The Warriors 2025 season started on a cold night in Las Vegas, with an abject display against the Canberra Raiders.
It ended on a cold night in Auckland, with a gallant but ultimately not-quite-good-enough effort against the four time champions Penrith.
In between there were plenty of highs – as the Warriors soared to an unforeseen altitude – then a late season fade, which unravelled much of their hard work.
History will record them favourably. They weren’t quite at the level of the 2018 and 2023 teams that also made the playoffs but weren’t that far away.
Individually and collectively they got the most out of a roster that few had tipped to do much, with the departures of Shaun Johnson, Tohu Harris and Addin Fonua-Blake.
The Sydney Morning Herald were the most extreme, predicting the Warriors would lose nine of their first 10 matches but other Australian mastheads were almost as pessimistic.
Their 10-3 run until mid-June was one of the feel-good stories of the season, as they kept upsetting the odds, including seven victories away from their Auckland base.
Finishing sixth is a successful year, though the way they fell out of the top four – with two wins from their last seven matches – was a sting in the tail.
But as league historian Will Evans points out, they were only the 10th Warriors team to reach the finals and just the seventh squad to record 14 regular season wins, a tally only topped by the 2002, 2003, 2018 and 2023 teams.
To a degree, yes. It’s hard to think of another Warriors team in the last 15 years that has had their season so badly affected by injuries.
Casualties are part of the NRL but 2025 was brutal.
Across the last four times the Warriors made the finals (2010, 2011, 2018 and 2023) they arrived in the playoffs with their most important players on the field. This year was different, as they lost their best forward (Mitch Barnett) in round 13 and their most influential back (Luke Metcalf) four weeks later.
One would have been bad enough but two was catastrophic.
The Warriors persevered and had some promising moments but never really compensated for the duo’s absence.
Jacob Laban was struck down when he was hitting a peak while Ali Leiataua was restricted to eight games. Rocco Berry was in a near constant cycle of rehabilitation and only completed five matches and Dallin Watene-Zelezniak missed the first third of the season and never really recovered form or confidence after that.
These things are always subjective, like trying to decide if Han Solo or Indiana Jones is Harrison Ford’s greatest movie character.
But in terms of overall impact, it’s hard to go past Erin Clark as the best performer of the year.
The new recruit was immense, key to the golden run at the start of the season. He was ultra consistent, with almost 4000 run metres, including a staggering 1451 after contact.
The 28-year-old also averaged 34 tackles a game and was a confident ballplayer. Across the five-match winning streak from round seven to round 11 he averaged 66 minutes on the field and his relatively short stint in last Saturday’s defeat to Penrith (37 minutes) was a mystery.
Other standouts included Roger Tuivasa-Sheck, Leka Halasima, Wayde Egan, Jackson Ford and Kurt Capewell.
No, as every club has hard luck stories. However, the Warriors seemed to have more than their fair share, with some mysterious calls at crucial times, including last Saturday against the Panthers.
The 40-10 win over Cronulla in early June stands out like a beacon, a bewildering mix of power, pace and physicality on a night when everything clicked.
The home wins over the Roosters – to break a seven-year losing cycle against the Sydney team - and Brisbane were also tough efforts, along with the three-game road streak against the Cowboys, Dolphins and Dragons.
There always needs to be a mention of a narrow Raiders defeat in Auckland, when they pushed the minor premiers to the limit, despite the absence of Barnett and Fisher-Harris, among others.
Getting beaten by the Gold Coast Titans on old boys day knocked the stuffing out of the team, while the round 16 defeat to a Penrith team missing five State of Origin players was a turning point for both clubs.
The series of tough, tight victories through March, April and May when they prevailed in so many games that were in the balance.
And the sheer excitement created by Leka Halasima, topped off by his incredible try in Newcastle.
The failure to seal a top four berth, after laying the foundation for a historic season, with a number of frustrating losses in July and August, particularly to the Titans, Dolphins and Eels. Having two byes within the space of three weeks was also unhelpful.
The coach didn’t get everything right with selections and bench rotation but overall it was another strong year from the Sydneysider.
Webster came into the season under some pressure – after the struggles in 2024 – which was exacerbated by the Las Vegas flop.
But the way he kept things on course – despite injuries and other setbacks – and brought the best out of his squad was highly impressive.
Good.
The Warriors are – as Webster noted in his final press conference – a few steps away from being genuine contenders and have some big decisions to make around recruitment and retention.
But they have the basis of a strong team and the youngsters blooded this season will only get better.
It won’t be easy, as every other team will be chasing improvement but the Warriors have the foundation for another top-six finish, though they will need more from their spine, their centres and marquee forwards like James Fisher-Harris and Marata Niukore, as well as sharpening their overall attack.
The enigmatic form of Watene-Zelezniak also can’t continue.
Michael Burgess has been a sports journalist for the NZ Herald since 2005, covering the Olympics, Fifa World Cups, and America’s Cup campaigns. He is a co-host of the Big League podcast.