New Zealand Warriors Women

New Zealand Warriors

Club information
Full name	New Zealand Warriors Rugby League Football Club[1]
Nickname(s)	The Warriors, The Wahs
Colours	Blue   Green   Red   White
Founded	Club: 1995 as Auckland Warriors
Website	warriors.kiwi
Current details
Ground(s)	Mount Smart Stadium, Auckland (25,000)
CEO	Cameron George
Chairman	Ken Reinsfield
Coach	Ronald Griffiths
Competition	NRL Women's Premiership
Home colours Away colours
Current season
Records
Premierships	0
Wooden spoons	0
Most capped	9 – Georgia Hale, Hilda Peters
Highest try scorer	3 – Evania Pelite
Highest points scorer	14 – Apii Nicholls

The New Zealand Warriors Women are a professional rugby league football club based in Auckland, New Zealand that will re-enter the National Rugby League Women's (NRLW) premiership for the 2025 season.[2] The Warriors women’s team are to be coached by Ronald Griffiths. [3] As with their men’s team, the Warriors women are based at Mount Smart Stadium in the Auckland suburb of Penrose. The Warriors women’s team previously competed in the NRLW for three seasons: 2018, 2019, and 2020.

History

In December 2017, the New Zealand Warriors expressed their interest in applying for a licence to participate in the inaugural NRL Women's Premiership. In March 2018, they were awarded one of four licences for the league's inaugural season, to commence in September of the same year.[4] Luisa Avaiki was named the coach of the side. [5]

The team competed in, and finished 3rd place in both the 2018 and 2019 seasons, the latter of which included the first ever standalone NRLW match held at Mount Smart Stadium.[6]

The team was impacted in 2020 by travel restrictions imposed to mitigate the COVID-19 pandemic. Five New Zealand based players from the previous season elected to go through three weeks of quarantine isolation on arrival in Australia to prepare for the 2020 NRLW season.[7] The remainder of the Warriors squad consisted of Australian based players. The team was coached by Jillaroos coach, Brad Donald. [8] The side came in third place (from four) for the third consecutive year.

In June 2021, CEO Cameron George announced the team would not compete in the 2021 competition but plan to re-enter the competition in 2022. [9] This did not eventuate, however, with the NRL announcing NRLW expansion to 10 teams for the 2023 season that did not include the Warriors. [10] In August 2022, during a Members-Only meeting with CEO Cameron George, Owner Mark Robinson, Coach Stacey Jones, and Captain Tohu Harris. It was announced their intention to re-enter the competition for the 2025 season. On March 28 2024, NRL CEO Andrew Abdo announced the Warriors would rejoin the NRLW, along with a Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs team, in an expanded 12-team competition from 2025. [2]

Players

Main article: List of New Zealand Warriors players § Women

2025 squad

From 10 September 2024 the New Zealand Warriors began to announce player signings for the 2025 NRLW season.

Player	Position(s)	Announcement Date	2024 Club	Ref
Apii Nicholls	Fullback	10 Sep 2024	Canberra Raiders	[11]
Mya Hill-Moana	Prop	12 Sep 2024	Sydney Roosters	[12]
Capri Paekau	Hooker	12 Sep 2024	Taniwharau	[12]
Harata Butler	Prop	12 Sep 2024	North Queensland Cowboys	[12]
Laishon Albert-Jones	Second-row, Lock	16 Sep 2024	Newcastle Knights	[13]
Matekino Gray	Prop	18 Sep 2024	Gold Coast Titans	[14]
Emmanita Paki	Centre, Wing	18 Sep 2024	Central Qld Capras	[14]
Lavinia Tauhalaliku	Wing, Centre	18 Sep 2024	North Queensland Cowboys	[14]

Coaches

On 1 July 2024, the club announced the appointment of Ronald Griffiths as head coach of their NRLW team, for their return to the competition in 2025. Griffiths was appointed on a three-year deal. [3]

Coach	Season Span	M	W	D	L	For	Agst	Win %	Share %
Luisa Avaiki	2018–2019	6	3	0	3	56	104	50.00%	35.00%
Brad Donald	2020	3	1	0	2	48	60	33.33%	44.44%

Table last updated: 3 August 2024.

Seasons

Season	Regular Season								Finals	Nines	Ref
	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts	Pos
2018	3	1	0	2	26	58	2	3rd	—	—
2019	3	2	0	1	30	46	4	3rd	—	—
2020	3	1	0	2	48	60	0	3rd	—	4th

Club records

Head-to-head records

Opponent	First Meeting	P	W	D	L	PF	PA	Win %	Share
Roosters	8 Sep 2018	3	2	0	1	38	38	66.67%	50.00%
Dragons	15 Sep 2018	3	1	0	2	32	58	33.33%	35.56%
Broncos	21 Sep 2018	3	1	0	2	34	68	33.33%	33.33%
Totals	8 Sep 2018	9	4	0	5	104	164	44.44%	38.81%

Notes

• Share % is the percentage of points For over the sum of points For and Against.
• Clubs listed in the order than the Dragons Women first played them.
• Last updated: 3 August 2024

Player records

Lists and tables last updated: 3 August 2024.
Most Games for the Warriors

• Georgia Hale – 9, Hilda Peters – 9, Crystal Tamarua – 7, Onjeurlina Leiataua – 6, Apii Nicholls – 6, Krystal Rota – 6.

Most Tries for the Warriors

• Evania Pelite – 3.

Most Points or the Warriors (10+)

Player	2024 Club	M	T	G	FG	Points
Apii Nicholls		6	0	7	0	14
Evania Pelite		3	3	0	0	12
Kirra Dibb		3	1	4	0	12

Most Points in a Season (14+)

Player	Season	M	T	G	FG	Points
Evania Pelite	2020	3	4	0	0	12
Kirra Dibb	2020	3	4	0	0	12

Margins and streaks

Biggest winning margins

Margin	Score	Opponent	Venue	Date
12	22—10	St. George Illawarra Dragons	Sydney Olympic Stadium	17 Oct 2020

Biggest losing margins

Margin	Score	Opponent	Venue	Date
22	10—32	Brisbane Broncos	Melbourne Rectangular Stadium	21 Sep 2018
22	4—26	St. George Illawarra Dragons	Mount Smart Stadium	22 Sep 2019

Most consecutive wins

• 1 — (wins on 8 September 2018 (R1), 14 September 2019 (R1), 28 September 2019 (R3), and 17 October 2020 (R3)).

Most consecutive losses

• 2 — (15 September 2018 — 21 September 2018)
• 2 — (3 October 2020 — 10 October 2020)

See also

• NZRL Women's National Tournament

References

1. "View All Details". Companiesoffice.govt.nz. Retrieved 18 March 2017.
2. "New NRLW teams announced for 2025 competition". NRL. 28 March 2024. Retrieved 28 March 2024.
3. Becht, Richard (1 July 2024). "Griffiths to coach NRLW side". Warriors.Kiwi. Retrieved 1 July 2024.
4. Newton, Alicia (27 March 2018). "Geographic location the focus as NRL women's teams announced". NRL.com. Retrieved 27 March 2018.
5. Becht, Richard (28 March 2018). "Vodafone Warriors appoint NRL women's premiership head coach". Warriors.Kiwi. Retrieved 3 August 2024.
6. Rosser, Corey (22 September 2019). "Dragons surge past Warriors to keep NRLW title hopes alive". NRL. Retrieved 3 July 2022.
7. Becht, Richard (5 September 2020). "Advance guard in isolation in Sydney". Warriors.Kiwi. Retrieved 3 August 2024.
8. Becht, Richard (27 August 2020). "Donald signed as Warriors NRLW coach". Warriors.Kiwi. Retrieved 3 August 2024.
9. Becht, Richard (11 June 2021). "Warriors out of 2021 NRLW but will return next year". Warriors.Kiwi. Retrieved 15 March 2022.
10. Newton, Alicia (15 June 2022). "Everything you need to know: 2023 NRLW expansion". NRL. Retrieved 16 June 2022.
11. Becht, Richard (10 September 2024). "Nicholls first NRLW signing". Warriors.Kiwi. Retrieved 11 September 2024.
12. Becht, Richard (12 September 2024). "Waikato trio signed for NRLW". Warriors.Kiwi. Retrieved 13 September 2024.
13. Becht, Richard (16 September 2024). "Albert-Jones signed for NRLW". Warriors.Kiwi. Retrieved 16 September 2024.
14. Becht, Richard (18 September 2024). "Three more NRLW signings". Warriors.Kiwi. Retrieved 18 September 2024.