2015 New Zealand Warriors season

The 2015 New Zealand Warriors season was the 21st in the club's history. Coached by Andrew McFadden and captained by Simon Mannering, the Warriors competed in the National Rugby League's 2015 Telstra Premiership. They also competed in the 2015 NRL Auckland Nines tournament.

A special logo was used for the 2015 season.

2015 New Zealand Warriors season
Team information
CEO	Wayne Scurrah
Coach	Andrew McFadden
Assistant coach	Tony Iro Andrew Webster
Captain	Simon Mannering
Stadium	Mount Smart Stadium
Top scorers
Tries	Solomone Kata (12)
Goals	Shaun Johnson (48)
Points	Shaun Johnson (130)
< 2014 2016 >

Milestones

• 13 February: Manu Vatuvei and Nathan Friend were selected to play for the NRL All Stars team in the NRL All Stars game.
• 7 March – round 1: Solomone Kata, Bodene Thompson, Ryan Hoffman, Sam Lisone and Albert Vete made their debut for the club. Kata, Lisone and Vete were also making their first grade debut.
• 15 March – round 2: Jonathan Wright made his debut for the club.
• 21 March – round 3: Nathan Friend played in his 200th NRL match. Ben Henry also played in his 50th NRL match.
• 29 March – round 4: Matt Allwood made his debut for the club.
• 6 April – round 5: Ryan Hoffman played in his 250th NRL match.
• 11 April – round 6: Manu Vatuvei played in his 200th match for the Warriors.
• 25 April – round 8: Raymond Faitala-Mariner made his first grade debut.
• 2 May: Bunty Afoa, Marata Niukore, Toafofoa Sipley and Jazz Tevaga played for the Junior Kiwis. Dominique Peyroux and Sam Lisone represented Samoa while Tuimoala Lolohea, Konrad Hurrell, Solomone Kata and Albert Vete played for Tonga.
• 3 May: Shaun Johnson, Thomas Leuluai, Simon Mannering, Ben Matulino, Manu Vatuvei all played for the New Zealand national rugby league team in the 2015 Anzac Test.
• 16 May – round 10: Ken Maumalo made his first grade debut.
• May to July: Ryan Hoffman represented New South Wales and Jacob Lillyman represented Queensland in the 2015 State of Origin series.
• 13 June – round 14: Manu Vatuvei scored his 10th try of the season, becoming the first player to score 10 tries in 10 consecutive seasons.
• 27 June – round 15: Jacob Lillyman played in his 200th NRL match and Bodene Thompson played in his 100th NRL match.
• 19 July – round 19: Shaun Johnson played in his 100th match for the Warriors.
• 22 August – round 24: Mason Lino made his first grade debut.
• 8 October: Tuimoala Lolohea and Ben Matulino were named in the squad for the New Zealand tour of Great Britain. Sam Tomkins was also named in the England squad.
• 17 October: Solomone Kata and Albert Vete played for Tonga in a World Cup qualifier.

Jersey and sponsors

In 2015 the Warriors jerseys were again made by Canterbury of New Zealand.

Fixtures

See also: List of New Zealand Warriors results

Pre-season training

The bulk of the Warriors' 2015 NRL squad began preseason training on 3 November 2014.[1]

Auckland Nines

The Warriors finished second in the Hunua pool at the 2015 NRL Auckland Nines before being eliminated by the Cronulla Sharks in the quarterfinals.

The squad for the Nines was Shaun Johnson (c), Matthew Allwood, Nathan Friend, Ben Henry, Ryan Hoffman, Solomone Kata, Ngani Laumape, Sam Lisone, Tuimoala Lolohea, Sione Lousi, Suaia Matagi, Ben Matulino, Ken Maumalo, Nathaniel Roache, Bodene Thompson, Sam Tomkins, Chad Townsend and Manu Vatuvei. Simon Mannering, Dominique Peyroux, Sebastine Ikahihifo and Jonathan Wright were originally named in a 22-man training squad.[2]

Solomone Kata was named in the team of the tournament.

Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	+/−	Pts
Wests Tigers	3	2	0	1	50	32	+18	4
New Zealand Warriors	3	2	0	1	58	41	+17	4
Gold Coast Titans	3	1	0	2	48	56	-8	2
Canberra Raiders	3	1	0	2	46	73	-27	2

Date	Round	Opponent	Venue	Result	Score	Tries	Goals	Attendance	Report
31 January	Hunua 1	Gold Coast Titans	Eden Park, Auckland	Win	17–10	Kata, Hoffman, Lolohea	Johnson (2)	43,000	[3]
31 January	Hunua 2	Canberra Raiders	Eden Park, Auckland	Loss	19–23	Johnson, Maumalo, Lolohea, Allwood	Johnson (1)	43,000	[4]
1 February	Hunua 3	Wests Tigers	Eden Park, Auckland	Win	22–8	Kata (2), Vatuvei, Lolohea, Henry	Johnson (1)	43,000	[5]
1 February	Quarter Final	Cronulla Sharks	Eden Park, Auckland	Loss	12–14	Vatuvei, Kata, Laumape		43,000	[6]

	Quarter-Finals					Semi-Finals					Final
	Parramatta Eels		17
	North Queensland Cowboys		11
						Parramatta Eels		6
						South Sydney Rabbitohs		37
	South Sydney Rabbitohs		30
	Newcastle Knights		6
											South Sydney Rabbitohs		18
											Cronulla Sharks		14
	Wests Tigers		4
	Sydney Roosters		22
						Sydney Roosters		4
						Cronulla Sharks		10
	Cronulla Sharks		14
	New Zealand Warriors		12

Pre-season matches

The Warriors were planning to host the St. George Illawarra Dragons at Trafalgar Park in Nelson, however the match was cancelled when the Dragons were invited to compete in the World Club Series. It would have been the first time the Warriors had played in Nelson.[7]

Date	Round	Opponent	Venue	Result	Score	Tries	Goals	Attendance	Report
7 February	Trial 1	Gold Coast Titans	Clive Berghofer Stadium, Toowoomba	Loss	12–22	Peyroux, Peteru	Pewhairangi (2)	6,827	[8]
14 February	Trial 2	Penrith Panthers	Rotorua International Stadium, Rotorua	Win	18–4	Maumalo (2), Niukore, Johnson	Townsend (1)	9,000	[9][10]
21 February	Trial 3	Warriors NSW Cup	Bruce Pulman Park, Papakura	Win	42–14	Hurrell (2), Vatuvei, Tomkins, Friend, Kata, Mannering, Johnson	Johnson (5)	2,000	[11]

Regular season

All home matches were played at Mount Smart Stadium in Auckland, with the exception of the Round 22 match, which was played at Westpac Stadium in Wellington. It was the third year in a row the Warriors took a match to Wellington, as part of the "Capital Clash".[12]

Date	Round	Opponent	Venue	Result	Score	Tries	Goals	Attendance	Report
7 March	Round 1	Newcastle Knights	Hunter Stadium, Newcastle	Loss	14–24	Leuluai, Hoffman	Johnson (3)	16,146	[13]
15 March	Round 2	Canberra Raiders	GIO Stadium, Canberra	Win	18–6	Vatuvei, Kata, Hoffman	Johnson (3)	8,241	[14]
21 March	Round 3	Parramatta Eels	Mount Smart Stadium, Auckland	Win	29–16	Kata (2), Hoffman, Lolohea, Vatuvei	Johnson (4 & FG)	14,112	[15]
29 March	Round 4	Brisbane Broncos	Mount Smart Stadium, Auckland	Loss	16–24	Townsend, Allwood, Kata	Johnson (2)	14,670	[16]
6 April	Round 5	Melbourne Storm	AAMI Park, Melbourne	Loss	14–30	Vatuvei, Friend, Ikahihifo	Johnson (1)	18,179	[17]
11 April	Round 6	Wests Tigers	Mount Smart Stadium, Auckland	Win	32–22	Vatuvei (2), Townsend, Lolohea, Johnson, Thompson	Johnson (4)	13,781	[18]
18 April	Round 7	North Queensland Cowboys	1300SMILES Stadium, Townsville	Loss	24–28	Hurrell, Wright, Kata, Vatuvei	Johnson (4)	16,038	[19]
25 April	Round 8	Gold Coast Titans	Mount Smart Stadium, Auckland	Loss	28–32	Fusitu'a, Matulino, Wright, Kata, Thompson	Johnson (4)	15,102	[20]
9 May	Round 9	Cronulla Sharks	Remondis Stadium, Sydney	Win	20–16	Wright, Vatuvei, Kata, Johnson	Johnson (2)	13,988	[21]
16 May	Round 10	Parramatta Eels	Parramatta Stadium, Sydney	Win	17–13 (A.E.T.)	Kata, Johnson, Thompson	Johnson (2) Townsend (FG)	11,152	[22]
	Round 11	Bye
31 May	Round 12	Newcastle Knights	Mount Smart Stadium, Auckland	Win	24–20	Lolohea, Vatuvei, Kata, Matulino, Wright	Johnson (2)	13,203	[23]
6 June	Round 13	South Sydney Rabbitohs	NIB Stadium, Perth	Loss	4–36	Vatuvei		20,272	[24]
13 June	Round 14	Sydney Roosters	Mount Smart Stadium, Auckland	Loss	21–25	Kata (2), Lolohea, Vatuvei	Johnson (2 & FG)	14,167	[25]
20 June	Round 15	Gold Coast Titans	Cbus Super Stadium, Robina	Win	36–14	Johnson (2), Friend, Faitala-Mariner, Hurrell, Thompson	Johnson (6)	14,132	[26]
27 June	Round 16	Canberra Raiders	Mount Smart Stadium, Auckland	Win	30–8	Lolohea (2), Thompson, Johnson, Vatuvei	Johnson (5)	13,110	[27]
	Round 17	Bye
12 July	Round 18	Melbourne Storm	Mount Smart Stadium, Auckland	Win	28–14	Lolohea (2), Fusitua, Thompson, Johnson	Johnson (4)	17,278	[28]
19 July	Round 19	Sydney Roosters	Sydney Football Stadium, Sydney	Loss	0–24			16,301	[29]
25 July	Round 20	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	Mount Smart Stadium, Auckland	Loss	12–32	Johnson, Vete	Lolohea (2)	15,812	[30]
1 August	Round 21	Cronulla Sharks	Mount Smart Stadium, Auckland	Loss	14–18	Hurrell, Mannering	Lolohea (3)	12,481	[31]
8 August	Round 22	St. George Illawarra Dragons	Westpac Stadium, Wellington	Loss	0–36			18,317	[32]
15 August	Round 23	Penrith Panthers	Sportingbet Stadium, Sydney	Loss	10–24	Tomkins, Hurrell	Lolohea (1)	6,774	[33]
22 August	Round 24	North Queensland Cowboys	Mount Smart Stadium, Auckland	Loss	16–50	Lolohea, Maumalo, Peyroux	Lolohea (2)	14,412	[34]
20 August	Round 25	Wests Tigers	Campbelltown Sports Stadium, Sydney	Loss	16–50	Allwood (2), Vete	Lolohea (2)	6,700	[35]
6 September	Round 26	Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs	ANZ Stadium, Sydney	Loss	22–26	Lolohea (2), Friend, Kata	Lolohea (2)	14,821	[36]

Ladder

2015 NRL season
Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	B	PF	PA	PD	Pts
1	Sydney Roosters	24	18	0	6	2	591	300	+291	40
2	Brisbane Broncos	24	17	0	7	2	574	379	+195	38
3	North Queensland Cowboys (P)	24	17	0	7	2	587	454	+133	38
4	Melbourne Storm	24	14	0	10	2	467	348	+119	32
5	Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs	24	14	0	10	2	522	480	+42	32
6	Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks	24	14	0	10	2	469	476	−7	32
7	South Sydney Rabbitohs	24	13	0	11	2	465	467	−2	30
8	St. George Illawarra Dragons	24	12	0	12	2	435	408	+27	28
9	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	24	11	0	13	2	458	492	−34	26
10	Canberra Raiders	24	10	0	14	2	577	569	+8	24
11	Penrith Panthers	24	9	0	15	2	399	477	−78	22
12	Parramatta Eels	24	9	0	15	2	448	573	−125	22
13	New Zealand Warriors	24	9	0	15	2	445	588	−143	22
14	Gold Coast Titans	24	9	0	15	2	439	636	−197	22
15	Wests Tigers	24	8	0	16	2	487	562	−75	20
16	Newcastle Knights	24	8	0	16	2	458	612	−154	20

Squad

See also: List of New Zealand Warriors players

No.	Name	Position	Warriors Debut	App	T	G	FG	Pts
105	Thomas Leuluai	HB	2 May 2003	10	1	0	0	4
115	Manu Vatuvei	WG	23 May 2004	16	11	0	0	44
125	Simon Mannering	SR	26 June 2005	24	1	0	0	4
131	Sam Rapira	PR	20 May 2006	4	0	0	0	0
142	Ben Matulino	PR	14 June 2008	21	2	0	0	8
146	Jacob Lillyman	PR	14 March 2009	21	0	0	0	0
159	Sione Lousi	SR	14 March 2010	7	0	0	0	0
163	Glen Fisiiahi	FB	12 March 2011	1	0	0	0	0
168	Shaun Johnson	HB	4 June 2011	18	8	48	2	130
171	Ben Henry	SR	4 March 2012	4	0	0	0	0
172	Nathan Friend	HK	4 March 2012	24	3	0	0	12
173	Konrad Hurrell	CE	4 March 2012	12	4	0	0	16
176	Sebastine Ikahihifo	LK	28 July 2012	9	1	0	0	4
180	Ngani Laumape	WG	24 March 2013	0	0	0	0	0
181	Suaia Matagi	PR	11 May 2013	1	0	0	0	0
182	Dominique Peyroux	CE	3 June 2013	8	1	0	0	4
183	Charlie Gubb	PR	7 July 2013	9	0	0	0	0
185	Sam Tomkins	FB	9 March 2014	13	1	0	0	4
186	Chad Townsend	HB	9 March 2014	22	2	0	1	9
188	John Palavi	PR	9 March 2014	0	0	0	0	0
189	David Fusitua	WG	15 March 2014	3	2	0	0	8
190	Siliva Havili	HK	13 April 2014	8	0	0	0	0
192	Tuimoala Lolohea	HB	27 July 2014	23	11	13	0	70
193	Solomone Kata	CE	7 March 2015	24	12	0	0	48
194	Bodene Thompson	SR	7 March 2015	21	6	0	0	24
195	Ryan Hoffman	SR	7 March 2015	18	3	0	0	12
196	Sam Lisone	PR	7 March 2015	18	0	0	0	0
197	Albert Vete	PR	7 March 2015	21	2	0	0	8
198	Jonathan Wright	WG	15 March 2015	20	4	0	0	16
199	Matt Allwood	CE	29 March 2015	3	3	0	0	12
200	Raymond Faitala-Mariner	SR	25 April 2015	11	1	0	0	4
201	Ken Maumalo	WG	16 May 2015	8	1	0	0	4
202	Mason Lino	HB	22 August 2015	3	0	0	0	0

Staff

• Chief Executive Officer: Jim Doyle
• General Manager: Don Mann Jr
• General Manager Football Operations: Dean Bell
• Medical Services Manager: John Mayhew
• Welfare and Education Manager: Jerry Seuseu
• Media and Communications Manager: Richard Becht

Coaching staff

• NRL head coach: Andrew McFadden
• NRL assistant coach: Tony Iro[37]
• NRL assistant coach: Andrew Webster[38]
• NSW Cup head coach: Stacey Jones[39]
• NSW Cup assistant coach: George Carmont[40]
• NSW Cup assistant coach: Willie Swann[40]
• NYC head coach: Kelvin Wright[39]

Transfers

Gains

Player	Previous Club	Length	Notes
Ryan Hoffman	Melbourne Storm	3 years	[41]
Matt Allwood	Canberra Raiders	3 years	[42]
Bodene Thompson	Wests Tigers	3 years	[43]
Api Pewhairangi	Parramatta Eels	1 year	[44]
Jonathan Wright	Cronulla Sharks	1 year	[45]

Losses

Player	Club	Notes
Jerome Ropati	Retired	[46]
Kevin Locke	Salford Red Devils	2014 Mid-season transfer[47]
Carlos Tuimavave	Newcastle Knights	[48]
Feleti Mateo	Manly Sea Eagles	[49]
Sam Lousi	New South Wales Waratahs	[50][51]
Jayson Bukuya	Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks	[43]
Dane Nielsen	St. George-Illawarra Dragons	[52]
Agnatius Paasi	Gold Coast Titans	[53]
Suaia Matagi	Sydney Roosters	2015 Mid-season transfer[54]
Nathaniel Peteru	Gold Coast Titans	2015 Mid-season transfer[55]
Api Pewhairangi	Connacht (RU)	2015 Mid-season transfer[56]
Ngani Laumape	Manawatu Turbos (RU)	2015 Mid-season transfer[57]

Other teams

As in 2014, the Warriors entered a team into the NSW Cup and the Junior Warriors competed in the Holden Cup.

NSW Cup squad

The Warriors NSW Cup side finished fourth in the regular season, however lost two consecutive play-off matches and were eliminated from the play-offs. John Palavi was named in the competition's team on the year.[58]

Holden Cup squad

See also: 2015 NRL Under-20s season

The Junior Warriors finished 7th to make the finals. They defeated the Roosters and the Broncos before being eliminated by the Penrith Panthers in the preliminary final.[59]

Club awards

Ben Matulino was named as the Warriors player of the year, his second time winning the award. The other finalists for the award were Simon Mannering and Shaun Johnson.[60]

Johnson was awarded the People's choice award, Albert Vete was named the Club person of the year and Tuimoala Lolohea was named the NRL rookie of the year.

John Palavi was named the NSW Cup side's player of the year, while Mason Lino was the sides rookie of the year.

Bunty Afoa was the Junior Warrior's player of the year, while Ata Hingano was the rookie of the year.[60]

References

1. PRESEASON | Day one warriors.co.nz, 3 November 2014
2. Warriors confirm nines squad nzherald.co.nz, 28 January 2015
3. "Warriors thrill crowd with win over Titans". NRL.com. 31 January 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
4. "Sensational Raiders silence Warriors faithful". NRL.com. 31 January 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
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6. "Warriors bow out as Sharks squeeze through". NRL.com. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
7. Plans for Warriors match scuttled stuff.co.nz, 23 October 2014
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9. Ken Maumalo makes statement as New Zealand Warriors beat Penrith Panthers in trial match stuff.co.nz, 14 February 2015
10. NRL Trial: Return to Rotorua warriors.co.nz, 24 November 2014
11. Valuable final NRL hit-out warriors.co.nz, 21 February 2015
12. Vodafone Warriors returning to Wellington warriors.co.nz, 18 December 2014
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37. Iro returning to Vodafone Warriors warriors.co.nz, 20 September 2014
38. Second assistant coach named warriors.co.nz, 23 September 2014
39. Jones to coach NSW Cup side in 2015 warriors.co.nz, 5 October 2014
40. http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/league/10663248/Well-travelled-Carmont-joins-Warriors-reserves
41. "Ryan Hoffman happy with his shift to Warriors". Stuff.
42. "NZ Warriors sign rookie centre Matt Allwood". Stuff.
43. Warriors sign Thompson, release Bukuya au.news.yahoo.com, 2 November 2014
44. Warriors sign Irish international Archived 4 December 2014 at the Wayback Machine rugbyleagueweek.com.au, 27 November 2014
45. "Vodafone Warriors sign Wright". Warriors. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
46. "Jerome Ropati announces league retirement". Stuff.
47. "BBC Sport – Kevin Locke: Salford Red Devils sign New Zealand full-back". BBC Sport.
48. "Carlos Tuimavave is off to Newcastle Knights". Stuff.
49. "Forward Feleti Mateo offloaded by NZ Warriors". Stuff.
50. "Sam Lousi granted early release". Warriors. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
51. "Waratahs Coach Michael Cheika Gambles on 126 kg League Rooke Sam Lousi for Lock Position". Couriermail.com.au. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
52. Warriors centre Nielsen signs with Dragons stuff.co.nz, 19 November 2014
53. "Paasi's puzzling path to the NRL". nrl.com. 13 January 2015. Retrieved 4 February 2015.
54. "Warriors prop Suaia Matagi inks deal with the Sydney Roosters after seeking early release". stuff.co.nz. 15 May 2015. Retrieved 15 May 2015.
55. "Titans sign Warriors forward | NRL". Zero Tackle. Retrieved 13 July 2015.
56. "NSW CUP ROUND #16 v Mounties". 24 June 2015. Retrieved 24 June 2015.
57. "Warrior Ngani Laumape crosses rugby codes to sign with Manawatu Turbos". stuff.co.nz. 27 July 2015. Retrieved 27 July 2015.
58. Palavi in team of the year warriors.kiwi, 28 September 2015
59. Junior Warriors pumped by Panthers nzherald.co.nz, 25 September 2015
60. Ben Matulino wins Warriors' player of year award for second time stuff.co.nz, 15 September 2015

External links

• Warriors 2015 season rugby league project