The New Zealand Warriors will begin their National Rugby League campaign next March with a grand final rematch against the Premiership-winning Manly Sea Eagles at Eden Park, while the 2012 NRL Premiership will kick off in Newcastle on Thursday March 1st with Wayne Bennett's Knights up against his former club St George Illawarra.
Almost exactly five months after Manly won 24-10 in the 2011 decider at ANZ Stadium, the NRL has confirmed the grand finalists will provide one of the feature attractions of the first round of the 2012 season from March 1st.
The precise date for the match is yet to be set but, after attracting a crowd of more than 38,000 for this year's Parramatta fixture at Eden Park, the Warriors are hoping for another huge turnout to kick off their first season under new head coach Brian McClennan.
The Warriors' first home games at Mount Smart Stadium come on successive weekends when they host the Bulldogs on the weekend of March 16th then the Gold Coast Titans. Back-to-back away games come next against the Sydney Roosters and Canberra.
A stand-alone weekend has been scheduled for April 20th to 22nd for the Anzac Test followed by the now traditional Anzac Day match against the Storm in Melbourne, on a Wednesday.
The Warriors will face former coach Ivan Cleary's Penrith Panthers twice, the first away in round 14 in the second week of June and the second at home in round 24 in mid-August.
Apart from an away trip to Canberra, the Warriors also have away fixtures against North Queensland and St George Illawarra but avoid an away game against the Wayne Bennett-coached Newcastle Knights.
The teams they face home and away are Manly, Gold Coast, Sydney Roosters, Canberra, Melbourne, Penrith, Cronulla, North Queensland and Brisbane while the six they encounter only once are Parramatta (away), Canterbury-Bankstown (home) and South Sydney (home) plus 2011 top eight sides Wests Tigers (away), Newcastle (home) and St George Illawarra (away).
