NZ Warriors coach Andrew Webster admits he has purely selfish reasons for hoping the NRL bypasses Christchurch as home to an expansion team.
Since the Auckland club took their first-grade, reserves and women to the new Te Kaha stadium, pundits on both sides of the Tasman have vehemently insisted the southern city should been given its own team, when the Aussie rugby league competition next increases its membership.
NRL hierarchy were on hand to witness 25,365 fans sell out the impressive indoor arena and lift their team to a 38-20 win over North Queensland Cowboys, breathing new life into their championship hopes, as injuries stack up.
“It’s honestly the best I’ve seen,” Webster said of the occasion. “The stadium itself, the atmosphere with so many Warriors fans from all around the country and all our Christchurch fans, who we love… it was awesome.
“To get the win made it even better and both sides played a brand of football that was exciting on an indoor dry track.”
Therein lies the problem – are the Warriors happy to concede the South Island as a fanbase, after finally cracking a notoriously tough market?
For the first six years of their existence, they were known as Auckland Warriors and that perception has been slow to shrug off, despite years of taking games around the rest of the country.
Warriors coach Andrew Webster was glowing in his praise of the new Te Kaha stadium and Christchurch fans.
Andrew Cornaga/Photosport
As a nation, New Zealand has probably only truly embraced them, since their Covid exile across the ditch starved Kiwis of home fixtures for almost two years.
That victory has been hard won and Webster – among others – is loath to concede that ground back to a second NZ franchise.
“I feel we have enough talent in this country to have five teams, so talent is not an issue, talent from that area is not an issue,” he said.
“I suppose you have to ask Christchurch do they want to keep following the Warriors or do they want their own team? You have to ask them that, because there’s no point putting the team in there, if everyone’s still supporting the Warriors.
“I just struggle personally, because I really enjoy the fact that the top of the [country] to the bottom of the [country] are Warriors fans and they love their team.
“We never used to have that, but we’ve got the whole country behind us now, not just the region.
“Will it have that same feeling if we add a team? I’m not sure.”
New Zealand football has gone some way towards answering the question, with the addition of Auckland FC to the A-League, quickly usurping the established Wellington Phoenix to become contenders and, ultimately, champions.
“I saw the Western Wanderers come into Sydney and they already had a Sydney team, and for the first two years, they were sellouts, big derbies, everything was amazing,” Webster said. “Then it just fell away.”
Wanderers finished top of the table in their first season and reached the final in three of their first four seasons, but have not returned in a decade. They were bottom of the table in 2025/26, so sustainability became an issue.
Auckland FC took advantage of A-League expansion to claim an early championship.
Shane Wenzlick / Photosport.nz
Auckland FC won the premiership in their debut season and went one better this year, taking out the championship, while dominating their new NZ rivalry with the Phoenix, but key players and coaches have already departed, and the honeymoon period may be coming to an end.
After enjoying their best-ever campaign in 2023/24, winning 15 games, finishing second on the table and reaching the semifinals, the Phoenix have managed just 15 total wins and missed the playoffs in the two seasons since the Black Knights arrived on the scene.
Warriors chief executive Cam George told Sport Nation the NRL needed to invest in the next tier of New Zealand’s domestic game, if a second team was to remain competitive.
“Right now, there’s no domestic competitions that are at the level we need to sustain, not only for one team, because we fly all of ours to Sydney each week and vice versa,” he said. “To underpin two teams, that would mean you’re flying 12 teams to Australia every week.”
Former Warriors player and coach Ivan Cleary – now overseeing a Penrith Panthers dynasty – has warned another team may undermine the progress made by his old outfit in recent years.
“I definitely think we need to make sure the Warriors continue to get the support they need,” he said. “They’re definitely a club on the rise and that’s been a long time coming.
“I think it’s really important that the game needs to foster that [and] be careful to [not] split that.”
Former Warriors player and coach Ivan Cleary is among those warning against a Christchurch franchise.
Jeremy Ng
Webster echoes his old Panthers mentor.
“I don’t know the answer, whether we should have a second team or not,” he said. “I guess I enjoy going down to Christchurch knowing it’s our crowd and our country, and maybe I’m being a bit selfish.
“I feel like we’ve got momentum and we’re starting to get somewhere. We’re making rugby league great in this country, and to clip our wings and halve what we’re trying to achieve, I wouldn’t be a fan of it.
“I just have to check myself that I’m not being selfish.”