1996 Auckland Warriors season

The Auckland Warriors 1996 season was the Auckland Warriors 2nd season in first-grade. The club competed in Australasia's Australian Rugby League competition. The coach of the team was John Monie while Greg Alexander was the club's captain.

• 29 July - Round 18 - Gene Ngamu scores 28 points (3 tries, 8 goals) in the defeat of the North Queensland Cowboys, setting the club's point scoring record.

The Warriors retained the same jersey design as in 1995. The official jersey supplier were Lenco. The Jersey was blue with a Green, Red and White "V". Only one jersey was used for both home and away games. The main sponsor was DB Bitter. Asics, Coca-Cola and Mitsubishi also had sponsorship deals.

As the Auckland Warriors had, along with seven other clubs, signed with News Limited they did not originally intend to compete in the Australian Rugby League's Optus Cup in 1996. Instead Super League was scheduled to start on 1 March 1996.

Legal proceedings had been ongoing between the ARL and News Ltd since 1995 and on 23 February 1996 Justice James Burchett ruled the new Super League competition to be illegal. As a result, the eight Super League clubs were obliged to compete in the Optus Cup in 1996. However the competition, which was originally planned to kick off on 1 March was delayed and commenced on 22 March.

As a result of the court action the Warriors were not invited to participate in the ARL's 1996 Rugby League World Sevens but many of their players instead took part in Super League's 1996 World Nines, which were won by New Zealand.

All Super League clubs apart from the Warriors forfeited Round One of the Optus Cup. The Warriors board instead directed reserve grade coach Frank Endacott to organise two teams of un-affiliated players to fly to Brisbane. Endacott did so, assembling teams largely made up of the Otahuhu Leopards and Ellerslie Eagles senior sides, and the Warriors first and reserve grade sides were awarded a win each via forfeit as Brisbane refused to play.^[1]

Auckland Warriors players were again ineligible for the New South Wales and Queensland State of Origin sides and the Australian Kangaroos due to the Warriors Super League stance.

In October 1996 New Limited won an appeal and Super League was allowed to go ahead in 1997.

The Warriors used Ericsson Stadium as their home ground in 1996, their only home ground since they entered the competition in 1995.

Date	Round	Opponent	Venue	Result	Score	Tries	Goals	Attendance	Report
February	Match 1	Cronulla Sharks	Ericsson Stadium, Auckland	Loss	24 - 38

Date	Round	Opponent	Venue	Result	Score	Tries	Goals	Attendance	Report
	Round 1	Brisbane Broncos		Win*
31 March	Round 2	Illawarra Steelers	Ericsson Stadium, Auckland	Win	18 - 10	T.Ropati (2), Blackmore	Alexander (2), Hill (1)	17,246
4 April	Round 3	Western Suburbs Magpies	Campbelltown Stadium, Sydney	Loss	8 - 22	J.Vagana	Alexander (1), Hill (1)	10,088
1 April	Round 4	North Sydney Bears	Ericsson Stadium, Auckland	Win	12 - 8	Jones	Hill (2), Alexander (1), Ellis (1)	22,500
7 April	Round 5	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	Brookvale Oval, Sydney	Loss	10 - 22	Blake, Ngamu	Ngamu (1)	18,588
16 April	Round 6	Illawarra Steelers	Steelers Stadium, Wollongong	Win	30 - 20	Alexander, Blake, Ellis, Jones, Tatupu	Ngamu (3), Hill (2)	8,055
23 April	Round 7	Parramatta Eels	Ericsson Stadium, Auckland	Win	28 - 4	Kirwan (2), Alexander, Hoppe, Horo	Ngamu (3), Hill (1)	23,432
30 April	Round 8	Sydney City Roosters	SFS, Sydney	Loss	16 - 28	Blackmore, Hoppe, T.Ropati	Ngamu (1), Hill (1)	13,471
7 May	Round 9	Newcastle Knights	Ericsson Stadium, Auckland	Loss	18 - 22	Kirwan (2), Betts	Ngamu (1), Ellis (1)	17,000
14 May	Round 10	Cronulla Sharks	Ericsson Stadium, Auckland	Loss	24 - 28	Hoppe, Kearney, Kirwan, Ngamu	Ngamu (4)	22,810
4 June	Round 11	Sydney Tigers	Lancaster Park, Christchurch	Loss	22 - 34	Blackmore, Ellis, Kirwan, T.Ropati	Ngamu (2), Ellis (1)	10,000
18 June	Round 12	Penrith Panthers	Penrith Park, Sydney	Win	26 - 16	Ellis (2), Hoppe, Horo, Kirwan	Ngamu (3)	6,981
25 June	Round 13	Western Suburbs Magpies	Ericsson Stadium, Auckland	Win	32 - 16	Jones (2), Alexander, Eru, Hoppe, Kirwan	Ngamu (4)	17,500
1 July	Round 14	South Sydney Rabbitohs	Ericsson Stadium, Auckland	Win	24 - 10	Eru (2), Jones, Kirwan	Ngamu (4)	20,000
9 July	Round 15	Gold Coast Chargers	Carrara Stadium, Gold Coast	Win	28 - 14	Ellis, Henare, Horo, Kearney, Swann	Ngamu (4)	11,870
16 July	Round 16	Western Reds	WACA Ground, Perth	Loss	12 - 32	Ellis, Swann	Ngamu (2)	12,760
23 July	Round 17	South Queensland Crushers	Ericsson Stadium, Auckland	Win	16 - 12	Blackmore, Swann	Ngamu (3), Ellis (1)	17,000
29 July	Round 18	North Queensland Cowboys	Ericsson Stadium, Auckland	Win	52 - 6	Ngamu (3), Betts, Blake, Hoppe, Horo, Jones, Kirwan	Ngamu (8)	14,600
6 August	Round 19	St George Dragons	Kogarah Oval, Sydney	Loss	6 - 35	Guttenbeil	Ngamu (1)	14,256
11 August	Round 20	Canterbury Bulldogs	Ericsson Stadium, Auckland	Win	18 - 12	Betts, Blackmore, Ropati	Ngamu (3)	23,300
18 August	Round 21	Canberra Raiders	Bruce Stadium, Canberra	Loss	6 - 30	Blackmore	Ngamu (1)	14,528
27 August	Round 22	Brisbane Broncos	Ericsson Stadium, Auckland	Loss	6 - 38	Hoppe	Ngamu (1)	26,000

*Brisbane forfeited Round One. The Warriors had sent a team to Brisbane consisting of players un-signed to Super League.

	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts
1	Manly-Warringah	22	18	0	4	549	191	+358	36
2	Brisbane	21	17	0	4	607	263	+344	34
3	North Sydney	22	15	2	5	598	325	+273	32
4	Sydney City	22	15	1	6	521	321	+200	31
5	Cronulla-Sutherland	21	14	2	5	399	268	+131	30
6	Canberra	21	13	1	7	538	384	+154	27
7	St. George	21	12	1	8	443	360	+83	27
8	Western Suburbs	22	12	1	9	394	434	−40	25
9	Newcastle	21	10	1	10	416	388	+28	23
10	Canterbury	21	11	0	10	375	378	−3	22
11	Auckland	21	10	0	11	412	427	−15	22
12	Balmain	22	11	0	11	319	459	−140	22
13	Parramatta	21	9	1	11	404	415	−11	21
14	Illawarra	22	8	0	14	403	444	−41	16
15	Penrith	21	7	1	13	363	464	−101	15
16	Western Reds	21	6	1	14	313	420	−107	13
17	North Queensland	21	6	0	15	288	643	−355	12
18	Gold Coast	22	5	1	16	359	521	−162	11
19	South Sydney	22	5	1	16	314	634	−320	11
20	South Queensland	21	3	0	18	220	496	−276	8

The Warriors used twenty eight players in 1996, including nine who made their first grade debuts.

No.	Name	Nationality	Position	Warriors Debut	App	T	G	FG	Pts
2	Phil Blake		FB / HK	10 March 1995	18	3	0	0	12
3	Sean Hoppe		WG	10 March 1995	20	7	0	0	28
6	Gene Ngamu		FE	10 March 1995	20	5	50	0	120
7	Greg Alexander		FB / FE / HB	10 March 1995	16	3	4	0	20
8	Gavin Hill		PR	10 March 1995	7	0	8	0	16
10	Hitro Okesene		PR / HK	10 March 1995	4	0	0	0	0
11	Stephen Kearney		SR	10 March 1995	21	2	0	0	8
12	Tony Tatupu	/	SR	10 March 1995	11	1	0	0	4
13	Tony Tuimavave	/	PR / LK	10 March 1995	5	0	0	0	0
15	Tea Ropati	/	CE / FE	10 March 1995	20	5	0	0	20
18	Joe Vagana	/	PR	18 March 1995	20	1	0	0	4
19	Syd Eru		HK	28 March 1995	11	3	0	0	12
22	John Kirwan		WG	16 April 1995	19	10	0	0	40
23	Andy Platt		PR	23 April 1995	21	0	0	0	0
24	Stacey Jones		HB	23 April 1995	21	6	0	0	24
26	Richie Blackmore		CE	14 May 1995	17	6	0	0	24
28	Denis Betts		SR	4 June 1995	17	3	0	0	12
29	Marc Ellis		FB / WG	31 March 1996	18	6	4	0	32
30	Mark Horo		PR / SR	31 March 1996	21	4	0	0	16
31	Mark Carter		SR	31 March 1996	8	0	0	0	0
32	Nigel Vagana	/	CE	4 April 1996	1	0	0	0	0
33	Awen Guttenbeil	/	SR	14 April 1996	14	1	0	0	4
34	Doc Murray		FB	19 April 1996	1	0	0	0	0
35	Iva Ropati		CE	19 April 1996	2	0	0	0	0
36	Anthony Swann	/	CE	23 June 1996	9	3	0	0	12
37	Brady Malam		PR	23 June 1996	8	0	0	0	0
38	Bryan Henare		SR	23 July 1996	3	1	0	0	4
39	Aaron Lester		HK	28 July 1996	3	0	0	0	0

• Chairman: Peter McLeod
• Chief Executive Officer: Ian Robson
• Football Manager: Laurie Stubbing

• Head coach: John Monie
• Reserve Grade Coach: Frank Endacott
• Development Officer: John Ackland

The Warriors participated in the ARL's Reserve grade competition that mirrored the senior draw. The Reserve grade side again made the finals, finishing third. Unlike in 1995, the Warriors did not field a Colts side in the Lion Red Cup.

In the Club Championship the Warriors finished fifth overall.

In the Reserve Grade Finals the Warriors first bet Sydney City 19–18 in the Quarterfinals. In the Semifinals they defeated Brisbane 18-12 to make the Grand Final. However, in the Grand Final the Warriors went down 14-12 to the Cronulla Sharks, the second year in a row that a Warriors team had lost a Grand Final.^[2][3] The cost of the finals campaign to the club was estimated at between $70,000 and $75,000.^[4]

Stephen Kearney won the club's Player of the Year award.^[5]

• Warriors official site
• 1996 Warriors Season rugbyleagueproject.org