1995 Auckland Warriors season
The 1995 Auckland Warriors season was the inaugural season of the newly-formed club. Competing the 1995 Australian Rugby League premiership, they were coached by John Monie and captained by Dean Bell. The Warriors' home ground for their first season was Ericsson Stadium. They finished their first premiership regular season 10th, so failed to make the finals.
Milestones
- 10 March - Round One: The Warriors play their inaugural game against the Brisbane Broncos. A crowd of 29,220 watch the Warriors go down 25-22 to the Broncos, after leading them throughout the game.
- 16 March - Round Three: The Warriors are docked two competition points for using an extra interchange player in a win over the Western Suburbs Magpies. They would ultimately miss out on the finals by two points. The fifth interchange player was sent on as a blood bin replacement, with the coaching staff not realising this was against the rules.
- 23 April - Round Seven: Stacey Jones makes his debut for the Warriors, scoring six points in a win over Parramatta.
- 4 June - Round Eleven: The final two members of the squad, Frano Botica and Denis Betts, make their debuts for the Warriors after completing the English season for Wigan.
- October: 18 players from the club participated in the World Cup: Denis Betts, Andy Platt, Richie Blackmore, Syd Eru, Sean Hoppe, Stacey Jones, Stephen Kearney, Gene Ngamu, Hitro Okesene, Duane Mann, Willie Poching, Tea Ropati, Se'e Solomona, Willie Swann, Tony Tatupu, Tony Tuimavave, Joe Vagana and Nigel Vagana. In addition, Frank Endacott coached New Zealand.
Jersey & Sponsors
Fixtures
The Warriors used Ericsson Stadium as their home ground in 1995, and it remained the only Home Ground the club used in the competition until they played a match at Eden Park in 2011.Pre-Season
Three pre-season matches were played before the World Sevens and another three were played after the World Sevens.| Date | Round | Opponent | Venue | Result | Score | Tries | Goals | Attendance | Report |
| 18 January | Match 1 | Canterbury | Addington Showgrounds, Christchurch | Win | 26 - 12 | 12,811 | |||
| January | Match 2 | Central Districts | Palmerston North Showgrounds, Palmerston North | Win | 36 - 16 | ||||
| January | Match 3 | Auckland | Carlaw Park, Auckland | Win | 46 - 20 | ||||
| February | Match 4 | Northland | Kaikohe | Win | 66 - 6 | ||||
| 14 February | Match 5 | Canberra Raiders | Carlaw Park, Auckland | Win | 23 - 16 | 16,000 | |||
| 25 February | Match 6 | Western Reds | West Wyong | Loss | 28 - 40 |
World Sevens
The Warriors participated in the 1995 Rugby League World Sevens, losing in the Trophy Quarterfinals.Squad: Phil Blake, Sean Hoppe, Manoa Thompson, Tea Ropati, Whetu Taewa, Gene Ngamu, Syd Eru, Stephen Kearney, Tony Tatupu, Des Maea.
| Date | Round | Opponent | Venue | Result | Score | Tries | Goals | Attendance | Report |
| 3 February | Round 1 | Canberra Raiders | Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane | Win | 22 - 4 | Blake, Hoppe, Ngamu | Ngamu | ||
| 3 February | Round 2 | New Zealand 'A' | Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane | Loss | 10 - 26 | Eru, Ropati | Ngamu | ||
| 5 February | Trophy Quarterfinals | Sydney Tigers | Sydney Football Stadium, Sydney | Loss | 12 - 16 | Ngamu | Ngamu |
Tooheys Challenge Cup
Team: Phil Blake, Sean Hoppe, Dean Bell, Manoa Thompson, Whetu Taewa, Martin Moana, Gene Ngamu, Gavin Hill, Duane Mann, Hitro Okesene, Stephen Kearney, Tony Tatupu, Tony Tuimavave. Bench: Tea Ropati, Se'e Solomona, Mike Dorreen, Jason Mackie.| Date | Round | Opponent | Venue | Result | Score | Tries | Goals | Attendance | Report |
| 19 February | Round 1 | North Sydney Bears | Parramatta Stadium, Sydney | Loss | 14 - 12 | Taewa, Ngamu | Hill, Ngamu | 8211 |
Regular season
Ladder
Squad
Twenty Eight players were used by the club in 1995.| No. | Name | Nationality | Position | Warriors Debut | App | T | G | FG | Pts |
| 1 | CE / LK | 10 March | 19 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 12 | ||
| 2 | FB / HK | 10 March | 17 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 56 | ||
| 3 | WG | 10 March | 22 | 19 | 0 | 0 | 76 | ||
| 4 | CE | 10 March | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 5 | CE | 10 March | 11 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | ||
| 6 | FE | 10 March | 21 | 3 | 36 | 0 | 84 | ||
| 7 | FB / HB | 10 March | 21 | 8 | 4 | 0 | 40 | ||
| 8 | PR | 10 March | 7 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 9 | /  | HK | 10 March | 13 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 12 | |
| 10 | PR / HK | 10 March | 17 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 8 | ||
| 11 | SR | 10 March | 20 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 8 | ||
| 12 | /  | SR | 10 March | 16 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 20 | |
| 13 | / | PR / LK | 10 March | 21 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | |
| 14 | / | PR | 10 March | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 15 | / | CE / FE | 10 March | 21 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 48 | |
| 16 | LK | 10 March | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 17 | LK / FE | 10 March | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | ||
| 18 | / | PR | 18 March | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 19 | HK | 28 March | 15 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 12 | ||
| 20 | / | SR | 28 March | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | |
| 21 | SR / LK | 7 April | 15 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | ||
| 22 | WG | 16 April | 16 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 12 | ||
| 23 | PR | 23 April | 14 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 24 | HB | 23 April | 14 | 5 | 9 | 2 | 40 | ||
| 25 | CE | 7 May | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 8 | ||
| 26 | CE | 14 May | 10 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 20 | ||
| 27 | WG | 4 June | 5 | 2 | 19 | 0 | 46 | ||
| 28 | SR | 4 June | 11 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 20 |
Staff
- Chairman: Peter McLeod
- Chief Executive Officer: Ian Robson
- Football Manager: Laurie Stubbing
Coaching Staff
- Head Coach: John Monie
- Reserve Grade Coach: Frank Endacott
- Coaching & Development Manager: Bob Hall
- U16 Grade Coach & Development Officer: John Ackland
- U16 Grade Co-coach: Brian McClennan
Other Teams
In the Club Championship the Warriors finished seventh overall.
Warriors Colts
In addition a Warriors Colts side was fielded in NZRL's Lion Red Cup. The Warrior Colts made the grand final but lost to the North Harbour Sea Eagles.| North Harbour | Position | Auckland Colts |
| Quinten Dane | FB | Nigel Vagana |
| Auvae Tapuai | WG | Paul Staladi |
| Paki Tuimavave | CE | Stuart Lester |
| Jason Kaulima | CE | Anthony Swann |
| Steve Barry | WG | Tacofe Kalauta |
| Aleki Maea | FE | Meti Noovao |
| Latham Tawhai | HB | Willie Swann |
| Donald Stewart | PR | Dallas Mead |
| Sean Wilson | HK | Aaron Lester |
| Darren Kohlhase | PR | David Fatialofa |
| Mike Setefano | SR | Bryan Henare |
| Keniti Asiata | SR | Frank Watene |
| Jason Palmada | LK | Logan Swann |
| Frank Fuimaono | Bench | Charlie Kennedy |
| Cory Jamieson | Bench | Des Maea |
| Lafaelle Filipo | Bench | Druce Nilsen |
| Brent Snooks | Bench | Steve Buckingham |
| Graeme Norton | Coach | John Ackland |
After trailing 15–2 at halftime the North Harbour Sea Eagles came from behind to defeat the Warrior Colts 28–21 in the second Lion Red Cup Grand Final. The match included an eight-point try scored by Paki Tuimavave in the 48th minute. Tuimavave was tackled high by Aaron Lester while he was grounding the ball. Lester was then sin-binned for back chatting the referee after the incident.
| Team | Halftime | Total |
| North Harbour Sea Eagles | 2 | 28 |
| Auckland Warriors Colts | 15 | 21 |
| Tries | 1: F. Fuimaono, S. Wilson, P. Tuimavave, J. Palmada |
| Tries | 1: N.Vagana, B.Henare, M.Noovao, W.Swann |
| Goals | 6: Q.Dane |
| Goals | 1: S.Buckingham, M.Noovao |
| Field Goals Goals | 1: M.Noovao |
| Date | 16 September |
| Referee | Dennis Hale |
| Venue | Ericsson Stadium |
| Broadcast | TVNZ |