General Rate our Warriors season

[wizard of Tauranga]

Rate the 2023 specifically compared to other years.

Rank our best seasons in order.

Compare finals campaigns.

What makes this year special vs others

 

[BabylonPink]

Best season I've been apart off

Not as many fun Bants as under Brownie
Or as much drama lol

 

[jonesy101]

Same emotion as 2002.

 

[wizard of Tauranga]

I will put it out there my top 3 would be

2023 (probably recent bias but the ‘feeling’ is unbeatable)
2002 (GF)
2011 (GF)

Other seasons I loved:

2008 (Michael Witt knocking out Melbourne!)
1995 (first year);
2018 (leading the comp for major part of the season before fizzling. Success after a long finals drought)

 

[BangBro's (still banging)]

I think second to the 2002 /03 team.

The warriors were electric that year! Amd feared.

 

[Nashy]

Best season I've seen them in since they entered the comp. They look like a professional team this year. Other years still had that real fluke about it. You couldn't walk away from the other grand finals thinking "They'll go one better next year". This time it's different, you guys are ripe for a premiership in the next couple of years.

 

[Billyspleen75]

So many factors for me that make it hard to compare.
Maybe most important this year is where we came from. 01 and 10 were decent building seasons ahead of those grand final appearances. This season, with the COVID impacts, first full season home, the prodigal son returning home and likely winning a Dally M, the up the wahs movement, Webster first season. Fuck it, I voted top 3, but I just convinced myself to change it best season ever. It's not the best result we've ever had, but it is the best season ever to be a Warriors Supporter

 

[Beastmode]

Easily the best season for me

I had us finishing bottom 4

After the shitfeast last year, I was super critical on this club. Andrew Webster? Who ? Never heard of him. I thought all our hires were coming here just for a paycheque . Burn it all down I was saying

I wholeheartedly eat humble pie. How wrong can a person be

Andrew Webster. Has to be one of the most influential role models I have seen in my entire life. Smart, articulate, compassionate and charismatic. The way he galvanised this team in such a short time, turned them from a bunch of dysfunctional individuals, to a winning team was unbelievable.

I was sure was SJ done. He played so irratically last season, I wanted him to retire. My god, I’m so glad I was wrong. Brought a tear to my eye watching him this year. Absolutely deserves the dally M. Just marvellous.

Some great wins throughout the season. Sure, we didn’t make the big dance. We were never meant to. Fuck we weren’t even meant to make the top 8 by many

Top 4, preliminary final. I’m still thinking is this all a dream.

The future is bright again. And It brings a smile to my face every time I think about this year.

Exceeds all my expectations, and easily the BEST season for me.

Congrats to the players, the coaches, CG, the supporters, Mohawk. Even the OneWsrriors media. So so good. Loved it all, and thank you for the great memories

Look forward to next years sequel

 

[MrFrankWhite]

Didn’t make the GF so for me can’t top those years. Which makes it top 3

 

[tyrael]

I think recency bias will definitely play a lot on people's minds since we have had 4 years of absolutely garbage, the coaching turnstiles, the loss of SJ and everything in between.

I think 2011 was the best for sure. Then 2002, 2003 and then this year.

 

[Wahs Up TV]

With everything surrounding the team included (up the wahs etc) probs second behind 2002, in saying that 02 was the second year into a rebuild so i cant imagine what 2024 or 2025 might look like if we can keep this core of players together with RTS etc.

Would safely say this has been the best season in 20 years

 

[Beastmode]

I think recency bias will definitely play a lot on people's minds since we have had 4 years of absolutely garbage, the coaching turnstiles, the loss of SJ and everything in between.

I think 2011 was the best for sure. Then 2002, 2003 and then this year.

What made 2011 such a great season? Is it based purely on the result that we got to the final ? Maybe I was too young, or just too old to remember what the storylines were, but this season will live me until a better one comes along next year

 

[Defence]

2011 was the best finish to a season and imo our best chance of winning it.
Overall though I’d rate 2002 and this year as our best seasons overall and hard to split.
So top 2 for me.

 

[tyrael]

2011 was the best finish to a season and imo our best chance of winning it.
Overall though I’d rate 2002 and this year as our best seasons overall and hard to split.
So top 2 for me.

Pretty much this @Beastmode

If you look at our line up

1 Kevin Locke (speed and flair)
2 Bill Tupou (Mini Beast)
3 Lewis Brown (Powerful)
4 Krisnan Inu (Rabbit out of a hat)
5 Manu Vatuvei (THE BEAST)
6 James Maloney (won prems with Sharks and Roosters, played Origin)
7 SJ (He wasn't the complete player here but every time he touched the ball you thought something would happen)
8 Jacob Lillyman (played Origin because of his form with the Warriors)
9 Lance Hohaia (Mr Fixit)
10 Russell Packer (before he went to jail, a little raw but still dynamic and had offloads)
11 Simon Mannering (The GOAT)
12 Elijah Taylor (Just dependable and had ball playing skills)
13 Michael Luck (workhorse, shits all over Curran/Ford)

14 Sam Rapira (oh look a decent prop on the bench)
15 Aaron Heremaia (probably the weak link on the team, but someone has to back up hooker)
16 Feleti Mateo (mercurial ball playing hard to stop 2nd rower. Offloaded too many times but you can say our players should have always been ready to get it.
17 Ben Matulino (oh look another prop...can you imagine having a Kiwis prop on your bench?)

This team could have won the GF on a different day and it would crap over our current team.
AFB (for Rapira), Egan (for Heremaia) and maybe DWZ (Bill Tupou) would be the only players that would take a spot over players in the 2011 in my humble opinion.

 

[Beastmode]

Pretty much this @Beastmode

If you look at our line up

1 Kevin Locke (speed and flair)
2 Bill Tupou (Mini Beast)
3 Lewis Brown (Powerful)
4 Krisnan Inu (Rabbit out of a hat)
5 Manu Vatuvei (THE BEAST)
6 James Maloney (won prems with Sharks and Roosters, played Origin)
7 SJ (He wasn't the complete player here but every time he touched the ball you thought something would happen)
8 Jacob Lillyman (played Origin because of his form with the Warriors)
9 Lance Hohaia (Mr Fixit)
10 Russell Packer (before he went to jail, a little raw but still dynamic and had offloads)
11 Simon Mannering (The GOAT)
12 Elijah Taylor (Just dependable and had ball playing skills)
13 Michael Luck (workhorse, shits all over Curran/Ford)

14 Sam Rapira (oh look a decent prop on the bench)
15 Aaron Heremaia (probably the weak link on the team, but someone has to back up hooker)
16 Feleti Mateo (mercurial ball playing hard to stop 2nd rower. Offloaded too many times but you can say our players should have always been ready to get it.
17 Ben Matulino (oh look another prop...can you imagine having a Kiwis prop on your bench?)

This team could have won the GF on a different day and it would crap over our current team.
AFB (for Rapira), Egan (for Heremaia) and maybe DWZ (Bill Tupou) would be the only players that would take a spot over players in the 2011 in my humble opinion.

For sure, 2011 was a better team and better result. But we’re talking the season here? Not just results?

Edit

2023

Finished 4th. 16 wins. 8 losses.

Pretty much the same shit squad as 2022, when we fumbled our way to 15th. New coach, first year.

2011

2010 season we finished 5th.

2011. Finished 6th. 14 wins. 10 losses. Cleary was in this 2nd year with us….

i don’t recall 2011 giving so many highs throughout the year….

We got all off-season to debate this

 

[MXRecord]

2002,
2023,
2011

In that order.

 

[Spence]

I was too young to remember 2002, but my top 3 are 2007, 2011 & 2023.

 

[The Warrior Waka]

Two and a half years without a home. Players missing their families.

Finished 15th last year.

We supposedly had the worst Center's & Wingers in the comp. Some might say we still do lol. But they almost helped get us to the big dance!

We let go of a world class, young FB. And signed a fullback who Canberra didn't want. Who ended up being one of the most consistently good players we have.
Our rock at the back!

We had one certified star in our forward pack. The rest were cast offs from other teams. We were too small. Too slow. Too ill disciplined.

Our Captain resembled a Mummy with all the bandaging he had.

Our first choice 6 was injured most the season. We used a young inexperienced replacement with plenty of speed. But lacked the technical nous to direct this team around the park.

We signed a coach who was probably the clubs 3rd choice.

We had a half-back that was broken all year. Lost his speed. Hammy & calf problems. League pundits wanted him to retire. Said he is well past his best.

That broken halfback almost single handedly got us to the finals. 1 game away from a grand fucking final!!

Our best year considering the hurdles we faced. We didn't jump. We smashed through the hurdles put in front of us. This last hurdle was a bit too much for us.

The Bad News Bears of the NRL made us so fucking proud.

2024 will be even better.

 

[Mr Drag]

I will put it out there my top 3 would be

2023 (probably recent bias but the ‘feeling’ is unbeatable)
2002 (GF)
2011 (GF)

Other seasons I loved:

2008 (Michael Witt knocking out Melbourne!)
1995 (first year);
2018 (leading the comp for major part of the season before fizzling. Success after a long finals drought)

After 2011 grand final I thought we would be a powerhouse in the following years then reality kicked In!

 

[Matiunz]

2002 easily the best really should have won it, 03 not far behind it. Easily the most exciting we’ve played and the most feared we’ve been
This year might be next.
Always felt we didn’t really deserve to be there in 2011 was a bit of a fluke late season run aka this years knights. However having 3 grades in the final looked like it could be setting something up.
Just hope this isn’t another one of those success blips but I do worry with us not having an SJ successor