Warriors keen to come back

Warriors management have not ruled out the possibility of holding more matches in Rotorua.

When asked by the Rotorua Daily Post if the Vodafone Warriors could hold a full NRL home fixture in the city, managing director Jim Doyle said: "It's not outside the realms of possibility, for sure.

"The Rotorua experience for us was really very good with all the school visits and community involvement.

"There was a really good crowd, almost 10,000, and there was a great atmosphere with the crowd getting right behind the team," Mr Doyle said.

"The boys stayed on the pitch for about 45 minutes after the match, signing autographs and talking to their fans."

Mr Doyle said would be keen to talk with the Rotorua Lakes Council about bringing another game to the city.

"We'd be keen to explore that with them.

"It's a great stadium to play at and the boys had a ball."

However, Mr Doyle said any future matches would probably be more pre-season clashes.

"It would be hard to bring a home game out of Mount Smart for NRL season matches.

"We are playing a home game against St George in Wellington this year too."

Last season, the Warriors played eight home matches at Mount Smart Stadium, three at Eden Park and another at Westpac Stadium in Wellington.

Their average crowd was 17,420 for home games, with 22,512 people turning up for the match in Wellington.

Destination Rotorua Events and Venues general manager Peter McLeod said he understood the Warriors had one scheduled game away from Mount Smart each year, and that this season's was already committed to Wellington.

"However, we'd be always be happy to talk to Warriors management about the possibility of Rotorua hosting an NRL competition match at some time in the future," he said.