2003 New Zealand Warriors season

2003 New Zealand Warriors
League	6th NRL
2003 record	15-0-9
Points for	545
Points against	510
Team information
CEO	Mick Watson
Coach	Daniel Anderson
Assistant Coach	Tony Kemp
Captain	Monty Betham
Alternate captains	Stacey Jones Awen Guttenbeil
Ground	Ericsson Stadium
Average attendance	16,842
Top scorers
Tries	Francis Meli (23)
Goals	Stacey Jones (29)
Points	Francis Meli (92)
< 2002 2004 >

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]
• Round 4, 6 April: Francis Meli plays in his 50th first grade game for the club.^[2]
• Round 18: Ali Lauitiiti played in his 100th match for the club.
• 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

See also: List of New Zealand Warriors results

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

Regular Season

Date	Round	Opponent	Venue	Result	Score	Tries	Goals	Attendance	Report
16 March	Round 1	Newcastle Knights	Mount Smart Stadium, Auckland	Loss	26-36	Hohaia (2), Carlaw, Fa'afili, Meli	Jones (3)	16,291	[1]
23 March	Round 2	Canterbury Bulldogs	Mount Smart Stadium, Auckland	Win	24-20	Hohaia (2), Fa'afili, Guttenbeil, Meli	Marsh (2)	16,229	[2]
29 March	Round 3	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	Brookvale Oval, Sydney	Win	20-16	Toopi (2), Fa'afili, Swann	Marsh (2)	14,273	[3]
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	[4]
13 April	Round 5	Brisbane Broncos	ANZ Stadium, Brisbane	Win	32-12	Meli (2), Faumuina, Marsh, Swann, Tuimavave	Marsh (3), Tuimavave (1)	18,959	[5]
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	[6]
27 April	Round 7	Penrith Panthers	Mount Smart Stadium, Auckland	Loss	14-28	Fa'afili, Koopu, Tony	Jones (1)	15,732	[7]
2 May	Round 8	Bulldogs	Westpac Stadium, Wellington	Loss	12-18	Meli, Toopi	Webb (2)	21,989	[8]
10 May	Round 9	Parramatta Eels	Mount Smart Stadium, Auckland	Win	18-16	Meli (2), Marsh, Swann	Webb (1)	15,397	[9]
	Round 10	Bye
23 May	Round 11	Canberra Raiders	Westpac Stadium, Wellington	Loss	10-18	Fa'afili	Webb (1)	13,130	[10]
31 May	Round 12	Penrith Panthers	CUA Stadium, Sydney	Loss	12-34	Betham, Tony	Jones (2)	20,280	[11]
7 June	Round 13	Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks	Mount Smart Stadium, Auckland	Win	23-6	Faumuina, Jones, Meli, Mellars	Jones (3 & FG)	16,172	[12]
14 June	Round 14	Parramatta Eels	Parramatta Stadium, Sydney	Loss	26-28	V.Anderson, Betham, Faumuina, Meli, Webb	Jones (2), Webb (1)	8,076	[13]
22 June	Round 15	Canberra Raiders	Mount Smart Stadium, Auckland	Win	26-18	Swann (2), Tony, Toopi, Villasanti	Jones (3)	18,375	[14]
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	[15]
5 July	Round 17	North Queensland Cowboys	Dairy Farmers Stadium, Townsville	Loss	10-30	Swann (2)	Jones (1)	16,028	[16]
12 July	Round 18	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	Mount Smart Stadium, Auckland	Win	20-12	V.Anderson, Latu, Webb	Jones (4)	15,528	[17]
19 July	Round 19	Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks	Toyota Park, Sydney	Win	31-24	Toopi (2), Murphy, Villasanti, Webb	Jones (5 & FG)	13,565	[18]
	Round 20	Bye
2 August	Round 21	Melbourne Storm	Mount Smart Stadium, Auckland	Loss	12-14	V.Anderson, Toopi	Hohaia (2)	15,207	[19]
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	[20]
15 August	Round 23	Newcastle Knights	EnergyAustralia Stadium, Newcastle	Loss	20-36	Toopi (2), Meli, Villasanti	Hohaia (2)	17,198	[21]
24 August	Round 24	Brisbane Broncos	Mount Smart Stadium, Auckland	Win	22-14	V.Anderson, Faumuina, Latu, Meli	Webb (3)	19,439	[22]
31 August	Round 25	Sydney Roosters	Sydney Football Stadium, Sydney	Win	26-24	Meli (2), Toopi, Villasanti	Webb (5)	18,726	[23]
6 September	Round 26	Wests Tigers	Mount Smart Stadium, Auckland	Win	32-16	Toopi (3), V.Anderson (2), Meli	Webb (4)	20,392	[24]

Final Series

Date	Round	Opponent	Venue	Result	Score	Tries	Goals	Attendance	Report
September 13	Qualifying Final	Bulldogs	Showgrounds, Sydney	Win	48 - 22	Meli (5), Webb (2), Faumuina, Tony	Webb (5), Faumuina (1)	18,312	[25]
September 20	Preliminary Final	Canberra Raiders	Aussie Stadium, Sydney	Win	17 - 16	Fa'afili, Swann, Toopi	Webb (2), Jones (FG)	31,616	[26]
September 28	Preliminary Final	Penrith Panthers	Telstra Stadium, Sydney	Loss	20 - 28	Swann, Toopi, Villasanti, Webb	Webb (2)	43,174	[27]

Ladder

	Team	Pld	W	D	L	B	PF	PA	PD	Pts
1	Penrith	24	18	0	6	2	659	527	+132	40
2	Sydney	24	17	0	7	2	680	445	+235	38
3	Bulldogs	24	16	0	8	2	702	419	+283	36
4	Canberra	24	16	0	8	2	620	463	+157	36
5	Melbourne	24	15	0	9	2	564	486	+78	34
6	New Zealand	24	15	0	9	2	545	510	+35	34
7	Newcastle	24	14	0	10	2	632	635	-3	32
8	Brisbane	24	12	0	12	2	497	464	+33	28
9	Parramatta	24	11	0	13	2	570	582	-12	26
10	St George Illawarra	24	11	0	13	2	548	593	-45	26
11	North Queensland	24	10	0	14	2	606	629	-23	24
12	Cronulla	24	8	0	16	2	497	704	-207	20
13	Wests Tigers	24	7	0	17	2	470	598	-128	18
14	Manly	24	7	0	17	2	470	791	-321	18
15	South Sydney	24	3	0	21	2	457	758	-301	10

Squad

See also: List of New Zealand Warriors players

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	April 23, 1995	22	3	29	4	74
33	Guttenbeil, AwenAwen Guttenbeil	NZL ! /	SR	April 14, 1996	20	1	0	0	4
42	Swann, LoganLogan Swann	NZL !	SR	March 1, 1997	23	9	0	0	36
50	Seu Seu, JerryJerry Seu Seu	NZL ! /	PR	August 16, 1997	24	1	0	0	4
55	Lauitiiti, AliAli Lauitiiti	NZL ! /	SR	April 19, 1998	12	1	0	0	4
61	Betham, MontyMonty Betham	NZL ! /	HK / LK	March 8, 1999	24	2	0	0	8
64	Koopu, WairangiWairangi Koopu	NZL !	CE / SR	April 9, 1999	25	1	0	0	4
65	Meli, FrancisFrancis Meli	NZL ! /	WG	May 2, 1999	27	23	0	0	92
66	Toopi, ClintonClinton Toopi	NZL !	CE	May 2, 1999	22	17	0	0	68
76	Tookey, MarkMark Tookey	AUS !	PR	February 6, 2000	17	0	0	0	0
81	Fa'afili, HenryHenry Fa'afili	NZL ! /	WG	March 26, 2000	24	10	0	0	40
87	Villasanti, RichardRichard Villasanti	AUS ! /	PR	February 18, 2001	16	6	0	0	24
90	Tony, MotuMotu Tony	NZL ! /	UH	March 9, 2001	18	7	0	0	28
92	Murphy, JustinJustin Murphy	FRA !	WG	April 7, 2001	8	1	0	0	4
93	Paleaaesina, IafetaIafeta Paleaaesina	NZL ! /	PR	June 1, 2001	24	0	0	0	0
95	Carlaw, JohnJohn Carlaw	AUS !	CE	March 24, 2002	10	2	0	0	8
96	Marsh, PJPJ Marsh	AUS !	HB / HK	March 24, 2002	11	3	12	0	36
97	Webb, BrentBrent Webb	NZL !	FB	April 1, 2002	21	8	26	0	84
98	Faumuina, SioneSione Faumuina	NZL !	CE / LK	April 1, 2002	24	5	1	0	22
99	Hohaia, LanceLance Hohaia	NZL !	UB	April 6, 2002	16	7	8	0	44
100	Anderson, VinnieVinnie Anderson	NZL ! /	CE	July 7, 2002	27	6	0	0	24
102	Tuimavave, EvarnEvarn Tuimavave	NZL !	PR	September 1, 2002	9	1	1	0	6
103	Temata, KarlKarl Temata	COK !	PR / SR	September 6, 2002	10	0	0	0	0
104	Robinson, MarkMark Robinson	NZL !	HK	May 2, 2003	1	0	0	0	0
105	Leuluai, ThomasThomas Leuluai	NZL !	HB	May 2, 2003	12	1	0	0	4
106	Mellars, VinceVince Mellars	NZL !	CE	June 7, 2003	4	1	0	0	4
107	Latu, TevitaTevita Latu	NZL ! /	HK	June 7, 2003	7	2	0	0	8
108	Ropati, JeromeJerome Ropati	NZL !	CE / FE	August 31, 2003	1	0	0	0	0

Staff

• Chief Executive Officer: Mick Watson

Coaching Staff

• Head Coach: Daniel Anderson
• Assistant Coach: Tony Kemp

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.

References

1. ^ John Coffey Warriors youngest in NRL The Press, 30 November 2002
2. ^ Francis Meli will play his 50th NRL match for the Warriors Western Leader, 4 April 2003
3. ^ John Coffey Warriors' new strip The Press, 29 November 2002

External links

• Warriors official site
• 2003 Warriors Season at rugbyleagueproject.org