The New Zealand Warriors 2010 season was the New Zealand Warriors 16th first-grade season. The club competed in Australasia's National Rugby League and finished fifth in regular season before being eliminated in the first round of the playoffs. The coach of the team was Ivan Cleary while Simon Mannering was the club's captain. The Warriors won the club championship award for having the best combined results between the first grade team and the under-20s.[1] The Junior Warriors then went on to win the Toyota Cup grand final, the club's first grand final win in sixteen years.
In 2010 Warriors games were broadcast on New Zealand's Sky network averaged 181,200 viewers.[2]
20 March – Round 2:Micheal Luck plays in his 100th game for the club.
28 March – Round 3:James Maloney equals the points club scoring record by scoring 28 points in a match. The record was previously shared by Ivan Cleary and Gene Ngamu.[3]
28 March – Round 3:Wade McKinnon played in his 50th game for the club.
4 April – Round 4:Bill Tupou made his debut for the club and his debut in the NRL.
18 April – Round 6:Ian Henderson played in his 50th game for the club.
15 May – Round 10:Mataupu Poching made his debut for the club and his debut in the NRL.
23 May – Round 11:Lance Hohaia played in his 150th game for the club and his 150th NRL match.
6 June – Round 13:Manu Vatuvei played in his 100th match for the club.
17 July – Round 19:Ben Matulino played in his 50th match for the club.
21 August – Round 24:Alehana Mara made his debut for the club and his debut in the NRL.
27 August – Round 25:Sam Rapira played in his 100th match for the club.
10 September – Qualifying Final:Manu Vatuvei became the club's all-time leading try scorer, surpassing Stacey Jones' total of 77.
10 September – Qualifying Final:Russell Packer played in his 50th match for the club.
4 October – Grand Final: The club was presented with the Club Championship and the Junior Warriors won the Toyota Cup.
Jersey and sponsors
In 2010 the Warriors jerseys were again made by Canterbury of New Zealand. They retained their black and white home and away jerseys from 2009, however they added a 15-year anniversary blue jersey and a grey Heritage design, similar to the jersey worn for the Awen Guttenbeil testimonial match. The club also had a new white and black training jersey.
The Warriors wore their blue strip in the first round of the season after the Gold Coast Titans opted to wear their white away jerseys for the match in the Gold Coast.[4] This decision was repeated in round three after Brisbane opted to wear white in another Sunday afternoon game in Queensland.
Vodafone New Zealand was again the naming rights sponsor of the Warriors in 2009. Lion Red was the sleeve sponsor. Suzuki and HiFX were featured on the shorts while Loadlift was on the back of the jersey.
The Warriors again use Mt Smart Stadium as their home ground in 2010, their only home ground since they entered the competition in 1995.
Pre-season training
The main squad returned to training on 2 November 2009 to start preparing for the 2010 season.[5] Players involved in the 2009 Four Nations and 2009 Pacific Cup returned to training later.
1 Melbourne were deducted eight premiership points and barred from receiving premiership points for the rest of the season due to gross long-term salary cap breaches.[6]
In 2010 the Junior Warriors again competed in the Toyota Cup while senior players who were not required for the first team play with the Auckland Vulcans in the NSW Cup. The Vulcans finished ninth out of twelve teams and missed the finals by just one point. Brent Gemmell was the coach of the Vulcans. Pita Godinet was the Vulcans player of the year while Johnny Aranga won the Rookie of the year award.[20]
The match was the club's sixth grand final appearance in sixteen seasons after the 2002 NRL, 1996 and 1997 Reserve Grade, 1997 Under 19's and 1995 Lion Red Cup grand finals.[21] The club led 12–10 at halftime before going on to win 42–28.
Captain Ben Henry withdrew before the match started due to injury while John Palavi was omitted from the bench. Carlos Tuimavave won the man of the match award.
Manu Vatuvei was named the Lion Red Player of the Year and the Vodafone One Tribe Player of the Year at the club's annual awards function.[22]James Maloney was the Vodafone Young Player of the Year while Aaron Heremaia was named the Canterbury of New Zealand Clubperson of the Year.
Micheal Luck, Vatuvei and Sam Rapira were all presented with rings to celebrate them playing there 100th match for the club during the season.