{"id":373435,"date":"2025-12-26T17:41:09","date_gmt":"2025-12-26T17:41:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/373435\/"},"modified":"2025-12-26T17:41:09","modified_gmt":"2025-12-26T17:41:09","slug":"rotoruas-hopes-of-bringing-the-warriors-back-amid-nrl-fever","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/373435\/","title":{"rendered":"Rotorua\u2019s hopes of bringing the Warriors back amid NRL fever"},"content":{"rendered":"

\" Rotorua schoolchildren had the chance to meet the Wahs at an event in November. Photo \/ Warriors.Kiwi<\/p>\n

Once a regular pre-season pit-stop, the last time Rotorua fans got to see the Wahs in action was in a trial game against Wests Tigers in 2020. <\/p>\n

The home leg of the Warriors\u2019 2026 NRL Pre-season Challenge will be at Napier\u2019s McLean Park. Meanwhile, two 2026 NRL regular-season fixtures will take place at Christchurch and Wellington, including a first game at Canterbury\u2019s new One NZ Stadium. <\/p>\n

That means 2027 is the next opportunity for Rotorua to bring the Warriors back to the Bay. <\/p>\n

Covid, a deal with Christchurch and Rotorua\u2019s other well-documented social issues may have been barriers, but demand is certainly not one of them. <\/p>\n

Rotorua hosted the 2023 NRL All-Stars fixture<\/a> and attracted more than 17,000 fans, while the Warriors remain one of the city\u2019s most supported teams. <\/p>\n

\"TheThe M\u0101ori All Stars v Indigenous All Stars fixture at Rotorua International Stadium on February 11, 2023, drew huge crowds. Photo \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it would be a positive initiative that can lift the spirits of the people,\u201d John Devonshire, chairman of Aotearoa New Zealand M\u0101ori Rugby League, told Local Democracy Reporting.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope it comes to fruition.\u201d<\/p>\n

Devonshire played a role in bringing the Indigenous All Stars v M\u0101ori All-Stars fixture to Rotorua in 2023 and believed a Warriors game would be huge for the city.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s always good for the Warriors to take the game out of Auckland,\u201d he said, suggesting it rewarded those fans who regularly made the trip to the team\u2019s base in Auckland.<\/p>\n

\"NearlyNearly 10,000 people turned out to watch the Warriors take on the Penrith Panthers at the Rotorua International Stadium in 2015. Photo \/ NZME <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a way of growing their brand, and it\u2019s healthy for the game and profiling the sport, and for the town itself, which has had its problems with housing and other issues.\u201d<\/p>\n

He believed hosting the All-Stars game demonstrated the city was capable of doing the same with the Warriors.<\/p>\n

He added cheekily that it would be important to \u201ckeep pitch invaders off the field\u201d, either a reference to incursions during the 2023 fixture or a 2002 incident when a 15-year-old fan tackled Wallabies legend George Gregan<\/a> during a Super Rugby game to win a $200 bet. <\/p>\n

\"FansFans high-fiving the Warriors as they took on the Panthers in 2015. Photo \/ NZME<\/p>\n

RotoruaNZ events and entertainment portfolio manager Tim Farmer explained that economic impact modelling had shown a potential $3.5-5.5 million economic benefit to the region from hosting a Warriors fixture, driven by \u201cvisitor spend, national exposure, and community engagement\u201d. <\/p>\n

The success of the All-Stars game confirmed Rotorua could host such showcase events.<\/p>\n

No talks were currently underway with the Warriors about a Rotorua fixture, but Farmer said he wanted the city to be \u201cpart of the conversation\u201d for 2027.<\/p>\n

Rotorua Mayor Tania Tapsell is a league fan, and she \u201claid down the challenge\u201d to the team at their recent visit to come back for a game soon.<\/p>\n

She said it would be a \u201cdream come true\u201d to bring the Wahs back to Rotorua.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere will be a lot of conversations to be had to make this happen, and we\u2019re excited to be starting these,\u201d Tapsell said.<\/p>\n

\u201cCouncil is focused on smart spending and investment, so will also be weighing up the cost of hosting such a game, alongside the significant economic and social benefits.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of course, it\u2019s not just the men. With the Warriors rejoining the National Women\u2019s Rugby League (NRLW) earlier this year, Tapsell opened the door to a women\u2019s game in Rotorua.<\/p>\n

The team played three games in Hamilton in the 2025 NRLW campaign, attracting big crowds, with over 7000 at their encounter with the Brisbane Broncos. They will be kickstarting their 2026 campaign at the Waikato Stadium next July.<\/p>\n

\" Rotorua schoolchildren had the chance to meet the Wahs at an event in November. Photo \/ Warriors.Kiwi<\/p>\n

Rotorua Girls\u2019 High School rugby league manager Kelly Albrecht took some of her students to the recent Warriors visit, where many got involved in the skills sessions.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey definitely gave them a couple of decent hits,\u201d Albrecht said. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt was so good for them to be part of it, because girls often find it a bit harder in male-dominated sports.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese girls live and breathe the sport, so being able to see their idols out on the field, even if it was the boys, was great.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Warriors start their 2026 NRL season with a home match against the Sydney Roosters at Go Media Stadium, Auckland, on March 6.<\/p>\n

Mathew Nash is a Local Democracy Reporting journalist based at the Rotorua Daily Post. He has previously written for SunLive, been a regular contributor to RNZ and was a football reporter in the UK for eight years.<\/p>\n

– LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rotorua schoolchildren had the chance to meet the Wahs at an event in November. Photo \/ Warriors.Kiwi Once…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":373436,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[89838,137160,1466,13652,64,63,8421,36133,9278,34990,82701,44777,3765,40277,1862,137117,201807,29254,59170,761,762,158,1787,201808,25954,201806,85,320,3198,3605,3205],"class_list":["post-373435","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-89838","tag-137160","tag-about","tag-amid","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-back","tag-bringing","tag-city","tag-conversations","tag-early","tag-earning","tag-fever","tag-fixture","tag-game","tag-hopes","tag-hosting","tag-involved","tag-million","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-nrl","tag-of","tag-potentially","tag-rotorua","tag-rotoruas","tag-sports","tag-the","tag-warriors","tag-with","tag-zealand"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/373435","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=373435"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/373435\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/373436"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=373435"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=373435"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=373435"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}