1995 Auckland Warriors season

The Auckland Warriors 1995 season was the Auckland Warriors inaugural first-grade season. The club competed in Australasia's Australian Rugby League competition. The coach of the team was John Monie while Dean Bell was the club's captain.

Milestones

• 10 March - Round One: The Warriors play their inaugural game against the Brisbane Broncos. A crowd of 29,220 watch the Warriors go down 25-22 to the Broncos, after leading them throughout the game.
• 16 March - Round Three: The Warriors are docked two competition points for using an extra interchange player in a win over the Western Suburbs Magpies. They would ultimately miss out on the finals by two points. The fifth interchange player was sent on as a blood bin replacement, with the coaching staff not realising this was against the rules.^[1]
• 23 April - Round Seven: Stacey Jones makes his debut for the Warriors, scoring six points in a win over Parramatta.
• 4 June - Round Eleven: The final two members of the squad, Frano Botica and Denis Betts, make their debuts for the Warriors after completing the English season for Wigan.
• October: 18 players from the club participated in the World Cup: Denis Betts, Andy Platt (England), Richie Blackmore, Syd Eru, Sean Hoppe, Stacey Jones, Stephen Kearney, Gene Ngamu, Hitro Okesene (New Zealand), Duane Mann (Tonga), Willie Poching, Tea Ropati, Se'e Solomona, Willie Swann, Tony Tatupu, Tony Tuimavave, Joe Vagana and Nigel Vagana (Western Samoa). In addition, Frank Endacott coached New Zealand.

Jersey & Sponsors

The Warriors inaugural jersey was produced by Canterbury of New Zealand. The Jersey was blue with a Green, Red and White "V". In part, the colours were based on the traditional Auckland colours of Blue and White. The main sponsor was DB Bitter, with Ansett Australia as the sleeve sponsor. Asics, Coca-Cola and Mitsubishi also had sponsorship deals.

Fixtures

The Warriors used Ericsson Stadium as their home ground in 1995, and it remained the only Home Ground the club used in the competition until they played a match at Eden Park in 2011.

Pre-Season

Three pre-season matches were played before the World Sevens and another three were played after the World Sevens.

Date	Round	Opponent	Venue	Result	Score	Tries	Goals	Attendance	Report
18 January	Match 1	Canterbury	Addington Showgrounds, Christchurch	Win	26 - 12			12,811	[2]
January	Match 2	Central Districts	Palmerston North Showgrounds, Palmerston North	Win	36 - 16				[3]
January	Match 3	Auckland	Carlaw Park, Auckland	Win	46 - 20				[3]
February	Match 4	Northland	Kaikohe	Win	66 - 6				[3]
14 February	Match 5	Canberra Raiders	Carlaw Park, Auckland	Win	23 - 16			16,000	[3]
25 February	Match 6	Western Reds	West Wyong	Loss	28 - 40				[3]

World Sevens

The Warriors participated in the 1995 Rugby League World Sevens, losing in the Trophy Quarterfinals.

Squad: Phil Blake (c), Sean Hoppe, Manoa Thompson, Tea Ropati, Whetu Taewa, Gene Ngamu, Syd Eru, Stephen Kearney, Tony Tatupu, Des Maea.^[4]

Date	Round	Opponent	Venue	Result	Score	Tries	Goals	Attendance	Report
3 February	Round 1	Canberra Raiders	Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane	Win	22 - 4	Blake (2), Hoppe, Ngamu	Ngamu (3)
3 February	Round 2	New Zealand 'A'	Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane	Loss	10 - 26	Eru, Ropati	Ngamu (1)
5 February	Trophy Quarterfinals	Sydney Tigers	Sydney Football Stadium, Sydney	Loss	12 - 16	Ngamu (2)	Ngamu (2)

Tooheys Challenge Cup

Team: Phil Blake (c), Sean Hoppe, Dean Bell, Manoa Thompson, Whetu Taewa, Martin Moana, Gene Ngamu, Gavin Hill, Duane Mann, Hitro Okesene, Stephen Kearney, Tony Tatupu, Tony Tuimavave. Bench: Tea Ropati, Se'e Solomona, Mike Dorreen, Jason Mackie.^[5]

Date	Round	Opponent	Venue	Result	Score	Tries	Goals	Attendance	Report
19 February	Round 1	North Sydney Bears	Parramatta Stadium, Sydney	Loss	14 - 12	Taewa, Ngamu	Hill (1), Ngamu (1)	8211

Regular Season

Date	Round	Opponent	Venue	Result	Score	Tries	Goals	Attendance	Report
10 March	Round 1	Brisbane Broncos	Ericsson Stadium, Auckland	Loss	22 - 25	Blake, Hoppe, Ropati, Tatupu	Ngamu (3)	29,220
18 March	Round 2	Illawarra Steelers	Steelers Stadium, Wollongong	Loss	28 - 40	Blake (2), Hoppe (2), Ropati	Ngamu (4)	12,127
26 March	Round 3	Western Suburbs Magpies	Ericsson Stadium, Auckland	Win*	46 - 12	Blake (4), Alexander, Kearney, Ngamu, Ropati	Ngamu (7)	21,446
1 April	Round 4	North Sydney Bears	North Sydney Oval, Sydney	Loss	10 - 48	Blake (2)	Ngamu (1)	14,683
7 April	Round 5	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	Ericsson Stadium, Auckland	Loss	14 - 26	Hoppe (2), Moana	Ngamu (1)	30,112
16 April	Round 6	Illawarra Steelers	Ericsson Stadium, Auckland	Loss	22 - 25	Hoppe (2), Ropati, Alexander, Bell, Mann, Taewa	Ngamu (5)	29,474
23 April	Round 7	Parramatta Eels	Leichhardt Oval, Sydney	Win	40 - 4	Blake, Hoppe, Jones, Mann, Ngamu, Ropati, Tatupu	Ngamu (4), Alexander (1), Jones (1)	10,426
30 April	Round 8	Sydney City Roosters	Ericsson Stadium, Auckland	Win	26 - 22	Bell (2), Mann, Ropati, Tatupu	Ngamu (3)	29,048
7 May	Round 9	Newcastle Knights	Marathon Stadium, Newcastle	Loss	6 - 48	Blake, Hoppe, Ropati, Tatupu	Ngamu (3)	29,220
14 May	Round 10	Cronulla Sharks	Caltex Field, Sydney	Win	23 - 18	Hoppe, Dorreen, Kirwan, Okesene	Ngamu (1), Jones (FG)	10,142
4 June	Round 11	Sydney Tigers	Ericsson Stadium, Auckland	Win	36 - 12	Hoppe (2), Betts (2) Jones, Ropati	Botica (6)	28,713
18 June	Round 12	Penrith Panthers	Ericsson Stadium, Auckland	Loss	16 - 34	Blackmore (2), Okesene, Ropati		24,723
25 June	Round 13	Western Suburbs Magpies	Campbelltown SG, Sydney	Win	16 - 12	Jones, Tuimavave, Tatupu	Jones (2)	10,700
1 July	Round 14	South Sydney Rabbitohs	SFS, Sydney	Win	38 - 20	Eru (2), Alexander, Betts, Botica, Edwards, Tatupu	Botica (5)	6,954
9 July	Round 15	Gold Coast Seagulls	Ericsson Stadium, Auckland	Win	44 - 16	Ropati (3), Alexander, Botica, Dorreen, Hoppe, Kirwan	Botica (6)	20,493
16 July	Round 16	Western Reds	Ericsson Stadium, Auckland	Win	34 - 10	Alexander, Betts, Eru, Hoppe, Jones, Ropati	Jones (3), Botica (2)	19,244
23 July	Round 17	South Queensland Crushers	Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane	Win	22 - 10	Hoppe (2), Blake, Blackmore	Jones (3)	28,928
29 July	Round 18	North Queensland Cowboys	Stockland Stadium, Townsville	Win	28 - 10	Alexander (2), Betts, Blackmore, Hoppe, Kirwan	Ngamu (2)	23,521
6 August	Round 19	St George Dragons	Ericsson Stadium, Auckland	Loss	14 - 47	Blackmore, Hoppe, Jones	Alexander (1)	28,973
11 August	Round 20	Sydney Bulldogs	Parramatta Stadium, Sydney	Win	29 - 8	Blake (2), Alexander, Kearney, Poaching	Alexander (2), Hill (1), Ngamu (1), Jones (FG)	10,416
18 August	Round 21	Canberra Raiders	Ericsson Stadium, Auckland	Loss	8 - 15	Hoppe	Ngamu (2)	29,500
27 August	Round 22	Brisbane Broncos	ANZ Stadium, Brisbane	Loss	6 - 44	Ngamu	Ngamu (1)	54,645

*The Warriors were stripped the 2 competition points from winning this game due to exceeding the replacement limit.

Ladder

	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts
1	Manly	22	20	0	2	687	248	+439	40
2	Canberra	22	20	0	2	634	255	+379	40
3	Brisbane	22	17	0	5	600	364	+236	34
4	Cronulla	22	16	0	6	516	287	+229	32
5	Newcastle	22	15	0	7	549	396	+153	30
6	Sydney Bulldogs	22	14	0	8	468	352	+116	28
7	St. George	22	13	0	9	583	382	+201	26
8	North Sydney	22	11	2	9	542	331	+211	24
9	Sydney City	22	12	0	10	466	406	+60	24
10	Auckland	22	13	0	9	544	493	+51	24*
11	Western Reds	22	11	0	11	361	549	-188	22
12	Illawarra	22	10	1	11	519	431	+88	21
13	Western Suburbs	22	10	0	12	459	534	-75	20
14	Penrith	22	9	0	13	481	484	-3	18
15	Sydney Tigers	22	7	0	15	309	591	-282	14
16	South Queensland	22	6	1	15	303	502	-199	13
17	Gold Coast	22	4	1	17	350	628	-278	9
18	South Sydney	22	4	1	17	319	686	-367	9
19	Parramatta	22	3	0	19	310	690	-380	6
20	North Queensland	22	2	0	20	269	660	-391	4

*Auckland Warriors were stripped of 2 competition points due to exceeding the replacement limit in one game.

Squad

Twenty Eight players were used by the club in 1995.

No.	Name	Nationality	Position	Warriors Debut	App	T	G	FG	Pts
1	Bell, DeanDean Bell	NZL !	CE / LK	10 March	19	3	0	0	12
2	Blake, PhilPhil Blake	AUS !	FB / HK	10 March	17	14	0	0	56
3	Hoppe, SeanSean Hoppe	NZL !	WG	10 March	22	19	0	0	76
4	Thompson, ManoaManoa Thompson	FJI !	CE	10 March	7	0	0	0	0
5	Taewa, WhetuWhetu Taewa	NZL !	CE	10 March	11	1	0	0	4
6	Ngamu, GeneGene Ngamu	NZL !	FE	10 March	21	3	36	0	84
7	Alexander, GregGreg Alexander	AUS !	FB / HB	10 March	21	8	4	0	40
8	Hill, GavinGavin Hill	NZL !	PR	10 March	7	0	1	0	2
9	Mann, DuaneDuane Mann	NZL ! /	HK	10 March	13	3	0	0	12
10	Okesene, HitroHitro Okesene	NZL !	PR / HK	10 March	17	2	0	0	8
11	Kearney, StephenStephen Kearney	NZL !	SR	10 March	20	2	0	0	8
12	Tatupu, TonyTony Tatupu	NZL ! /	SR	10 March	16	5	0	0	20
13	Tuimavave, TonyTony Tuimavave	NZL ! /	PR / LK	10 March	21	1	0	0	4
14	Solomona, Se'eSe'e Solomona	NZL ! /	PR	10 March	9	0	0	0	0
15	Ropati, TeaTea Ropati	NZL ! /	CE / FE	10 March	21	12	0	0	48
16	Mackie, JasonJason Mackie	NZL !	LK	10 March	5	0	0	0	0
17	Moana, MartinMartin Moana	NZL !	LK / FE	10 March	6	1	0	0	4
18	Vagana, JoeJoe Vagana	NZL ! /	PR	18 March	8	0	0	0	0
19	Eru, SydSyd Eru	NZL !	HK	28 March	15	3	0	0	12
20	Poching, WillieWillie Poching	NZL ! /	SR	28 March	2	1	0	0	4
21	Edwards, LoganLogan Edwards	NZL !	SR / LK	7 April	15	1	0	0	4
22	Kirwan, JohnJohn Kirwan	NZL !	WG	16 April	16	3	0	0	12
23	Platt, AndyAndy Platt	ENG !	PR	23 April	14	0	0	0	0
24	Jones, StaceyStacey Jones	NZL !	HB	23 April	14	5	9	2	40
25	Dorreen, MikeMike Dorreen	NZL !	CE	7 May	4	2	0	0	8
26	Blackmore, RichieRichie Blackmore	NZL !	CE	14 May	10	5	0	0	20
27	Botica, FranoFrano Botica	NZL !	WG	4 June	5	2	19	0	46
28	Betts, DenisDenis Betts	ENG !	SR	4 June	11	5	0	0	20

Staff

• Chairman: Peter McLeod
• Chief Executive Officer: Ian Robson
• Football Manager: Laurie Stubbing

Coaching Staff

• Head Coach: John Monie
• Reserve Grade Coach: Frank Endacott
• Coaching & Development Manager: Bob Hall
• U16 Grade Coach & Development Officer: John Ackland
• U16 Grade Co-coach: Brian McClennan^[6]

Other Teams

The Warriors participated in the ARL's Reserve grade competition that mirrored the senior draw. The Reserve grade side made the top eight, finishing eighth, but lost to Penrith 8-14 in the Quarterfinals.^[7]

In the Club Championship the Warriors finished seventh overall.

Warriors Colts

In addition a Warriors Colts side was fielded in NZRL's Lion Red Cup. The Warrior Colts made the grand final but lost to the North Harbour Sea Eagles.

After trailing 15-2 at halftime the North Harbour Sea Eagles came from behind to defeat the Warrior Colts 28-21 in the second Lion Red Cup Grand Final.^[8] The match included an eight-point try scored by Paki Tuimavave in the 48th minute. Tuimavave was tackled high by Aaron Lester while he was grounding the ball. Lester was then sin-binned for back chatting the referee after the incident.

Awards

Tea Ropati won the clubs Player of the Year award.^[9]

Super League

The Auckland Warriors, along with seven other clubs, signed with News Limited to form a new competition in 1996, the Super League. Thirteen players signed with the new competition on 2 April 1995, after the Warriors' Round 4 loss to the North Sydney Bears, with coach John Monie having signed in late March. The club as a whole signed with News Limited on 20 April. This decision meant that Auckland Warriors players became ineligible for the New South Wales and Queensland State of Origin sides and the Australian Kangaroos. The New Zealand Rugby League and English Rugby Football League organisations had also signed with News Limited and so the majority of Warriors players were still eligible to represent their countries at the 1995 Rugby League World Cup.

References

External links

• Warriors official site
• 1995 Warriors Season rugbyleagueproject.org
• Becht, Richard. A New Breed Rising: The Warriors Winfield Cup Challenge. Auckland, HarperCollins, 1994. ISBN 1-86950-154-3