2005 New Zealand Warriors season

The 2005 New Zealand Warriors season was the 11th in the club's history. The club competed in Australasia's National Rugby League. The coach of the team was Tony Kemp while Steve Price was the club captain.

2005 New Zealand Warriors season
NRL Rank	11th
2005 record	Wins: 10; draws: 0; losses: 14
Points scored	For: 515; against: 528
Team information
CEO	Mick Watson
Coach	Tony Kemp
Assistant coach	Ivan Cleary Kevin Campion
Captains	Steve Price Stacey Jones (7) Monty Betham (1)
Stadium	Ericsson Stadium
Avg. attendance	13,101
Top scorers
Tries	Todd Byrne (14)
Goals	Stacey Jones (63)
Points	Stacey Jones (147)
← 2004 2006 →

Milestones

• 3 April - Round 4: Clinton Toopi played in his 100th match for the club.
• 9 April - Round 5: Francis Meli plays in his 100th first grade match for the club.^[1]
• 7 May - Round 9: Wairangi Koopu played in his 100th match for the club.
• 13 August - Round 23: Monty Betham played in his 100th first grade match for the club and Karl Temata played in his 50th game for the club.

Jersey & Sponsors

The Warriors again made no changes to their jersey design for the 2005 season. During Round Sixteen a replica 1995 jersey was worn against the Brisbane Broncos to mark the 10th season of the Warriors.

Fixtures

See also: List of New Zealand Warriors results

The Warriors used Ericsson Stadium as their home ground in 2005, their only home ground since they entered the competition in 1995.

Pre-season

The Warriors played a match against the NZRL's Presidents selection at North Harbour Stadium on 27 February. The President's selection was coached by John Ackland and Tawera Nikau and included: Toshio Laiseni, Cooper Vuna, Simon Mannering, Joshua Davis, Rowan Baxter, Daniel Vasau, Bernard Perenara, George Tuakura, Ben Lythe, Phil Shead, Odell Manuel, Chris Newton, Wayne McDade. Interchange: Paul Atkins, Andreas Bauer, Marvin Filipo, Robinson Godfrey, Pinomi Tafea, Willie Live, Artie Shead, Sam Rapira, Chris Tupou, Dean Shepherd, Antonio Tusani.^[2] For the Warriors, the match was Nathan Fien's first for the club.^[3] The Warriors won the game 58–6.^[4]

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Score	Tries	Goals	Attendance	Report
13 February	Parramatta Eels	Yarrow Stadium, New Plymouth	Win	20-10			9,500	[5][6][7]
27 February	NZRL's Presidents selection	North Harbour Stadium, Auckland	Win	58-6	Meli (3), Webb (3), Hohaia (2), Ropati, Martin, Latu	Jones (5)		[4]

Regular season

Date	Round	Opponent	Venue	Result	Score	Tries	Goals	Attendance	Report
13 March	Round 1	Manly Sea Eagles	Ericsson Stadium, Auckland	Lost	20-26	Anderson, Koopu, Toopi	Jones (4)	13,682
19 March	Round 2	Brisbane Broncos	Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane	Win	24-12	Jones, Ropati, Wiki	Jones (6)	24,719
27 March	Round 3	North Queensland Cowboys	Ericsson Stadium, Auckland	Lost	22-32	Betham, Byrne, Fien, Paleaaesina	Jones (3)	13,888
3 April	Round 4	South Sydney Rabbitohs	Ericsson Stadium, Auckland	Win	46-14	Betham, Byrne, Fien, Guttenbeil, Jones, Koopu, Toopi, Manu Vatuvei	Jones (7)	9,751
9 April	Round 5	Wests Tigers	AMI Stadium, Christchurch	Lost	6-24	Byrne	Jones (1)	18,421
17 April	Round 6	Newcastle Knights	EnergyAustralia Stadium, Newcastle	Win	30-26	Vatuvei (2), Byrne, Faumuina, Meli, Toopi	Jones (3)	18,173
	Round 7	Bye
1 May	Round 8	Penrith Panthers	Ericsson Stadium, Auckland	Lost	14-16	Byrne, Temata, Vatuvei	Jones (1)	10,989
7 May	Round 9	Cronulla Sharks	Members Equity Stadium, Perth	Lost	24-28	Byrne, Hohaia, Koopu, Villasanti	Hohaia (4)	13,293
15 May	Round 10	Sydney Roosters	Ericsson Stadium, Auckland	Lost	6-10	Byrne	Hohaia (1)	10,082
21 May	Round 11	South Sydney Rabbitohs	North Sydney Oval, Sydney	Win	34-16	Faumuina, Meli, Ropati, Vatuvei, Villasanti, Webb	Jones (3), Hohaia (2)	6,195
29 May	Round 12	Wests Tigers	Ericsson Stadium, Auckland	Win	21-4	Toopi (2), Byrne, Villasanti	Jones (1 & FG), Hohaia (1)	9,420
4 June	Round 13	St. George Illawarra Dragons	WIN Stadium, Wollongong	Lost	18-32	Byrne, Paleaaesina, Vatuvei	Jones (3)	14,479
12 June	Round 14	Melbourne Storm	Ericsson Stadium, Auckland	Win	24-16	Byrne (2), Meli, Paleaaesina, Ropati	Jones (2)	7,898
18 June	Round 15	Parramatta Eels	Waikato Stadium, Hamilton	Lost	18-28	Byrne, Meli, Toopi, Villasanti	Hohaia (1)	17,142
26 June	Round 16	Brisbane Broncos	Ericsson Stadium, Auckland	Win	30-18	Koopu (2), Faumuina, Hohaia, Meli, Vatuvei	Jones (3)	13,752
2 July	Round 17	North Queensland Cowboys	Dairy Farmers Stadium, Townsville	Lost	16-24	Koopu, Vatuvei, Wiki	Jones (2)	20,078
10 July	Round 18	Canterbury Bulldogs	Ericsson Stadium, Auckland	Lost	24-26	Meli, Byrne, Koopu, Jones	Jones (4)	12,822
16 July	Round 19	Sydney Roosters	Sydney Football Stadium, Sydney	Win	24-22	Hohaia (2), Webb, Wiki	Jones (4)	13,789
23 July	Round 20	Canberra Raiders	Ericsson Stadium, Auckland	Win	24-16	Fien, Hohaia, Meli, Ropati	Jones (4)	18,361
30 July	Round 21	Penrith Panthers	CUA Stadium, Sydney	Lost	34-42	Byrne, Faumuina, Fien, Guttenbeil, Jones, Webb	Jones (5)	13,985
6 August	Round 22	Parramatta Eels	Ericsson Stadium, Auckland	Lost	20-38	Fien (2), Koopu	Jones (4)	19,211
13 August	Round 23	Melbourne Storm	Olympic Park Stadium, Melbourne	Lost	10-22	Fien, Meli	Jones (1)	11,072
20 August	Round 24	Newcastle Knights	Ericsson Stadium, Auckland	Lost	4-16	Vatuvei		17,356
27 August	Round 25	Manly Sea Eagles	Brookvale Oval, Sydney	Win	22-20	Faumuina, Jones, Koopu, Wiki	Jones (3)	14,219
	Round 26	Bye

Ladder

2005 NRL season v t e
Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	B	PF	PA	PD	Pts
1	Parramatta Eels	24	16	0	8	2	704	456	+248	36
2	St George Illawarra Dragons	24	16	0	8	2	655	510	+145	36
3	Brisbane Broncos	24	15	0	9	2	597	484	+113	34
4	Wests Tigers (P)	24	14	0	10	2	676	575	+101	32
5	North Queensland Cowboys	24	14	0	10	2	639	563	+76	32
6	Melbourne Storm	24	13	0	11	2	640	462	+178	30
7	Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks	24	12	0	12	2	550	564	-14	28
8	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	24	12	0	12	2	554	632	-78	28
9	Sydney Roosters	24	11	0	13	2	488	487	+1	26
10	Penrith Panthers	24	11	0	13	2	554	554	0	26
11	New Zealand Warriors	24	10	0	14	2	515	528	-13	24
12	Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs	24	9	1	14	2	472	670	-198	23
13	South Sydney Rabbitohs	24	9	1	14	2	482	700	-218	23
14	Canberra Raiders	24	9	0	15	2	465	606	-141	22
15	Newcastle Knights	24	8	0	16	2	467	667	-200	20

Squad

See also: List of New Zealand Warriors players

Twenty Four players were used by the Warriors in 2005, including several 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	23	5	63	1	147
33	Awen Guttenbeil		SR	14 April 1996	23	2	0	0	8
61	Monty Betham		HK / LK	8 March 1999	16	2	0	0	8
64	Wairangi Koopu		CE / SR	9 April 1999	24	9	0	0	36
65	Francis Meli		WG	2 May 1999	21	8	0	0	32
66	Clinton Toopi		CE	2 May 1999	23	6	0	0	24
87	Richard Villasanti		PR	18 February 2001	19	4	0	0	16
93	Iafeta Paleaaesina		PR	1 June 2001	22	3	0	0	12
97	Brent Webb		FB	1 April 2002	20	3	0	0	12
98	Sione Faumuina		CE / LK	1 April 2002	20	5	0	0	20
99	Lance Hohaia		UB	6 April 2002	19	5	10	0	40
102	Evarn Tuimavave		PR	1 September 2002	2	0	0	0	0
103	Karl Temata		PR / SR	6 September 2002	20	1	0	0	4
107	Tevita Latu		HK	7 June 2003	8	0	0	0	0
108	Jerome Ropati		CE / FE	31 August 2003	23	4	0	0	16
109	Tony Martin		CE	14 March 2004	2	0	0	0	0
110	Epalahame Lauaki		SR	14 March 2004	5	0	0	0	0
112	Louis Anderson		LK	28 March 2004	18	1	0	0	4
115	Manu Vatuvei		WG	23 May 2004	12	9	0	0	36
118	Cooper Vuna		WG	21 August 2004	0	0	0	0	0
121	Steve Price		PR	13 March 2005	16	0	0	0	0
122	Todd Byrne		WG	13 March 2005	22	14	0	0	56
123	Ruben Wiki		PR	13 March 2005	19	4	0	0	16
124	Nathan Fien		HK	13 March 2005	22	7	0	0	28
125	Simon Mannering		CE	26 June 2005	7	0	0	0	0

Staff

• Chief Executive Officer: Mick Watson

Coaching Staff

• Head coach: Tony Kemp
• Assistant coach: Ivan Cleary
• Assistant coach: Kevin Campion
• IT and Video Analyst: Tony Iro^[8]
• Trainer: Craig Walker^[9]

Transfers

Gains

Player	Previous Club	Length	Notes
Steve Price	Canterbury Bulldogs
Todd Byrne	Sydney Roosters
Ruben Wiki	Canberra Raiders
Nathan Fien	North Queensland Cowboys

Losses

Player	Club	Notes
Paul Atkins	Otahuhu-Ellerslie Leopards
Kane Ferris	Canterbury Bulls
Herewini Rangi	Central Comets
Shannon Stowers	Mount Albert Lions
Paul Dezolt	Queensland Cup	Released 14 June 2004
Matt Jobson	Wests Tigers
Danny Sullivan	Retired
Vince Mellars	Cronulla Sharks
Thomas Leuluai	London Broncos
Vinnie Anderson	St Helens R.F.C.
PJ Marsh	Parramatta Eels
Justin Murphy	Widnes Vikings	Released July 2004
Henry Fa'afili	Warrington Wolves
Mark Tookey	Castleford Tigers	Released June 2004
Ali Lauitiiti	Leeds Rhinos	Released April 2004
Jerry Seuseu	Wigan Warriors

Other Teams

Players not required by the Warriors were released to play in the 2005 Bartercard Cup. This included Cooper Vuna who played for the Otahuhu-Ellerslie Leopards.

Awards

Ruben Wiki won the Player of the Year award.^[10]