2008 New Zealand Warriors season

• 31 March – Round 3: Grant Rovelli played in his 50th match for the club.
• 19 April – Round 6: Lance Hohaia played in his 100th match for the club.
• 22 June – Round 15: Sam Rapira played in his 50th match for the club.
• 14 September – Qualifying Finals: The Warriors become the first team finishing eighth to beat the minor premiers when they defeat the Melbourne Storm, 18 – 15.
• October–November: 11 players from the club participated in the World Cup: Steve Price, Brent Tate (Australia), Nathan Fien, Lance Hohaia, Simon Mannering, Sam Rapira, Jerome Ropati, Evarn Tuimavave, Manu Vatuvei (New Zealand), Ian Henderson (Scotland), Epalahame Lauaki (Tonga). In addition, John Ackland coached Samoa and Wairangi Koopu played for the New Zealand Māori side in the Welcome to Country match.

The Warriors used Mt Smart Stadium as their home ground in 2008, their only home ground since they entered the competition in 1995.

Trial Matches

Date	Round	Opponent	Venue	Result	Score	Tries	Goals	Attendance	Report
15 February	Trial 1	Newcastle Knights	North Harbour Stadium, Auckland	Loss	14–22	Ah Van, Vatuvei, Koopu	Witt (1)	9,000	[1]
23 February	Trial 2	Auckland Vulcans	Henham Park, Auckland	Win	50–0	Solomona (2), Hohaia (2), Fien, Witt, Locke, Taylor, Mika	Witt (7)		[1]
29 February	Trial 3	Manly Sea Eagles	Stockland Park, Sunshine Coast	Loss	16–24	Rovelli, Witt, Solomona	Witt (2)	8,040	[1]

Regular season

Date	Round	Opponent	Venue	Result	Score	Tries	Goals	Attendance	Report
17 March	Round 1	Melbourne Storm	Telstra Dome, Melbourne	Loss	18–32	Vatuvei (2), Ropati	Witt (3)	20,084
23 March	Round 2	Parramatta Eels	Mt Smart Stadium, Auckland	Win	30–16	Vatuvei (2), Rovelli, Tate, Tuimavave	Witt (5)	15,250
31 March	Round 3	Manly Sea Eagles	Brookvale Oval, Sydney	Loss	6–52	Hohaia	Witt (1)	10,175
6 April	Round 4	Newcastle Knights	Mt Smart Stadium, Auckland	Win	26–20	Shortland (2), Ah Van, Tuimavave	Witt (5)	11,518
13 April	Round 5	Bulldogs	Mt Smart Stadium, Auckland	Win	36–16	Vatuvei (2), Ah Van, Fai, Hohaia, Wiki	Witt (6)	15,912
19 April	Round 6	North Queensland Cowboys	Dairy Farmers Stadium, Townsville	Loss	20–48	Henderson, Ropati, Mannering	Witt (4)	20,544
27 April	Round 7	Gold Coast Titans	Skilled Park, Gold Coast	Loss	24–36	Witt (2), Luck, Vatuvei	Witt (4)	25,310
4 May	Round 8	Canberra Raiders	Mt Smart Stadium, Auckland	Win	14–6	Shortland, Tate	Witt (3)	7,358
	Round 9	Bye			–
18 May	Round 10	Penrith Panthers	CUA Stadium, Sydney	Loss	22–46	Mannering (2), Henderson Packer	Hohaia (3)	9,450
25 May	Round 11	Sydney Roosters	Mt Smart Stadium, Auckland	Loss	12–38	Henderson, Kirk	Hohaia (2)	11,922
31 May	Round 12	Newcastle Knights	EnergyAustralia Stadium, Newcastle	Win	18–16	Ah Van, Crockett, Henderson	Ah Van (3)	15,489
6 June	Round 13	South Sydney Rabbitohs	Mt Smart Stadium, Auckland	Loss	28–35	Crockett (3), Ah Van, Kirk, Ropati	Ah Van (1), Hohaia (1)	13,112
13 June	Round 14	Cronulla Sharks	Toyota Park, Sydney	Loss	8–24	Ropati	Hohaia (2)	9,023
22 June	Round 15	Manly Sea Eagles	Mt Smart Stadium, Auckland	Loss	14–20	Kirk, Vatuvei, Mannering	Witt (1)	7,141
29 June	Round 16	Wests Tigers	Leichhardt Oval, Sydney	Win	28–26	Fai, Fien, Henderson, Hohaia, Ropati	Hohaia (2), Witt (2)	15,027
	Round 17	Bye			–
12 July	Round 18	North Queensland Cowboys	Mt Smart Stadium, Auckland	Win	24–14	Fai, Kirk, Luck, Mannering, Ropati	Hohaia (2)	7,722
19 July	Round 19	Bulldogs	ANZ Stadium, Sydney	Win	40–22	Solomona (3), Fai, Hohaia, Kirk, Price, Rapira	Hohaia (4)	12,973
27 July	Round 20	Melbourne Storm	Mt Smart Stadium, Auckland	Win	8–6	Fai	Hohaia (2)	8,700
2 August	Round 21	South Sydney Rabbitohs	ANZ Stadium, Sydney	Loss	18–16	Hohaia (2), Ropati	Hohaia (2)	9,276
9 August	Round 22	Brisbane Broncos	Mt Smart Stadium, Auckland	Win	16–12	Matulino, McKinnon, Witt	Witt (2)	13,007
16 August	Round 23	Cronulla Sharks	Mt Smart Stadium, Auckland	Win	18–4	Hohaia, Ropati, Vatuvei	Witt (3)	10,417
24 August	Round 24	St. George Illawarra Dragons	WIN Stadium, Wollongong	Loss	6–36	McKinnon	Witt (1)	11,583
31 August	Round 25	Penrith Panthers	Mt Smart Stadium, Auckland	Win	42–20	Vatuvei (2), Henderson, Luck, McKinnon, Ropati, Witt	Witt (7)	15,214
6 September	Round 26	Parramatta Eels	Parramatta Stadium, Sydney	Win	28–6	Vatuvei (3), Tate (2)	Witt (4)	5,102

Finals

	Qualifying finals					Semifinals					Preliminary finals					Final
	1	Melbourne	15
	8	New Zealand	18								1W	Manly	32
						4W	New Zealand	30				New Zealand	6
	2	Manly	38			2L	Sydney	13
																Manly		40
	7	St. George Illawarra	6
																Melbourne		0
	3	Cronulla	36								2W	Cronulla	0
	6	Canberra	10			3W	Brisbane	14				Melbourne	28
						1L	Melbourne	16
	4	Sydney	16
	5	Brisbane	24

Date	Round	Opponent	Venue	Result	Score	Tries	Goals	Attendance	Report
14 September	Qualifying Final	Melbourne Storm	Olympic Park Stadium, Melbourne	Win	18–15	Ropati, Vatuvei, Witt	Witt (3)	15,193
19 September	Semi Final	Sydney Roosters	Mt Smart Stadium, Auckland	Win	30–13	Hohaia (2), Henderson, Kirk, Vatuvei	Witt (5)	25,585
27 September	Preliminary Final	Manly Sea Eagles	Sydney Football Stadium, Sydney	Loss	6–32	Kirk	Hohaia (1)	32,095

Twenty Six players played for the club in 2008. Eight players made their debut for the club, including five who were also making their first grade debuts.

No.	Name	Nationality	Position	Warriors Debut	App	T	G	FG	Pts
42	Logan Swann		SR	1 March 1997	24	0	0	0	0
64	Wairangi Koopu		CE / SR	9 April 1999	6	0	0	0	0
99	Lance Hohaia		UB	6 April 2002	26	9	21	0	78
102	Evarn Tuimavave		PR	1 September 2002	25	2	0	0	8
108	Jerome Ropati		CE / FE	31 August 2003	22	9	0	0	36
110	Epalahame Lauaki	/	SR	14 March 2004	16	0	0	0	0
115	Manu Vatuvei		WG	23 May 2004	17	16	0	0	64
121	Steve Price		PR	13 March 2005	17	1	0	0	4
123	Ruben Wiki		PR	13 March 2005	24	1	0	0	4
124	Nathan Fien		HK	13 March 2005	27	1	0	0	4
125	Simon Mannering		CE	26 June 2005	27	5	0	0	20
126	Micheal Luck		SR	12 March 2006	25	3	0	0	12
127	Grant Rovelli		HB	12 March 2006	21	1	0	0	4
129	Patrick Ah Van		WG	9 April 2006	12	4	4	0	24
131	Sam Rapira		PR	20 May 2006	27	2	0	0	8
132	Wade McKinnon		FB	17 March 2007	5	3	0	0	12
133	Michael Crockett		WG	17 March 2007	6	4	0	0	12
134	Michael Witt		FE	17 March 2007	18	5	59	0	138
136	Aidan Kirk		FB / CE	17 March 2008	15	7	0	0	28
137	Brent Tate		CE	17 March 2008	24	4	0	0	16
138	Ian Henderson		HK	23 March 2008	26	7	0	0	28
139	Sonny Fai		SR	23 March 2008	15	5	0	0	20
140	Ryan Shortland		CE	6 April 2008	5	3	0	0	12
141	Russell Packer		PR	4 May 2008	5	1	0	0	4
142	Ben Matulino		SR	14 June 2008	15	1	0	0	4
143	Malo Solomona		WG	29 June 2008	8	3	0	0	12

• Chief Executive Officer: Wayne Scurrah

In 2008 the Junior Warriors competed in the new Under 20's competition, the Toyota Cup, while Senior players who were not required for the first team played with the Auckland Vulcans in the NSW Cup. The Auckland Vulcans were coached by Bernie Perenara. Wayne McDade was named the Vulcans player of the year with Aaron Heremaia as the runner up and Pita Godinet as the Rookie of the year.[3]

Junior Warriors

See also: 2008 NRL Under-20s season

The Junior Warriors finished third in the Toyota Cup, making the finals before losing to the Brisbane Broncos in a Preliminary Final. Both Russell Packer and Ben Matulino were named in the Toyota Cup's team of the year.

2008 Toyota Cup season
Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	B	PF	PA	PD	Pts
1	Canberra Raiders (P)	24	18	0	6	2	744	581	+163	40
2	Brisbane Broncos	24	15	1	8	2	684	476	+208	35
3	New Zealand Warriors	24	14	3	7	2	721	533	+188	35
4	Penrith Panthers	24	15	1	8	2	692	583	+109	35
5	Parramatta Eels	24	14	3	7	2	578	564	+14	35
6	St George Illawarra Dragons	24	13	2	9	2	561	520	+41	32
7	Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs	24	12	3	9	2	711	587	+124	31
8	Gold Coast Titans	24	13	1	10	2	686	567	+119	31
9	Wests Tigers	24	13	0	11	2	620	623	-3	30
10	South Sydney Rabbitohs	24	11	2	11	2	618	584	+34	28
11	Manly Warringah Sea Eagles	24	11	0	13	2	519	532	-13	26
12	Newcastle Knights	24	8	1	15	2	526	630	-104	21
13	Melbourne Storm	24	8	1	15	2	512	638	-126	21
14	Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks	24	6	1	17	2	394	666	-272	17
15	Sydney Roosters	24	6	0	18	2	480	721	-241	16
16	North Queensland Cowboys	24	4	3	17	2	455	696	-241	15

	Qualifying finals					Semifinals					Preliminary finals					Final
	1	Canberra Raiders	43
	8	Brisbane Broncos	28								1W	Canberra Raiders	18
						4W	Parramatta Eels	22				St. George Illawarra	14
	2	NZ Warriors	47			2L	St. George Illawarra	23
																Canberra Raiders		28
	7	Penrith Panthers	16
																Brisbane Broncos		24
	3	Parramatta Eels	24								2W	Brisbane Broncos	28
	6	St. George Illawarra	20			3W	NZ Warriors	38				NZ Warriors	26
						1L	Penrith Panthers	4
	4	Bulldogs	22
	5	Gold Coast Titans	12

Simon Mannering won the Player of the Year award.[4]

• Warriors official site
• NRL 2008 – Warriors rugbyleagueproject.org