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.

2008 New Zealand Warriors season
NRL Rank8th
2008 recordWins: 15; draws: 0; losses: 12
Points scoredFor: 502; against: 567
Team information
CEOWayne Scurrah
CoachIvan Cleary
Assistant coachJohn Ackland
Captains
StadiumMt Smart Stadium
Avg. attendance12,528
Top scorers
TriesManu Vatuvei (16)
GoalsMichael Witt (59)
PointsMichael Witt (138)
← 2007 2009 →

Milestones

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Jersey & Sponsors

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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

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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

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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

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Date Round Opponent Venue Result Score Tries Goals Attendance Report
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

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Date Round Opponent Venue Result Score Tries Goals Attendance Report
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

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

Squad

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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 FG Pts
42 Logan Swann   SR 1 March 1997 24 0 0 0 0
64 Wairangi Koopu   CE / SR 9 April 1999 6 0 0 0 0
99 Lance Hohaia   UB 6 April 2002 26 9 21 0 78
102 Evarn Tuimavave   PR 1 September 2002 25 2 0 0 8
108 Jerome Ropati   CE / FE 31 August 2003 22 9 0 0 36
110 Epalahame Lauaki   /   SR 14 March 2004 16 0 0 0 0
115 Manu Vatuvei   WG 23 May 2004 17 16 0 0 64
121 Steve Price   PR 13 March 2005 17 1 0 0 4
123 Ruben Wiki   PR 13 March 2005 24 1 0 0 4
124 Nathan Fien   HK 13 March 2005 27 1 0 0 4
125 Simon Mannering   CE 26 June 2005 27 5 0 0 20
126 Micheal Luck   SR 12 March 2006 25 3 0 0 12
127 Grant Rovelli   HB 12 March 2006 21 1 0 0 4
129 Patrick Ah Van   WG 9 April 2006 12 4 4 0 24
131 Sam Rapira   PR 20 May 2006 27 2 0 0 8
132 Wade McKinnon   FB 17 March 2007 5 3 0 0 12
133 Michael Crockett   WG 17 March 2007 6 4 0 0 12
134 Michael Witt   FE 17 March 2007 18 5 59 0 138
136 Aidan Kirk   FB / CE 17 March 2008 15 7 0 0 28
137 Brent Tate   CE 17 March 2008 24 4 0 0 16
138 Ian Henderson   HK 23 March 2008 26 7 0 0 28
139 Sonny Fai   SR 23 March 2008 15 5 0 0 20
140 Ryan Shortland   CE 6 April 2008 5 3 0 0 12
141 Russell Packer   PR 4 May 2008 5 1 0 0 4
142 Ben Matulino   SR 14 June 2008 15 1 0 0 4
143 Malo Solomona   WG 29 June 2008 8 3 0 0 12

Staff

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  • Chief Executive Officer: Wayne Scurrah

NRL Staff

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

NYC Staff

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Transfers

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Gains

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

Losses

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

Other Teams

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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

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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.

Pos Team Pld W D L B PF PA PD Pts
1   Canberra Raiders (P) 24 18 0 6 2 744 581 +163 40
2   Brisbane Broncos 24 15 1 8 2 684 476 +208 35
3   New Zealand Warriors 24 14 3 7 2 721 533 +188 35
4   Penrith Panthers 24 15 1 8 2 692 583 +109 35
5   Parramatta Eels 24 14 3 7 2 578 564 +14 35
6   St George Illawarra Dragons 24 13 2 9 2 561 520 +41 32
7   Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs 24 12 3 9 2 711 587 +124 31
8   Gold Coast Titans 24 13 1 10 2 686 567 +119 31
9   Wests Tigers 24 13 0 11 2 620 623 -3 30
10   South Sydney Rabbitohs 24 11 2 11 2 618 584 +34 28
11   Manly Warringah Sea Eagles 24 11 0 13 2 519 532 -13 26
12   Newcastle Knights 24 8 1 15 2 526 630 -104 21
13   Melbourne Storm 24 8 1 15 2 512 638 -126 21
14   Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 24 6 1 17 2 394 666 -272 17
15   Sydney Roosters 24 6 0 18 2 480 721 -241 16
16   North Queensland Cowboys 24 4 3 17 2 455 696 -241 15

Awards

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

References

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  1. ^ a b c 2008 NRL trials Archived 1 June 2009 at the Wayback Machine warriors.co.nz. Retrieved 1 July 2009
  2. ^ Warriors trainer quits to join Roosters stuff.co.nz, 15 October 2012
  3. ^ Auckland Vulcans Player of the Year Auckland Vulcans. Retrieved 15 August 2009
  4. ^ Vodafone Warriors RED BALL Awards warriors.co.nz, 16 September 2014
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