2003 New Zealand Warriors season

The 2003 New Zealand Warriors season was the 9th in the club's history. They competed in the National Rugby League's 2003 Telstra Premiership and finished the regular season in 6th place. The Warriors then came within one game of the grand final, losing to eventual premiers the Penrith Panthers. The coach of the team was Daniel Anderson while Monty Betham was the club captain.

Milestones

The Warriors had the youngest squad out of all the 15 clubs in the 2003 NRL season.^[1]
23 March — Round 2: Monty Betham played in his 50th match for the club.
6 April — Round 4: Francis Meli, Wairangi Koopu and Mark Tookey played in their 50th first grade games for the club.^[2]
22 June — Round 13: Motu Tony played in his 50th match for the club.
12 July — Round 18: Ali Lauitiiti played in his 100th match for the club.
10 August — Round 22: Richard Villasanti played in his 50th match for the club.
6 September — Round 26: Awen Guttenbiel played in his 100th match for the club.

Jersey & Sponsors

The Warriors launched a new jersey design in 2003, finally removing completely the blue and white colours the owners had inherited when the purchased the company.^[3]

Fixtures

The Warriors used Ericsson Stadium as their home ground in 2003, their only home ground since they entered the competition in 1995.

Pre-season

The Warriors played a pre-season trial match against the Penrith Panthers in Invercargill on 28 February. 15,000 fans attended the match, which was sold out.^[4]

Regular Season

Date	Round	Opponent	Venue	Result	Score	Tries	Goals	Attendance
16 March	Round 1	Newcastle Knights	Mount Smart Stadium, Auckland	Loss	26-36	Hohaia (2), Carlaw, Fa'afili, Meli	Jones (3)	16,291
23 March	Round 2	Canterbury Bulldogs	Mount Smart Stadium, Auckland	Win	24-20	Hohaia (2), Fa'afili, Guttenbeil, Meli	Marsh (2)	16,229
29 March	Round 3	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	Brookvale Oval, Sydney	Win	20-16	Toopi (2), Fa'afili, Swann	Marsh (2)	14,273
6 April	Round 4	South Sydney Rabbitohs	Mount Smart Stadium, Auckland	Win	38-16	Fa'afili (2), Hohaia (2), Meli (2), Seuseu, Tony	Marsh (2), Hohaia (1)	13,614
13 April	Round 5	Brisbane Broncos	ANZ Stadium, Brisbane	Win	32-12	Meli (2), Faumuina, Marsh, Swann, Tuimavave	Marsh (3), Tuimavave (1)	18,959
21 April	Round 6	North Queensland Cowboys	Mount Smart Stadium, Auckland	Win	30-24	Fa'afili, Jones, Marsh, Meli, Tony, Toopi	Marshs (3)	19,722
27 April	Round 7	Penrith Panthers	Mount Smart Stadium, Auckland	Loss	14-28	Fa'afili, Koopu, Tony	Jones (1)	15,732
2 May	Round 8	Bulldogs	Westpac Stadium, Wellington	Loss	12-18	Meli, Toopi	Webb (2)	21,989
10 May	Round 9	Parramatta Eels	Mount Smart Stadium, Auckland	Win	18-16	Meli (2), Marsh, Swann	Webb (1)	15,397
	Round 10	Bye
23 May	Round 11	Canberra Raiders	Westpac Stadium, Wellington	Loss	10-18	Fa'afili	Webb (1)	13,130
31 May	Round 12	Penrith Panthers	CUA Stadium, Sydney	Loss	12-34	Betham, Tony	Jones (2)	20,280
7 June	Round 13	Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks	Mount Smart Stadium, Auckland	Win	23-6	Faumuina, Jones, Meli, Mellars	Jones (3 & FG)	16,172
14 June	Round 14	Parramatta Eels	Parramatta Stadium, Sydney	Loss	26-28	V.Anderson, Betham, Faumuina, Meli, Webb	Jones (2), Webb (1)	8,076
22 June	Round 15	Canberra Raiders	Mount Smart Stadium, Auckland	Win	26-18	Swann (2), Tony, Toopi, Villasanti	Jones (3)	18,375
29 June	Round 16	South Sydney Rabbitohs	Sydney Football Stadium, Sydney	Win	31-30 (a.e.t)	Jones, Meli, Tony, Toopi, Webb	Jones (5 & FG)	9,109
5 July	Round 17	North Queensland Cowboys	Dairy Farmers Stadium, Townsville	Loss	10-30	Swann (2)	Jones (1)	16,028
12 July	Round 18	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	Mount Smart Stadium, Auckland	Win	20-12	V.Anderson, Latu, Webb	Jones (4)	15,528
19 July	Round 19	Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks	Toyota Park, Sydney	Win	31-24	Toopi (2), Murphy, Villasanti, Webb	Jones (5 & FG)	13,565
	Round 20	Bye
2 August	Round 21	Melbourne Storm	Mount Smart Stadium, Auckland	Loss	12-14	V.Anderson, Toopi	Hohaia (2)	15,207
10 August	Round 22	St. George Illawarra Dragons	Oki Jubilee Stadium, Sydney	Win	30-20	Carlaw, Hohaia, Lauiti'iti, Leuluai, Villasanti, Webb	Hohaia (3)	12,595
15 August	Round 23	Newcastle Knights	EnergyAustralia Stadium, Newcastle	Loss	20-36	Toopi (2), Meli, Villasanti	Hohaia (2)	17,198
24 August	Round 24	Brisbane Broncos	Mount Smart Stadium, Auckland	Win	22-14	V.Anderson, Faumuina, Latu, Meli	Webb (3)	19,439
31 August	Round 25	Sydney Roosters	Sydney Football Stadium, Sydney	Win	26-24	Meli (2), Toopi, Villasanti	Webb (5)	18,726
6 September	Round 26	Wests Tigers	Mount Smart Stadium, Auckland	Win	32-16	Toopi (3), V.Anderson (2), Meli	Webb (4)	20,392

Final Series

Date	Round	Opponent	Venue	Result	Score	Tries	Goals	Attendance
13 September	Qualifying Final	Bulldogs	Showgrounds, Sydney	Win	48 - 22	Meli (5), Webb (2), Faumuina, Tony	Webb (5), Faumuina (1)	18,312
20 September	Preliminary Final	Canberra Raiders	Aussie Stadium, Sydney	Win	17 - 16	Fa'afili, Swann, Toopi	Webb (2), Jones (FG)	31,616
28 September	Preliminary Final	Penrith Panthers	Telstra Stadium, Sydney	Loss	20 - 28	Swann, Toopi, Villasanti, Webb	Webb (2)	43,174

Ladder

	Team	Pld	W	L	B	PF	PA	PD	Pts
1	Penrith	24	18	6	2	659	527	+132	40
2	Sydney	24	17	7	2	680	445	+235	38
3	Bulldogs	24	16	8	2	702	419	+283	36
4	Canberra	24	16	8	2	620	463	+157	36
5	Melbourne	24	15	9	2	564	486	+78	34
6	New Zealand	24	15	9	2	545	510	+35	34
7	Newcastle	24	14	10	2	632	635	-3	32
8	Brisbane	24	12	12	2	497	464	+33	28
9	Parramatta	24	11	13	2	570	582	-12	26
10	St George Illawarra	24	11	13	2	548	593	-45	26
11	North Queensland	24	10	14	2	606	629	-23	24
12	Cronulla	24	8	16	2	497	704	-207	20
13	Wests Tigers	24	7	17	2	470	598	-128	18
14	Manly	24	7	17	2	470	791	-321	18
15	South Sydney	24	3	21	2	457	758	-301	10

Squad

Twenty eight players were used by the Warriors in 2003, including five players who made their first grade debuts.

No.	Name	Nationality	Position	Warriors Debut	App	T	G	FG	Pts
24	Jones, StaceyStacey Jones	NZL !	HB	23 April 1995	22	3	29	4	74
33	Guttenbeil, AwenAwen Guttenbeil	NZL ! /	SR	14 April 1996	20	1	0	0	4
42	Swann, LoganLogan Swann	NZL !	SR	1 March 1997	23	9	0	0	36
50	Seu Seu, JerryJerry Seu Seu	NZL ! /	PR	16 August 1997	24	1	0	0	4
55	Lauitiiti, AliAli Lauitiiti	NZL ! /	SR	19 April 1998	12	1	0	0	4
61	Betham, MontyMonty Betham	NZL ! /	HK / LK	8 March 1999	24	2	0	0	8
64	Koopu, WairangiWairangi Koopu	NZL !	CE / SR	9 April 1999	25	1	0	0	4
65	Meli, FrancisFrancis Meli	NZL ! /	WG	2 May 1999	27	23	0	0	92
66	Toopi, ClintonClinton Toopi	NZL !	CE	2 May 1999	22	17	0	0	68
76	Tookey, MarkMark Tookey	AUS !	PR	6 February 2000	17	0	0	0	0
81	Fa'afili, HenryHenry Fa'afili	NZL ! /	WG	26 March 2000	24	10	0	0	40
87	Villasanti, RichardRichard Villasanti	AUS ! /	PR	18 February 2001	16	6	0	0	24
90	Tony, MotuMotu Tony	NZL ! /	UH	9 March 2001	18	7	0	0	28
92	Murphy, JustinJustin Murphy	FRA !	WG	7 April 2001	8	1	0	0	4
93	Paleaaesina, IafetaIafeta Paleaaesina	NZL ! /	PR	1 June 2001	24	0	0	0	0
95	Carlaw, JohnJohn Carlaw	AUS !	CE	24 March 2002	10	2	0	0	8
96	Marsh, PJPJ Marsh	AUS !	HB / HK	24 March 2002	11	3	12	0	36
97	Webb, BrentBrent Webb	NZL !	FB	1 April 2002	21	8	26	0	84
98	Faumuina, SioneSione Faumuina	NZL !	CE / LK	1 April 2002	24	5	1	0	22
99	Hohaia, LanceLance Hohaia	NZL !	UB	6 April 2002	16	7	8	0	44
100	Anderson, VinnieVinnie Anderson	NZL ! /	CE	7 July 2002	27	6	0	0	24
102	Tuimavave, EvarnEvarn Tuimavave	NZL !	PR	1 September 2002	9	1	1	0	6
103	Temata, KarlKarl Temata	COK !	PR / SR	6 September 2002	10	0	0	0	0
104	Robinson, MarkMark Robinson	NZL !	HK	2 May 2003	1	0	0	0	0
105	Leuluai, ThomasThomas Leuluai	NZL !	HB	2 May 2003	12	1	0	0	4
106	Mellars, VinceVince Mellars	NZL !	CE	7 June 2003	4	1	0	0	4
107	Latu, TevitaTevita Latu	NZL ! /	HK	7 June 2003	7	2	0	0	8
108	Ropati, JeromeJerome Ropati	NZL !	CE / FE	31 August 2003	1	0	0	0	0

Staff

Chief Executive Officer: Mick Watson

Coaching Staff

Head Coach: Daniel Anderson
Assistant Coach: Tony Kemp
Assistant Coach: Rohan Smith

Transfers

Gains

Player	Previous Club	Length	Notes
Robinson, MarkMark Robinson	North Harbour Rugby Union

Losses

Player	Club	Notes
Pai, JeremiahJeremiah Pai	Wests Tigers
Morgan, JustinJustin Morgan	Toulouse Olympique
Campion, KevinKevin Campion	North Queensland Cowboys
Hape, ShontayneShontayne Hape	Bradford Bulls
Myles, DavidDavid Myles	North Queensland Cowboys
Cleary, IvanIvan Cleary	Retired

Other Teams

Players not required by the Warriors were released to play in the 2003 Bartercard Cup. This included Motu Tony and Jerome Ropati at the Marist Richmond Brothers, Mark Robinson at the North Harbour Tigers and Richard Villasanti at the Canterbury Bulls.

Awards

Francis Meli won the Player of the Year award.^[5]

References

↑ John Coffey Warriors youngest in NRL The Press, 30 November 2002
↑ Francis Meli will play his 50th NRL match for the Warriors Western Leader, 4 April 2003
↑ John Coffey Warriors' new strip The Press, 29 November 2002
↑ We're first - angry Roosters call for ad to be dropped Sydney Morning Herald, 28 February 2003
↑ Vodafone Warriors RED BALL Awards warriors.co.nz, 16 September 2014

External links

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 (22)	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 NRL Auckland Nines NSW Cup

2003 in rugby league

« 2002

2004 »

International Rugby League

British Rugby League

Competitions	Super League Grand Final National Leagues Challenge Cup Northern Rail Cup

SL Teams	Bradford Bulls Castleford Tigers Halifax RLFC Huddersfield Giants Hull FC Leeds Rhinos London Broncos St Helens Clash of the Codes Wakefield Wildcats Warrington Wolves Widnes Vikings Wigan Warriors

Australian Rugby League

Competitions	State of Origin NRL season Grand Final Queensland Cup NSWRL Premier League

By club	Brisbane Broncos Bulldogs Canberra Raiders Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 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

Other Domestic competitions

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