{"id":593820,"date":"2026-09-08T11:10:15","date_gmt":"2026-09-08T11:10:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/593820\/"},"modified":"2026-09-08T11:10:15","modified_gmt":"2026-09-08T11:10:15","slug":"weve-got-grand-final-tickets-belief-builds-in-auckland-amid-warriors-nrl-fever-nrl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/593820\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018We\u2019ve got grand final tickets\u2019: Belief builds in Auckland amid Warriors NRL fever | NRL"},"content":{"rendered":"

From the concourse above Go Media Stadium\u2019s northern bank, in the hour before kick-off, the New Zealand Warriors<\/a> final game of the regular season seems almost incidental. The late-afternoon, early-spring sunshine paints the deep shadow of the Colin Kay Stand over the turf far below, where the NRLW fixture splutters to its conclusion, and the talk of fans leapfrogsbeyond the upcoming men\u2019s game against Manly.<\/p>\n

Paul Miller, a Warriors fan since the team\u2019s inaugural 1995 season, leans against a metal railing, a grin playing on his lips. He won\u2019t quite claim it to be \u201cour year\u201d just yet, but his wallet has already spoken for him. He will be in the stands of Sydney\u2019s Accor Stadium come 4 October \u2013 and he anticipates that his team will be with him. \u201cWe\u2019ve already got grand final tickets, so we\u2019re pretty hopeful.\u201d<\/p>\n

For almost all of the Warriors\u2019 previous three decades of existence, that kind of optimism might have been the definition of insanity. The team has made the NRL<\/a> grand final twice before \u2013 losing in both 2002 and 2011 \u2013 but for much of the club\u2019s history between those two peaks the team has functioned almost as a by-word for inconsistency and unfulfilled potential.<\/p>\n

\u2018The Warriors crowds are probably the best in the whole league,\u2019 says Paul Miller. Photograph: James Borrowdale<\/p>\n

Yet since the post-Covid arrival of Australian coach Andrew Webster, the team has qualified for the post-season three times in four attempts. That consistent success has pulled fans and energy into the team\u2019s slipstream, and it would now be difficult \u2013 if not impossible \u2013 to make the case that there is a better-loved oval-ball team in Auckland.<\/p>\n

In 2025, an average of nearly 24,000 fans turned out to watch the Warriors\u2019 home games. Across town rugby union team the Blues, with the advantage of playing a code that has long dominated the national discourse, managed an average of 15,000 at Eden Park as they competed for the Super Rugby Pacific crown; that same season, their competitors, the now-defunct Moana Pasifika \u2013 having failed to mount a serious challenge for the loyalty of the Warriors\u2019 South Auckland heartland \u2013 attracted just shy of a combined 50,000 spectators across their seven home games. This season, every one of the Warriors\u2019 nine home games was sold out \u2013 eclipsing Moana Pasifika\u2019s season figures in any two of their fixtures.<\/p>\n

The Warriors scraped past Manly 31-30 in their final game of the regular NRL season. Photograph: Phil Walter\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Millers cast an eye over the parade of fans ambling past, most of them kitted out in Warriors colours \u2013 with almost as many young kids being carted on hips or shoulders as there were trays of drinks being gingerly carried in two hands. \u201cThe crowds, the Warriors crowds, are probably the best in the whole league, to be honest,\u201d Miller says. \u201cIt\u2019s pretty awesome the amount of people supporting them and selling out the grandstand every week.\u201d<\/p>\n

Deb Lovelock, her manicured fingers laced around a beverage, remembers her first Warriors game in 2005 when \u2013 freshly arrived from England and with a background in rugby union \u2013 she found herself in the stands in the company of \u201chardly anybody\u201d. But she remembers feeling an energy, even in the sparse crowd of a Warriors off-year, that was \u201cnext level, incredible\u201d. She returned to the stadium with ever-increasing frequency, drawn by \u201cthe atmosphere, the fans, the whole culture\u201d. \u201cEverybody\u2019s here for a good time,\u201d she says. \u201cThere\u2019s never any maliciousness, never any fighting. I just think it\u2019s a really nice culture as well for the kids.\u201d<\/p>\n

skip past newsletter promotion<\/a><\/p>\n

Sign up to Sport in Focus<\/p>\n

Our picture editors select their favourite sporting images from the past week, from the spectacular to the powerful, and with a little bit of fun thrown in<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Warriors fan Deb Lovelock at Go Media Stadium at the weekend. Photograph: James Borrowdale<\/p>\n

And even an underwhelming performance on Saturday \u2013 a 31-30 victory against ninth-placed Manly thanks to a 78th-minute drop goal by Chanel Harris-Tavita \u2013 did little to stem the optimism of the Warriors faithful. In the game\u2019s aftermath, Brendan Walsh, a season ticket holder since 2013, believes the \u201cbloody awesome\u201d season the team has put together is destined to end with the Provan-Summons Trophy leaving Australian shores for the first time in its history. \u201cJust looking at the Warriors, they believe they can do this, and they\u2019ve proven it week by week,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

The Warriors may have been shaded on points differential by Penrith Panthers in the race for the minor premiership, but Walsh senses a growing fear emanating from rugby league circles across the Tasman that Australian dominance of the NRL is under challenge. He says that proves it is a realistic prospect \u2013 although he shows no restraint in going much further than that. \u201cThe fact is, yes, we are going to take the NRL this year. This year\u2019s our year. For us hardcore Warriors fans, we\u2019ve seen it building \u2013 and this year, this team, honestly, I believe.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"From the concourse above Go Media Stadium\u2019s northern bank, in the hour before kick-off, the New Zealand Warriors…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":593821,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[111,139,69,213],"class_list":["post-593820","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/593820","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=593820"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/593820\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/593821"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=593820"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=593820"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=593820"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}