The Warriors have beaten Manly 31 to 30 at Go Media Stadium in Auckland, a one point escape that gives the club the most successful regular season in its 32 year history and leaves it on top of the NRL ladder with a single day of the season still to play.
Fullback Taine Tuaupiki scored three tries on a night he was not originally picked to start. He had been named as backline cover on the interchange bench and was promoted to the number one jersey about 24 hours before kick off when centre Leka Halasima withdrew with an ankle injury. Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad crossed twice and Adam Pompey scored the other Warriors try, while five eighth Chanel Harris-Tavita kicked the field goal in the 77th minute that decided it, according to the NZ Herald match report.
It was the Warriors 18th win of the season. The club had never won more than 17 games in a regular season before, a mark set by the 2002 side that finished first on the ladder and went on to play in that year’s grand final, as the 2002 season ladder records. That 2002 team remains the only Warriors side to have won a minor premiership, and this one now has a chance to become the second.
Whether it does is out of their hands. The Warriors finish the regular season with 42 competition points from 18 wins, six losses and three byes. Penrith sit on 40 points with one match still to play, at home to the 15th placed Wests Tigers on Sunday. A Panthers win of any size would draw them level with the Warriors on competition points, and top spot would then come down to points differential and, if that is also level, to the percentage of points scored against points conceded. The Warriors are on plus 310 for the year, the Panthers on plus 308, so a winning margin of two points would be enough to push Penrith ahead. The full 2026 NRL ladder shows how tight the gap is.
The practical difference is who the Warriors host next weekend in the first week of the finals. Finish first and they play the fourth placed Sydney Roosters. Finish second and they play the third placed Dolphins. Either way the match is in Auckland.
Saturday’s game was not the controlled performance a side going into the finals would have chosen. Manly, already eliminated and playing for nothing but pride, led 12 to 4 inside the opening 20 minutes before the Warriors scored four tries in a row to lead 20 to 12 at the break. The Sea Eagles then came back through the playmaking of fullback Tom Trbojevic, who ran the ball 20 times for 171 metres, and led 30 to 24 with a quarter of the match left. Reuben Garrick and Lehi Hopoate each scored twice for the visitors.
Tuaupiki levelled the scores with his third try, and two further Warriors tries were then wiped out by the Bunker in the closing minutes. Manly forward Caleb Navale charged down Harris-Tavita’s first field goal attempt before the five eighth struck the second from directly in front, AAP reported.
Halfback Te Maire Martin, back from a hamstring injury, was the other central figure. He put the passes in for the Warriors first two tries and set up both Tuaupiki’s second and Nicoll-Klokstad’s after the break.
The defensive picture is the part coach Andrew Webster will spend the week on. His side has conceded an average of 29.3 points across its past three games, a long way from the 17.4 points a game it has given up across the season as a whole. Manly kept finding space on the Warriors edges, and did so despite having Ben Trbojevic sin binned for a hip drop tackle at a point when the home side had the momentum.
Webster was unbothered enough afterwards. “I’m not stupid, I know we’ve got to clean some stuff up,” he said. “But I know what sort of week we had this week, I know how much better we’re going to be for the run, I know we’re going to build some confidence from it. We’re in a good spot.”
The numbers back him up more than the last three weeks suggest. The Warriors have scored 728 points this season, more than any other club in the competition, and their points differential of plus 310 is the best in the NRL. They go into the finals on a six game winning streak.
For Manly it was the end of a season that promised more than it delivered. The Sea Eagles finish ninth with 11 wins and 13 losses, having spent part of the year inside the top four. A slow start cost coach Anthony Seibold his job, and a six game losing run followed the ACL injury to halfback Luke Brooks. Four of their 13 losses were by a single point. Had they won all four they would be hosting an elimination final next weekend instead of packing up.
“That’s the difference between being there and not being there,” coach Kieran Foran said.
Tom Trbojevic was left thinking about the try that was not. He was penalised for holding Jacob Laban ahead of a Clayton Faulalo try that would have put Manly 12 points clear with 15 minutes left. “It felt like not a lot went our way, but we were able to just keep fighting and stay in the game,” he said.
The Warriors will find out their finals opponent on Sunday afternoon when Penrith play the Tigers. Whichever way that goes, they will be at home in Auckland next Saturday, in a season that has already produced more wins than any of the 31 that came before it. RNZ and 1News both covered the match live from Go Media Stadium.
Do you think the Warriors have the defence to win a premiership this year, or does conceding nearly 30 points a game catch up with them in the finals? Leave a comment below and tell us what you saw.
This article was written by AI, briefed to report the facts, hopefully without some of the bias people bring to the job 🙂
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