The Warriors’ spirited 2025 season came to an end via a gallant 24-8 elimination final loss to four-time defending premiers Penrith in Auckland.
After holding the Panthers to a 6-2 halftime scoreline and trailing just 12-8 with 15 minutes to go, the Warriors conceding a back-breaking try against the run of play and another runaway four-pointer as they started to chase the scoreboard.
The Warriors admirably hung in the contest despite enjoying just 44 percent possession and uncharacteristically losing the run metres count 1,748 to 1,394. The post-contact metres tally was just 624 to 523 in the Panthers’ favour, however, and line-breaks finished three apiece. The Panthers had 45 tackle-breaks to 31.
Errors proved crucial, with the Warriors committing 16 to the Panthers nine (though that tally was skewed by a string of contentious calls from referee Grant Atkins). The Warriors won the penalty count 8-5 but conceded four six-agains to the Panthers’ one.
Milestone for finals debutants
Another six players in the Warriors’ squad can now say they’ve played NRL finals footy: Chanel Harris-Tavita, Tanah Boyd, Demetric Vaimauga, Leka Halasima, Tanner Stowers-Smith and Sam Healey.
Halves duo Harris-Tavita (95 games) and Tanah Boyd (79 games) have had to wait the longest for their maiden taste of post-season action. Both debuted in the 2019 season.
It was Vaimauga’s 31st top-grade appearance, Halasima’s 29th, Stowers-Smith’s 13th and Healey’s seventh.
Tough finish to promising campaign
Finishing sixth with a strong 14-10 record to book just the club’s 10th finals appearance in 31 seasons represents a significant overachievement for a roster touted as a bottom-four contender by many.
But after a 10-3 start, the wheels undeniably fell off for Andrew Webster’s injury-hit Warriors.
They lost six of their last eight games – their equal-worst finish in the past eight seasons (they also went 2-6 in 2022).
The only inferior performances by the club across its last eight games came in 2004 (1-7), 2012 (1-7), 2015 (0-8) and 2017 (0-8).
Leka takes tryscoring crown
Starting in the centres for the first time and scoring the Warriors’ only try, Leka Halasima edged some hot competition to take out the club’s 2025 tryscoring title.
WARRIORS TOP TRYSCORERS 2025
13 – Leka Halasima
12 – Roger Tuivasa-Sheck
11 – Adam Pompey
8 – Chanel Harris-Tavita
8 – Luke Metcalf
7 – Dallin Watene-Zelezniak
Already smashing the club record for most tries in a season by a forward, Halasima is just the 15th player in Warriors history to score 13-plus tries in one campaign.
Meanwhile, Luke Metcalf (117 points) finished as the Warriors’ top pointscorer, tallying more than double his nearest challenger despite missing the last 10 games of the season. Halfback replacement Tanah Boyd (58 points) was second.
Iron men
Four players hold the distinction of having played all 25 of the Warriors’ games in 2025: Erin Clark, Leka Halasima, Marata Niukore and Adam Pompey.
Chanel Harris-Tavita and Demetric Vaimauga missed just one game.
In 2024, no Warriors appeared in every match, with Mitch Barnett and Addin Fonua-Blake playing a team-high 23 of a possible 24 games.
Number crunchers
Some hearty individual efforts to finish the season:
- Roger Tuivasa-Sheck made 177 metres on 22 runs (72 post-contact), capping an outstanding, industrious year.
- Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad had a team-high 25 runs for 188 metres with five tackle-breaks.
- Erin Clark led the Warriors’ forwards with 14 runs for 116 metres, despite playing a season-low 39 minutes; he also made 24 tackles without a miss.
- Aside from scoring the Warriors’ lone try, Halasima’s foray in the centres including 12 runs for 128 metres with five tackle-breaks and 15 tackles.
- Jackson Ford racked up an incredible 61 tackles in his return from a three-match ban, on top of 11 runs for 82 metres.
- Big defensive efforts also from James Fisher-Harris (43 tackles), Kurt Capewell (42), Demetric Vaimauga (35), Marata Niukore (34) and Te Maire Martin (31).