# 1995 Auckland Warriors season

The 1995 Auckland Warriors season was the inaugural season of the newly-formed club. Competing the 1995 Australian Rugby League premiership, they were coached by John Monie and captained by Dean Bell. The Warriors' home ground for their first season was Ericsson Stadium. They finished their first premiership regular season 10th (out of 20), so failed to make the finals.

## 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.
* 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 | Attendance |
| 18 January | Match 1 | Canterbury | Addington Showgrounds, Christchurch | Win | 26 - 12 | 12,811 |
| January | Match 2 | Central Districts | Palmerston North Showgrounds, Palmerston North | Win | 36 - 16 | |
| January | Match 3 | Auckland | Carlaw Park, Auckland | Win | 46 - 20 | |
| February | Match 4 | Northland | Kaikohe | Win | 66 - 6 | |
| 14 February | Match 5 | Canberra Raiders | Carlaw Park, Auckland | Win | 23 - 16 | 16,000 |
| 25 February | Match 6 | Western Reds | West Wyong | Loss | 28 - 40 | |

### 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.
| Date | Round | Opponent | Venue | Result | Score | Tries | Goals |
| 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.
| 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 |
| 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 | Win | 38 - 12 | Hoppe (2), Ropati, Alexander, Bell, Mann, Taewa | Ngamu (5) | 29,474 |
| 23 April | Round 7 | Parramatta Eels | Parramatta Stadium, 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 | Dean Bell | | CE / LK | 10 March | 19 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 12 |
| 2 | Phil Blake | | FB / HK | 10 March | 17 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 56 |
| 3 | Sean Hoppe | | WG | 10 March | 22 | 19 | 0 | 0 | 76 |
| 4 | Manoa Thompson | | CE | 10 March | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 5 | Whetu Taewa | | CE | 10 March | 11 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| 6 | Gene Ngamu | | FE | 10 March | 21 | 3 | 36 | 0 | 84 |
| 7 | Greg Alexander | | FB / HB | 10 March | 21 | 8 | 4 | 0 | 40 |
| 8 | Gavin Hill | | PR | 10 March | 7 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 9 | Duane Mann | / | HK | 10 March | 13 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 12 |
| 10 | Hitro Okesene | | PR / HK | 10 March | 17 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| 11 | Stephen Kearney | | SR | 10 March | 20 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| 12 | Tony Tatupu | / | SR | 10 March | 16 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 20 |
| 13 | Tony Tuimavave | / | PR / LK | 10 March | 21 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| 14 | Se'e Solomona | / | PR | 10 March | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 15 | Tea Ropati | / | CE / FE | 10 March | 21 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 48 |
| 16 | Jason Mackie | | LK | 10 March | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 17 | Martin Moana | | LK / FE | 10 March | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| 18 | Joe Vagana | / | PR | 18 March | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 19 | Syd Eru | | HK | 28 March | 15 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 12 |
| 20 | Willie Poching | / | SR | 28 March | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| 21 | Logan Edwards | | SR / LK | 7 April | 15 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| 22 | John Kirwan | | WG | 16 April | 16 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 12 |
| 23 | Andy Platt | | PR | 23 April | 14 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 24 | Stacey Jones | | HB | 23 April | 14 | 5 | 9 | 2 | 40 |
| 25 | Mike Dorreen | | CE | 7 May | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| 26 | Richie Blackmore | | CE | 14 May | 10 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 20 |
| 27 | Frano Botica | | WG | 4 June | 5 | 2 | 19 | 0 | 46 |
| 28 | Denis Betts | | 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

## 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.
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.
| North Harbour | Position | Auckland Colts |
| Quinten Dane | FB | Nigel Vagana |
| Auvae Tapuai | WG | Paul Staladi |
| Paki Tuimavave | CE | Stuart Lester |
| Jason Kaulima | CE | Anthony Swann |
| Steve Barry | WG | Tacofe Kalauta |
| Aleki Maea | FE | Meti Noovao (C) |
| Latham Tawhai | HB | Willie Swann |
| Donald Stewart (C) | PR | Dallas Mead |
| Sean Wilson | HK | Aaron Lester |
| Darren Kohlhase | PR | David Fatialofa |
| Mike Setefano | SR | Bryan Henare |
| Keniti Asiata | SR | Frank Watene |
| Jason Palmada | LK | Logan Swann |
| Frank Fuimaono | Bench | Charlie Kennedy |
| Cory Jamieson | Bench | Des Maea |
| Lafaelle Filipo | Bench | Druce Nilsen |
| Brent Snooks | Bench | Steve Buckingham |
| Graeme Norton | Coach | John Ackland |
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. 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.
| Team | Halftime | Total |
| North Harbour Sea Eagles | 2 | 28 |
| Auckland Warriors Colts | 15 | 21 |
| Tries (North Harbour) | 1: F. Fuimaono, S. Wilson, P. Tuimavave, J. Palmada |
| Tries (Auckland Colts) | 1: N.Vagana, B.Henare, M.Noovao, W.Swann |
| Goals (North Harbour) | 6: Q.Dane |
| Goals (Auckland Colts) | 1: S.Buckingham, M.Noovao |
| Field Goals Goals (Auckland Colts) | 1: M.Noovao |
| Date | 16 September |
| Referee | Dennis Hale |
| Venue | Ericsson Stadium |
| Broadcast | TVNZ |

## Awards

Tea Ropati won the club's Player of the Year award.

## 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.