2003 New Zealand Warriors season

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.

• The Warriors had the youngest squad out of all the 15 clubs in the 2003 NRL season.^[1]
• 23 March — Round 2: Monty Betham played in his 50th match for the club.
• 6 April — Round 4: Francis Meli, Wairangi Koopu and Mark Tookey played in their 50th first grade games for the club.^[2]
• 22 June — Round 13: Motu Tony played in his 50th match for the club.
• 12 July — Round 18: Ali Lauitiiti played in his 100th match for the club.
• 10 August — Round 22: Richard Villasanti played in his 50th match for the club.
• 6 September — Round 26: Awen Guttenbiel played in his 100th match for the club.

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]

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

The Warriors played a pre-season trial match against the Penrith Panthers in Invercargill on 28 February. 15,000 fans attended the match, which was sold out.^[4]

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]

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

2003 NRL season v t e
Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	B	PF	PA	PD	Pts
1	Penrith Panthers (P)	24	18	0	6	2	659	527	+132	40
2	Sydney Roosters	24	17	0	7	2	680	445	+235	38
3	Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs	24	16	0	8	2	702	419	+283	36
4	Canberra Raiders	24	16	0	8	2	620	463	+157	36
5	Melbourne Storm	24	15	0	9	2	564	486	+78	34
6	New Zealand Warriors	24	15	0	9	2	545	510	+35	34
7	Newcastle Knights	24	14	0	10	2	632	635	-3	32
8	Brisbane Broncos	24	12	0	12	2	497	464	+33	28
9	Parramatta Eels	24	11	0	13	2	570	582	-12	26
10	St George Illawarra Dragons	24	11	0	13	2	548	593	-45	26
11	North Queensland Cowboys	24	10	0	14	2	606	629	-23	24
12	Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks	24	8	0	16	2	497	704	-207	20
13	Wests Tigers	24	7	0	17	2	470	598	-128	18
14	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	24	7	0	17	2	557	791	-234	18
15	South Sydney Rabbitohs	24	3	0	21	2	457	758	-301	10

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	Stacey Jones		HB	23 April 1995	22	3	29	4	74
33	Awen Guttenbeil	/	SR	14 April 1996	20	1	0	0	4
42	Logan Swann		SR	1 March 1997	23	9	0	0	36
50	Jerry Seu Seu	/	PR	16 August 1997	24	1	0	0	4
55	Ali Lauitiiti	/	SR	19 April 1998	12	1	0	0	4
61	Monty Betham	/	HK / LK	8 March 1999	24	2	0	0	8
64	Wairangi Koopu		CE / SR	9 April 1999	25	1	0	0	4
65	Francis Meli	/	WG	2 May 1999	27	23	0	0	92
66	Clinton Toopi		CE	2 May 1999	22	17	0	0	68
76	Mark Tookey		PR	6 February 2000	17	0	0	0	0
81	Henry Fa'afili	/	WG	26 March 2000	24	10	0	0	40
87	Richard Villasanti	/	PR	18 February 2001	16	6	0	0	24
90	Motu Tony	/	UH	9 March 2001	18	7	0	0	28
92	Justin Murphy		WG	7 April 2001	8	1	0	0	4
93	Iafeta Paleaaesina	/	PR	1 June 2001	24	0	0	0	0
95	John Carlaw		CE	24 March 2002	10	2	0	0	8
96	PJ Marsh		HB / HK	24 March 2002	11	3	12	0	36
97	Brent Webb		FB	1 April 2002	21	8	26	0	84
98	Sione Faumuina		CE / LK	1 April 2002	24	5	1	0	22
99	Lance Hohaia		UB	6 April 2002	16	7	8	0	44
100	Vinnie Anderson	/	CE	7 July 2002	27	6	0	0	24
102	Evarn Tuimavave		PR	1 September 2002	9	1	1	0	6
103	Karl Temata		PR / SR	6 September 2002	10	0	0	0	0
104	Mark Robinson		HK	2 May 2003	1	0	0	0	0
105	Thomas Leuluai		HB	2 May 2003	12	1	0	0	4
106	Vince Mellars		CE	7 June 2003	4	1	0	0	4
107	Tevita Latu	/	HK	7 June 2003	7	2	0	0	8
108	Jerome Ropati		CE / FE	31 August 2003	1	0	0	0	0

• Chief Executive Officer: Mick Watson

• Head coach: Daniel Anderson
• Assistant coach: Tony Kemp
• Assistant coach: Rohan Smith

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.

Francis Meli won the Player of the Year award.^[5]

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