# 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.
* 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.
* 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.

## 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.

### 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 | Sydney Football 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

2003 NRL seasonvte :
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | B | PF | PA | PD | Pts |
| 1 | Penrith Panthers (P) | 24 | 18 | 0 | 6 | 2 | 659 | 527 | +132 | 40 |
| 2 | Sydney Roosters | 24 | 17 | 0 | 7 | 2 | 680 | 445 | +235 | 38 |
| 3 | Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs | 24 | 16 | 0 | 8 | 2 | 702 | 419 | +283 | 36 |
| 4 | Canberra Raiders | 24 | 16 | 0 | 8 | 2 | 620 | 463 | +157 | 36 |
| 5 | Melbourne Storm | 24 | 15 | 0 | 9 | 2 | 564 | 486 | +78 | 34 |
| 6 | New Zealand Warriors | 24 | 15 | 0 | 9 | 2 | 545 | 510 | +35 | 34 |
| 7 | Newcastle Knights | 24 | 14 | 0 | 10 | 2 | 632 | 635 | -3 | 32 |
| 8 | Brisbane Broncos | 24 | 12 | 0 | 12 | 2 | 497 | 464 | +33 | 28 |
| 9 | Parramatta Eels | 24 | 11 | 0 | 13 | 2 | 570 | 582 | -12 | 26 |
| 10 | St George Illawarra Dragons | 24 | 11 | 0 | 13 | 2 | 548 | 593 | -45 | 26 |
| 11 | North Queensland Cowboys | 24 | 10 | 0 | 14 | 2 | 606 | 629 | -23 | 24 |
| 12 | Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks | 24 | 8 | 0 | 16 | 2 | 497 | 704 | -207 | 20 |
| 13 | Wests Tigers | 24 | 7 | 0 | 17 | 2 | 470 | 598 | -128 | 18 |
| 14 | Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles | 24 | 7 | 0 | 17 | 2 | 557 | 791 | -234 | 18 |
| 15 | South Sydney Rabbitohs | 24 | 3 | 0 | 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 | Stacey Jones | | HB | 23 April 1995 | 22 | 3 | 29 | 4 | 74 |
| 33 | Awen Guttenbeil | / | SR | 14 April 1996 | 20 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| 42 | Logan Swann | | SR | 1 March 1997 | 23 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 36 |
| 50 | Jerry Seu Seu | / | PR | 16 August 1997 | 24 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| 55 | Ali Lauitiiti | / | SR | 19 April 1998 | 12 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| 61 | Monty Betham | / | HK / LK | 8 March 1999 | 24 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| 64 | Wairangi Koopu | | CE / SR | 9 April 1999 | 25 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| 65 | Francis Meli | / | WG | 2 May 1999 | 27 | 23 | 0 | 0 | 92 |
| 66 | Clinton Toopi | | CE | 2 May 1999 | 22 | 17 | 0 | 0 | 68 |
| 76 | Mark Tookey | | PR | 6 February 2000 | 17 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 81 | Henry Fa'afili | / | WG | 26 March 2000 | 24 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 40 |
| 87 | Richard Villasanti | / | PR | 18 February 2001 | 16 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 24 |
| 90 | Motu Tony | / | UH | 9 March 2001 | 18 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 28 |
| 92 | Justin Murphy | | WG | 7 April 2001 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| 93 | Iafeta Paleaaesina | / | PR | 1 June 2001 | 24 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 95 | John Carlaw | | CE | 24 March 2002 | 10 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| 96 | PJ Marsh | | HB / HK | 24 March 2002 | 11 | 3 | 12 | 0 | 36 |
| 97 | Brent Webb | | FB | 1 April 2002 | 21 | 8 | 26 | 0 | 84 |
| 98 | Sione Faumuina | | CE / LK | 1 April 2002 | 24 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 22 |
| 99 | Lance Hohaia | | UB | 6 April 2002 | 16 | 7 | 8 | 0 | 44 |
| 100 | Vinnie Anderson | / | CE | 7 July 2002 | 27 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 24 |
| 102 | Evarn Tuimavave | | PR | 1 September 2002 | 9 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 6 |
| 103 | Karl Temata | | PR / SR | 6 September 2002 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 104 | Mark Robinson | | HK | 2 May 2003 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 105 | Thomas Leuluai | | HB | 2 May 2003 | 12 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| 106 | Vince Mellars | | CE | 7 June 2003 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| 107 | Tevita Latu | / | HK | 7 June 2003 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| 108 | Jerome Ropati | | 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 |
| Mark Robinson | North Harbour Rugby Union | | |

### Losses

| Player | Club |
| Jeremiah Pai | Wests Tigers |
| Justin Morgan | Toulouse Olympique |
| Kevin Campion | North Queensland Cowboys |
| Shontayne Hape | Bradford Bulls |
| David Myles | North Queensland Cowboys |
| Ivan 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.