2001 New Zealand Warriors season

The New Zealand Warriors 2001 season was the New Zealand Warriors 7th first-grade season, and their first under the new name. The club competed in Australasia's National Rugby League. The coach of the team was Daniel Anderson while Stacey Jones and Kevin Campion were the club's co-captains. The club made the final series for the first time, after finishing eighth in the regular season.

Milestones

• 4 March — Round 3: Ali Lauitiiti played in his 50th match for the club.
• 24 March — Round 6: The Warriors defeat Brisbane for the first time, 13-12.
• 16 June — Round 16: Jason Death played in his 50th match for the club.
• 24 June — Round 17: Awen Guttenbeil played in his 50th match for the club.
• 15 July — Round 19: Logan Swann played in his 100th match for the club.
• 27 August — Round 25: The club reaches the play-offs for the first time when a 24-24 draw with Melbourne secures a finals berth.

The Sale

In November 2001 Tainui sold many of the clubs assets to businessman Eric Watson. This purchase included the clubs NRL license, the intellectual property rights and the training base but controversially did not include the player contracts.

The club was re-branded as the New Zealand Warriors, with new colours of black and grey — resembling the national sporting colours. Mick Watson was hired as CEO while little known coach Daniel Anderson was appointed head coach.

Jersey & Sponsors

The Warriors had a new jersey in 2001, similar to old designs but with the new owners adding black to the design.

Fixtures

The Warriors used Ericsson Stadium as their home ground in 2001, their only home ground since they entered the competition in 1995.

Pre Season trials

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Score	Tries	Goals	Attendance	Report
3 February	Canterbury Bulls	Rugby League Park, Christchurch	Win	74-12	Toopi (2), Koopu (2), Myles (2), Jones (2), Beverley, Tookey, Seuseu, Fa'afili, Betham, Meli	Jones (7), Myles (2)	4,500

Regular Season

Date	Round	Opponent	Venue	Result	Score	Tries	Goals	Attendance	Report
18 February	Round 1	Canberra Raiders	Mount Smart Stadium, Auckland	Loss	8-24	Fa'afili	Cleary (2)	11,134
25 February	Round 2	Northern Eagles	Central Coast Stadium, Gosford	Win	24-16	Beverley, Guttenbeil, Jones, Meli	Cleary (4)	8,012
4 March	Round 3	Wests Tigers	Campbelltown Sports Ground, Sydney	Loss	10-29	Koopu, Meli	Cleary (1)	8,899
9 March	Round 4	St. George Illawarra Dragons	Mount Smart Stadium, Auckland	Win	34-8	Betham, Campion, Cleary, Tony, Toopi	Cleary (7)	8,730
18 March	Round 5	Parramatta Eels	Parramatta Stadium, Sydney	Loss	24-30	Betham, Meli, Morgan, Swann	Cleary (3), Jones (1)	12,141
24 March	Round 6	Brisbane Broncos	Mount Smart Stadium, Auckland	Win	13-12	Fa'afili, Swann	Jones (2 & FG)	13,921
31 March	Round 7	Newcastle Knights	EnergyAustralia Stadium, Newcastle	Loss	24-45	Toopi (2), Fa'afili, Meli, Wood	Cleary (2)	15,894
7 April	Round 8	Canterbury Bulldogs	Westpac Stadium, Wellington	Draw	24-24	Fa'afili, Meli, Justin Murphy, Toopi	Jones (4)	27,724
16 April	Round 9	Penrith Panthers	Mount Smart Stadium, Auckland	Win	52-8	Meli (2), Murphy (2), Swann (2), Toopi (2), Richard Blackmore, Fa'afili	Cleary (6)	16,876
21 April	Round 10	Cronulla Sharks	Toyota Park, Sydney	Loss	16-26	Lauiti'iti, Swann, Villasanti	Cleary (2)	9,011
29 April	Round 11	Sydney Roosters	Sydney Football Stadium, Sydney	Win	42-30	Seuseu (2), Fa'afili, Jones, Meli, Tony, Toopi	Cleary (7)	9,857
12 May	Round 12	Melbourne Storm	Mount Smart Stadium, Auckland	Loss	20-40	Tony (2), Betham	Cleary (4)	15,167
20 May	Round 13	North Queensland Cowboys	Dairy Farmers Stadium, Townsville	Loss	18-35	Blackmore, Fa'afili, Swann	Cleary (3)	10,819
26 May	Round 14	Canberra Raiders	Manuka Oval, Canberra	Win	22-10	Death, Jones, Swann, Tony	Cleary (3)	7,112
1 June	Round 15	Northern Eagles	Mount Smart Stadium, Auckland	Loss	30-34	Betham, Campion, Cleary, Death, Fa'afili, Toopi	Cleary (5)	12,282
16 June	Round 16	Wests Tigers	Mount Smart Stadium, Auckland	Loss	16-21	Fa'afili (2), Jones	Cleary (2)	8,333
24 June	Round 17	St. George Illawarra Dragons	WIN Stadium, Wollongong	Loss	18-38	Guttenbeil, Jones, Tony	Cleary (3)	9,013
7 July	Round 18	Parramatta Eels	Mount Smart Stadium, Auckland	Win	29-18	Cleary, Hape, Jones, Paleaaesina	Cleary (6 & FG)	10,554
15 July	Round 19	Brisbane Broncos	Carrara Stadium, Gold Coast	Loss	12-48	Fa'afili, Tookey	Cleary (2)	15,813
22 July	Round 20	Newcastle Knights	Mount Smart Stadium, Auckland	Loss	30-37	Tony (2), Meli, Paleaaesina, Toopi	Jones (3), Cleary (2)	8,188
28 July	Round 21	Canterbury Bulldogs	Mount Smart Stadium, Auckland	Win	34-8	Betham, Murphy, Jones, Fa'afili, Swann, Tookey	Jones (5)	10,391
5 August	Round 22	Penrith Panthers	CUA Stadium, Sydney	Win	48-32	Jones (2), Meli (2), Fa'afili, Lauiti'iti, Swann, Toopi	Cleary (8)	8,234
11 August	Round 23	Cronulla Sharks	Mount Smart Stadium, Auckland	Win	30-0	Koopu, Myles, Swann, Toopi, Villasanti	Cleary (5)	10,131
18 August	Round 24	Sydney Roosters	Mount Smart Stadium, Auckland	Win	14-8	Hape, Jones	Jones (2), Cleary (1)	15,665
27 August	Round 25	Melbourne Storm	Telstra Dome, Melbourne	Draw	24-24	Hape (2), Fa'afili, Myles	Jones (4)	13,298
2 September	Round 26	North Queensland Cowboys	Mount Smart Stadium, Auckland	Loss	18-30	Koopu, Lauiti'iti, Tony	Jones (3)	24,568

Final Series

Date	Round	Opponent	Venue	Result	Score	Tries	Goals	Attendance	Report
9 September	Qualifying Final	Parramatta Eels	Parramatta Stadium, Sydney	Loss	12 - 56	Koopu, Tony	Cleary (2)	17,336

Ladder

	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts
1	Parramatta	26	20	2	4	839	406	+433	42
2	Bulldogs	26	17	3	6	617	538	+49	37
3	Newcastle	26	16	1	9	782	639	+143	33
4	Cronulla	26	15	2	9	594	513	+81	32
5	Brisbane	26	14	1	11	696	511	+185	29
6	Sydney	26	13	1	12	647	589	+58	27
7	St. George Illawarra	26	12	2	12	661	573	+88	26
8	New Zealand	26	12	2	12	638	629	+9	26
9	Melbourne	26	11	1	14	704	725	-21	23
10	Northern Eagles	26	11	1	14	603	750	-149	23
11	Canberra	26	9	1	16	600	623	-23	19
12	Wests Tigers	26	9	1	16	474	746	-272	19
13	North Queensland	26	6	2	18	514	771	-257	14
14	Penrith	26	7	0	19	521	847	-326	14

Squad

Twenty Seven players were used by the Warriors in 2001, including three players who made their first grade debuts.

No.	Name	Nationality	Position	Warriors Debut	App	T	G	FG	Pts
24	Jones, StaceyStacey Jones	NZL !	HB	23 April 1995	26	10	24	1	89
26	Blackmore, RichieRichie Blackmore	NZL !	CE	14 May 1995	8	2	0	0	8
33	Guttenbeil, AwenAwen Guttenbeil	NZL ! /	SR	14 April 1996	26	2	0	0	8
42	Swann, LoganLogan Swann	NZL !	SR	1 March 1997	22	10	0	0	40
50	Seu Seu, JerryJerry Seu Seu	NZL ! /	PR	16 August 1997	23	2	0	0	8
55	Lauitiiti, AliAli Lauitiiti	NZL ! /	SR	19 April 1998	26	3	0	0	12
59	Death, JasonJason Death	AUS !	HK / LK	8 March 1999	21	2	0	0	8
61	Betham, MontyMonty Betham	NZL ! /	HK / LK	8 March 1999	24	5	0	0	20
62	Beverley, CliffCliff Beverley	NZL !	FE	21 March 1999	9	1	0	0	4
64	Koopu, WairangiWairangi Koopu	NZL !	CE / SR	9 April 1999	18	4	0	0	16
65	Meli, FrancisFrancis Meli	NZL ! /	WG	2 May 1999	25	11	0	0	44
66	Toopi, ClintonClinton Toopi	NZL !	CE	2 May 1999	24	11	0	0	44
73	Cleary, IvanIvan Cleary	AUS !	FB / CE	6 February 2000	22	3	80	1	173
76	Tookey, MarkMark Tookey	AUS !	PR	6 February 2000	11	2	0	0	8
77	Myles, DavidDavid Myles	AUS !	CE	14 February 2000	17	2	0	0	8
80	Hape, ShontayneShontayne Hape	NZL !	CE	18 March 2000	14	4	0	0	16
81	Fa'afili, HenryHenry Fa'afili	NZL ! /	WG	26 March 2000	27	14	0	0	56
84	Smith, JonathanJonathan Smith	NZL !	SR	24 June 2000	5	0	0	0	0
86	Campion, KevinKevin Campion	AUS ! /	LK	18 February 2001	23	2	0	0	8
87	Villasanti, RichardRichard Villasanti	AUS ! /	PR	18 February 2001	21	2	0	0	8
88	Morgan, JustinJustin Morgan	WAL !	PR	25 February 2001	11	1	0	0	4
89	Temu, JasonJason Temu	COK !	PR	4 March 2001	4	0	0	0	0
90	Tony, MotuMotu Tony	NZL ! /	UH	9 March 2001	19	10	0	0	40
91	Wood, NathanNathan Wood	AUS !	HK / HB	24 March 2001	17	1	0	0	4
92	Murphy, JustinJustin Murphy	FRA !	WG	7 April 2001	9	4	0	0	16
93	Paleaaesina, IafetaIafeta Paleaaesina	NZL ! /	PR	1 June 2001	5	2	0	0	8
94	Seu Seu, AnthonyAnthony Seu Seu	NZL !	PR	15 July 2001	1	0	0	0	0

Staff

• Chief Executive Officer: Mick Watson

Coaching Staff

• Head Coach: Daniel Anderson
• Assistant Coach: Tony Kemp
• Video Analysis: Rohan Smith^[1]

Transfers

Gains

Losses

Other Teams

Players not required by the Warriors each week were released to play in the 2001 Bartercard Cup. This included Anthony Seuseu, Iafeta Paleaaesina, Cliff Beverley, Shontayne Hape, Jason Temu, Motu Tony, Jonathan Smith, Justin Murphy, Mark Tookey and Kevin Campion who all played in the Bartercard Cup and the National Rugby League in 2001.

Awards

Jerry Seuseu won the clubs Player of the Year award.^[2]

References

External links

• Warriors official site
• 2001 Warriors Season at rugbyleagueproject.org