2015 New Zealand Warriors season

A special logo was used for the 2015 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.

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 Kiwis 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

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]

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]

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

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

Losses

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

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

External links

• Warriors 2015 season rugby league project