Year in review: NZ Warriors ride rollercoaster to NRL playoffs

Under the Go Media Stadium stand, with the bravado of hope finally stripped away, NZ Warriors coach Andrew Webster confronted reality.

After a season that saw them off to a best-ever 7-2 start, sitting second on the table after 11 rounds, damn near selling out their Mt Smart home for every game and reaching the post-season for just the 10th time in their history, the Warriors' journey had abruptly ended, with a sixth-place finish and clinical, one-and-done exit to four-time defending champions Penrith Panthers.

A campaign that looked so promising mid-season lost much of its momentum down the stretch, with a 4-7 closing run against the easiest draw on paper of any playoff team.

For two months, the players and coach seemed to be running on fumes, as they unsuccessfully defended their long-held spot in the top four and flirted with the possibility of missing the finals altogether.

Even when they were winning, Webster insisted they hadn't played their best and, in the end, they ran out of chances to deliver on that promise.

"I just feel we've built some great stuff, but that last piece is missing." he lamented. "I feel like we've handled adversity and stayed really tight, but there's a piece missing."

"We could launch, if we take those lessons and go to the next step, or we could stay exactly where we are, which is just a top-six team.

"I just think we can be better."

So this wasn't the Warriors' year after all - sigh! - but it may just turn out to be an important step towards their first NRL championship.

Here are some of the highlights of 2025 and a humble suggestion on how to take that next step in 2026.

Best player

When veteran winger Roger Tuivasa-Sheck was handed the Simon Mannering Medal at the club prizegiving, he tried mightily to pass it on to a teammate he considered had a better year.

We'll endorse that opinion.

Erin Clark was probably destined for a bench role, before captain Tohu Harris retired over the summer, but grabbed the No.13 jersey in the pre-season and never surrendered it.

He played every game and finished top five across the competition for total post-contact metres.

Clark proved so reliably consistent, he was considered one of the best off-season pick-ups by any club across the competition and deservedly won Dally M Lock of the Year honours.

He had one game for the Warriors as a teenager, when he admits to being "young and arrogant", but his maturation during his time away has been a joy to behold and should hold the club in good stead for a while.

Most promising player

Leka Halasima was still a teenager, but his impact on the Warriors belied his years, as he headed RTS for club tryscoring honours, with many of them coming from his aerial ability on attack.

'Leka the Wrecker' became one of the breakout performers in the league, but ultimately, he was headed by Auckland-born Sydney Roosters centre Robert Toia for Dally M Rookie of the Year.

Halasima starred off the bench or starting in the second-row, before he was eventually named at centre for the playoff game against Penrith. Conditioning let him down at times, but he's surely a superstar in the making.

Named Warriors Rookie of the Year.

Most improved player

Jackson Ford looked like he was slipping out of the rotation at the end of last season, when he was competing for an edge position, but he re-invented himself as a middle forward this time round and could not be left out of the line-up.

He started the campaign off the bench and embraced the 'impact' nature of that role, but was promoted to start, after skipper Mitch Barnett's knee injury, and put in some massive shifts.

Ford was one of the few players across the league to lead their teams in running metres and tackles in the same game - 209 and 43 against Canberra Raiders, when both Barnett (Origin) and James Fisher-Harris (injury) were missing.

He was badly missed during his three-game suspension for a 'crusher' tackle that went largely unnoticed and unpenalised against St George Dragons, but bounced back with a 61-tackle performance against Penrith, which was a season high for his team.

Best performance

The Warriors rolled into Shark Park on 7 June, faced with the massive task of covering Barnett's extended absence.

"We're gutted, because he's such a good player, but there's optimism that somebody gets to stand up and take his spot," Webster said. "It's a challenge for the whole group."

The response was a season-defining performance against Cronulla Sharks.

After a series of close wins, the 40-10 result was their most convincing of the campaign, as they scored 28 unanswered points after halftime.

While Ford had been named to start in the No.10 jersey, he was shifted back to the bench before kickoff, with Marata Niukore moved to the middle and Jacob Laban making his first NRL start in the second row.

Centre Rocco Berry had succumbed to another injury, while hooker Wayde Egan dropped out of the line-up late with a hip complaint, presenting back-up Sam Healey with a dream debut against the club that couldn't find a place for him in its first-grade squad.

Halfback Luke Metcalf also tormented his old outfit, while Chanel Harris-Tavita had a try double, and Fisher-Harris battled the man he replaced at the Warriors - Addin Fonua-Blake - to a draw in the much-anticipated 'Clash of the Titans'.

Perhaps the most worrying aspect of the display was the looming bye week, which threatened to derail any momentum gained - and so it proved.

As they had after their first bye week, when they sleepwalked through a first half against Melbourne Storm, the Warriors were completely duped by a Panthers team without five Origin stars - perhaps their worst performance of the season - and then struck more disaster against Brisbane Broncos a week later.

Best try

No-one will ever forget this finish, as the Warriors trailed Newcastle Knights into the final minute, desperately seeking a field goal to force extra time.

Halfback Tanah Boyd missed three attempts and a penalty that could have won it in the dying moments, but when his third pot was charged down, something amazing happened.

The bounce fell to Halasima about 40 metres out, and he simply charged that distance to the tryline to break the hearts of Knights fans and players.

"I'll take it," Webster said. "I've been on the end of a few of those - I think every team has at some stage.

"We just came up with a freakish play from a young guy that's got heaps of talent - that's what he's got in his toolkit."

In the 'what comes around goes around' department, two weeks later, Webster and his team were indeed on the opposite end of one of those finishes, when the Dolphins ran in a try at the death for a 20-18 win at Mt Smart.

Taking the next step

You could argue the Warriors were two injuries (maybe three) away from a very deep playoff run in 2025.

Losing both Barnett and star half Metcalf to season-ending knee injuries left big voids the club could never quite fill. Add to that a nightmare run of injuries to Berry, which forced Webster to play Kurt Capewell, Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad and Halasima out of position, disrupting the team balance.

Barnett will return for the start of the 2026 season and Metcalf has recommitted to the Warriors through 2028, but somehow, the coach must find a way to keep him healthy.

Across three seasons at Mt Smart, Metcalf has managed just 34 games - less than half - due to a variety of injuries. The Warriors are undoubtedly better with him - over his tenure, they are 23-11 (68 percent) with him, but just 17-1-23 without him.

While the first-grade team limped into the post-season and were quickly dispatched, the Warriors reserves were head and shoulders above their rivals in NSW Cup competition, and captured the NRL State Championship crown.

Out of necessity, Webster used 28 players this year, offering valuable experience to his fringe performers.

Here's a crazy idea - let's utilise that depth to rotate the premier line-up, spreading the load, and minimising wear and tear on the frontliners.

Metcalf isn't the only one that needs preservation. Egan invariably starts the season fresh and full of energy, pushing for Origin selection early, but inevitably ground down by heavy minutes.

In 2025, he led the league in dummy half runs through the early rounds, but at the business end of the schedule, he made none against Manly Sea Eagles and none in the first half against Penrith.

He now has an able deputy in Healey, so let's give him some time off, before it's forced through injury.

Warriors wāhine

While the men were negotiating their path to the NRL playoffs, the club's women were blazing a very different trail, returning to the NRLW after a five-year, Covid-enforced hiatus with a very makeshift roster.

Under the direction of two-time premiership coach Ron Griffiths, most of the squad had never played at this level before, plucked from the local club competition, or switching from union or sevens.

The campaign struggled for consistency of performance, and suffered from injury, suspension and pregnancy, but unearthed some exciting talent that should hold the wāhine in good stead next season, when they will be bolstered by more established stars fresh from grand final glory with Brisbane Broncos.

Rugby convert Payton Takimoana finished second among the league's top tryscorers, while Patricia Maliepo, Tysha Ikenasio and Shakira Baker became double and triple internationals, based on their progress throughout their debut seasons. Teenager Ivana Lauitiiti emulated club legend dad Ali with her big-tackling exploits.

Annetta Nu'uausala, Gayle Broughton and Mele Hufanga will bring added firepower across the Tasman from the Broncos, while Stacey Waaka returns to league, after dedicating herself to a Black Ferns World Cup stint.

Don't be surprised if they claim the club's first championship in 2026.

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