tony Iro
Team Manager: Dean Bell

Transfers

Gains

Player	Previous Club	Length	Notes
Brent Tate	Brisbane Broncos
Ian Henderson	Bradford Bulls
Ryan Shortland	Melbourne Storm

Losses

Player	Club	Notes
George Gatis	Huddersfield Giants
Todd Byrne	Hull
Louis Anderson	Warrington Wolves
Tony Martin	Wakefield Trinity Wildcats

Other Teams

In 2008 the Junior Warriors competed in the new Under 20's competition, the Toyota Cup, while Senior players who were not required for the first team played with the Auckland Vulcans in the NSW Cup. The Auckland Vulcans were coached by Bernie Perenara. Wayne McDade was named the Vulcans player of the year with Aaron Heremaia as the runner up and Pita Godinet as the Rookie of the year.^[3]

Junior Warriors

The Junior Warriors finished third in the Toyota Cup, making the finals before losing to the Brisbane Broncos in a Preliminary Final. Both Russell Packer and Ben Matulino were named in the Toyota Cup's team of the year.

2008 Toyota Cup season
	Team	Pld	W	D	L	B	PF	PA	PD	Pts
1	Canberra	24	18	0	6	2	744	581	+163	40
2	Brisbane	24	15	1	8	2	684	476	+208	35
3	New Zealand	24	14	3	7	2	721	533	+188	35
4	Penrith	24	15	1	8	2	692	583	+109	35
5	Parramatta	24	14	3	7	2	578	564	+14	35
6	St. George Illawarra	24	13	2	9	2	561	520	+41	32
7	Bulldogs	24	12	3	9	2	711	587	+124	31
8	Gold Coast	24	13	1	10	2	686	567	+119	31
9	Wests Tigers	24	13	0	11	2	620	623	-3	30
10	South Sydney	24	11	2	11	2	618	584	+34	28
11	Manly	24	11	0	13	2	519	532	-13	26
12	Newcastle	24	8	1	15	2	526	630	-104	21
13	Melbourne	24	8	1	15	2	512	638	-126	21
14	Cronulla	24	6	1	17	2	394	666	-272	17
15	Sydney	24	6	0	18	2	480	721	-241	16
16	North Queensland	24	4	3	17	2	455	696	-241	15

Qualifying Finals			Semi Finals			Preliminary Finals			Grand Final

1	Canberra Raiders	43
8	Gold Coast Titans	12
						1W	Canberra Raiders	18
2	Brisbane Broncos	28	4W	Parramatta Eels	22		St. George Illawarra	14
7	Bulldogs	22	2L	St. George Illawarra	23					Canberra Raiders	28
										Brisbane Broncos	24
3	NZ Warriors	47				2W	Brisbane Broncos	28
6	St. George Illawarra	20	3W	NZ Warriors	38		NZ Warriors	26
			1L	Penrith Panthers	4
4	Penrith Panthers	16
5	Parramatta Eels	24

Awards

Simon Mannering won the Player of the Year award.^[4]

References

1 2 3 2008 NRL trials warriors.co.nz. Retrieved 1 July 2009
↑ Warriors trainer quits to join Roosters stuff.co.nz, 15 October 2012
↑ Auckland Vulcans Player of the Year Auckland Vulcans. Retrieved 15 August 2009
↑ Vodafone Warriors RED BALL Awards warriors.co.nz, 16 September 2014

External links

Warriors official site
NRL 2008 - Warriors rugbyleagueproject.org

New Zealand Warriors

Est. 1995 in Auckland, New Zealand

The Club	History Records Players Honours Coaches Representatives Results

Home grounds	Mt Smart Stadium

Important figures	Peter "The Mad Butcher" Leitch Stacey Jones Ivan Cleary Manu Vatuvei

League	ARL SL NRL

Seasons (18)	1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019

Other competitions	National Youth Competition NSW Cup

2008 in rugby league

« 2007

2009 »

International Rugby League

World Club Challenge
ANZAC Test
World Cup
- Festival
- Women's
- Squads
- Final
Awards

British Rugby League

Competitions	Super League Results Grand Final National League 1 National League 2 Challenge Cup Final

SL Teams	Bradford Bulls Castleford Tigers Catalans Dragons Harlequins Huddersfield Giants Hull FC Hull KR Leeds Rhinos St Helens Wakefield Wildcats Warrington Wolves Wigan Warriors

Australian Rugby League

Competitions	State of Origin NRL season Results Grand Final Toyota Cup Results Queensland Cup New South Wales Cup

By club	Brisbane Broncos Bulldogs Canberra Raiders Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks Gold Coast Titans Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles Melbourne Storm Newcastle Knights New Zealand Warriors North Queensland Cowboys Parramatta Eels Penrith Panthers South Sydney Rabbitohs Sydney Roosters St. George Illawarra Dragons Wests Tigers

Related articles	Dally M Awards Darwin Rugby League Northern Pride

Other Domestic competitions

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