The New Zealand Warriors 2012 season is the New Zealand Warriors 18th first-grade season. The club is competing in Australasia's National Rugby League. The coach of the team was Brian McClennan, until he was sacked on 21 August after Round 22, while Simon Mannering is the club's captain. Assistant Coach Tony Iro was appointed caretaker coach for the final two matches.

Milestones

• 4 February – All Stars Match: Manu Vatuvei represents the NRL All Stars in the pre-season All Stars Match.
• 5 March – Round One: Ben Henry and Konrad Hurrell make their first grade debuts while Nathan Friend plays his first match for the Warriors.
• 24 March – Round Four: Simon Mannering played in his 150th NRL match and his 50th match as captain.^[1][2]
• 12 May – Round 10: Ukuma Ta'ai played in his 50th NRL match.
• 16 June – Round 15: Omar Slaimankhel made his first grade debut.
• 16 June – Round 15: Ben Matulino played in his 100th NRL match. He became the first player from the Toyota Cup to play 100 matches in the National Rugby League.^[3]
• 11 August – Round 23: Manu Vatuvei becomes the first player to score 100 tries for the club.^[4]
• 11 August – Round 23: Bill Tupou played in his 50th NRL match.
• 19 August – Round 24: Manu Vatuvei played in his 150th NRL match.
• 19 August – Round 24: Feleti Mateo played in his 50th match for the club.
• 2 September – Round 26: In Micheal Luck's last NRL match, the Warriors lost their eight straight match, a record for the club.^[5] The streak included two back-to-back losses involving comebacks of eighteen points or more, an NRL first.

Jersey and sponsors

In 2012 the Warriors jerseys is again to be made by Canterbury of New Zealand.[6] They were unveiled on 21 November 2011 at the first day of training. The jerseys feature a traditional rugby league "v" for the first time since 2003.[7] The Junior Warriors play in a red strip with a white away jersey.

Change of ownership

On 2 March owner Eric Watson announced that he had bought out the minority shareholders, including Mark Hotchin, and would form a new 50–50 venture with Owen Glenn to control the club.^[8][9]

Fixtures

The Warriors opened the season by hosting a match at Eden Park in Auckland.^[6] This was only the second time that the Warriors have played a home match away from Mount Smart Stadium. The remaining 11 home games will be played at Mount Smart Stadium, their only home ground since they entered the competition in 1995.

Pre-season training

The main squad returned to training on 21 November 2011 to start preparing for the 2012 season.^[10] Players involved in the 2011 Four Nations and other representative matches returned to training later. Twenty three first graders were present on the first day of training.^[11]

Pre-season matches

North Harbour Stadium hosted a Warriors trial match for the tenth time.^[12] The Warriors also played a match in Whangarei.^[13]

Date	Round	Opponent	Venue	Result	Score	Tries	Goals	Attendance	Report
4 February	Trial 1	Gold Coast Titans	North Harbour Stadium, Auckland	Win	26–10	Hurrell, Brown, Johnson, Fisiiahi, Tupou	Maloney (2)	10,500	[14]
11 February	Trial 2	South Sydney Rabbitohs	BCU International Stadium, Coffs Harbour	Win	22–14	Vatuvei (2), Mannering, Hurrell	Johnson (2), Maloney	5,376	[15]
19 February	Trial 3	Sunshine Coast Sea Eagles	Toll Stadium, Whangarei	Win	68–10	Penehe (2), Matulino (2), Mara, Godinet, Ta'ai, Locke, Inu, Brown, Ropati, Fishiiahi, Henry	Inu (4), Locke (3), Henry	9,000	[16]

Regular season

Date	Round	Opponent	Venue	Result	Score	Tries	Goals	Attendance	Report
4 March	Round 1	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	Eden Park, Auckland	Loss	20–26	Vatuvei (2), Johnson, Locke	Maloney (2)	37,502	[1]
12 March	Round 2	Parramatta Eels	Parramatta Stadium, Sydney	Win	36–20	Tupou (2), Mateo, Hurrell, Maloney, Locke	Maloney (6)	12,000	[2]
18 March	Round 3	Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs	Mount Smart Stadium, Auckland	Loss	18–32	Maloney, Lousi, Mateo	Maloney (3)	17,067	[3]
24 March	Round 4	Gold Coast Titans	Mount Smart Stadium, Auckland	Win	26–6	Johnson (2), Taylor, Vatuvei, Mannering	Maloney (3)	12,915	[4]
31 March	Round 5	Sydney Roosters	Sydney Football Stadium, Sydney	Loss	26–8	Ropati, Fisiiahi		13,021	[5]
8 April	Round 6	Canberra Raiders	Canberra Stadium, Canberra	Loss	12–32	Henry, Maloney	Maloney (2)	10,800	[6]
15 April	Round 7	South Sydney Rabbitohs	Mount Smart Stadium, Auckland	Win	44–22	Mannering (2), Henry, Brown, Ropati, Tupou, Ta'ai, Inu	Maloney (6)	15,378	[7]
25 April	Round 8	Melbourne Storm	AAMI Park, Melbourne	Loss	14–32	Tupou (2), Brown	Maloney (1)	20,333	[8]
5 May	Round 9	Brisbane Broncos	Mount Smart Stadium, Auckland	Win	30–20	Henry, Johnson, Taylor, Lillyman, Mateo	Maloney (5)	19,012	[9]
12 May	Round 10	Sydney Roosters	Mount Smart Stadium, Auckland	Win	30–26	Hurrell (2), Johnson (2), Vatuvei	Maloney (5)	16,220	[10]
18 May	Round 11	Wests Tigers	Leichhardt Oval, Sydney	Loss	22–24	Hurrell (2), Henry, Tupou	Maloney (3)	16,406	[11]
	Round 12	Bye
3 June	Round 13	Melbourne Storm	Mount Smart Stadium, Auckland	Loss	12–22	Hurrell, Vatuvei	Maloney (2)	20,487	[12]
11 June	Round 14	Penrith Panthers	Centrebet Stadium, Sydney	Win	30–16	Vatuvei (2), Hurrell, Locke, Maloney	Maloney (5)	5,778	[13]
16 June	Round 15	Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks	Toyota Stadium, Sydney	Loss	19–20	Hurrell, Locke, Johnson	Maloney (3 & FG)	9,271	[14]
	Round 16	Bye
1 July	Round 17	North Queensland Cowboys	Mount Smart Stadium, Auckland	Win	35–18	Henry (2), Hurrell, Lillyman, Friend, Brown	Maloney (5 & FG)	15,274	[15]
8 July	Round 18	Gold Coast Titans	Skilled Park, Gold Coast	Win	32–14	Hurrell (3), Johnson, Locke, Matunlino	Maloney (4)	17,134	[16]
13 July	Round 19	Brisbane Broncos	Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane	Loss	8–10	Locke, Vatuvei		32,148	[17]
21 July	Round 20	Newcastle Knights	Mount Smart Stadium, Auckland	Loss	19–24	Johnson, Matulino, Friend	Maloney (3 & FG)	15,112	[18]
29 July	Round 21	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	Patersons Stadium, Perth	Loss	22–24	Locke, Johnson, Brown, Vatuvei	Maloney (3)	20,095	[19]
5 August	Round 22	Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks	Mount Smart Stadium, Auckland	Loss	4–45	Tupou		13,812	[20]
11 August	Round 23	North Queensland Cowboys	Dairy Farmers Stadium, Townsville	Loss	12–52	Tuimavave, Vatuvei	Malony (2)	13,616	[21]
19 August	Round 24	Penrith Panthers	Mount Smart Stadium, Auckland	Loss	16–18	Henry (2), Johnson	Malony (2)	11,000	[22]
25 August	Round 25	St George-Illawarra Dragons	WIN Stadium, Wollongong	Loss	6–38	Johnson	Malony (1)	11,261	[23]
2 September	Round 26	Canberra Raiders	Mount Smart Stadium, Auckland	Loss	42–22	Vatuvei (2), Matulino, Godinet	Henry (2), Maloney	11,455	[24]

Ladder

2012 NRL season v t e
Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	B	PF	PA	PD	Pts
1	Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs	24	18	0	6	2	568	369	+199	40
2	Melbourne Storm (P)	24	17	0	7	2	579	361	+218	38
3	South Sydney Rabbitohs	24	16	0	8	2	559	438	+121	36
4	Manly Warringah Sea Eagles	24	16	0	8	2	497	403	+94	36
5	North Queensland Cowboys	24	15	0	9	2	597	445	+152	34
6	Canberra Raiders	24	13	0	11	2	545	536	+9	30
7	Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks	24	12	1	11	2	445	441	+4	29
8	Brisbane Broncos	24	12	0	12	2	481	447	+34	28
9	St. George Illawarra Dragons	24	11	0	13	2	405	438	-33	26
10	Wests Tigers	24	11	0	13	2	506	551	-45	26
11	Gold Coast Titans	24	10	0	14	2	449	477	-28	24
12	Newcastle Knights	24	10	0	14	2	448	488	-40	24
13	Sydney Roosters	24	8	1	15	2	462	626	-164	21
14	New Zealand Warriors	24	8	0	16	2	497	609	-112	20
15	Penrith Panthers	24	8	0	16	2	409	575	-166	20
16	Parramatta Eels	24	6	0	18	2	431	674	-243	16

Squad

The Warriors used twenty nine players during the season. Seven players made their debut for the club, including six who were making their NRL debuts – all of these players were graduates from the Warriors Toyota Cup programme.

Staff

• Chief Executive Officer: Wayne Scurrah
• General Manager: Don Mann Jr
• Recruitment and Development Manager: Dean Bell
• High Performance Manager: Craig Walker^[17]
• High Performance Assistant: Ruben Wiki
• Medical Services Manager: John Mayhew
• Welfare and Education Manager: Jerry Seuseu
• Media and Communications Manager: Richard Becht

NRL staff

• NRL Head Coach: Brian McClennan, until 21 August 2012, replaced by Tony Iro.^[18]
• NRL Assistant Coach: Tony Iro^[19]
• Defence coach: Ruben Wiki^[20]
• Halves Coach: Andrew Johns^[21]

NYC staff

• NYC Head Coach & Assistant NRL Coach: John Ackland^[22]
• Development Coach: Willie Swann^[23]

Transfers

Gains

Losses

Mid-season Losses

Other teams

In 2012 the Junior Warriors are again competing in the Toyota Cup while senior players who are not required for the first team play with the Auckland Vulcans in the NSW Cup. The Vulcans are coached by former Warriors development coach Ricky Henry.^[36]

Toyota Cup squad

Vulcans squad

The Auckland Vulcans contracted ten players. The team was strengthened with Warriors players not picked for each round and local club players. The ten contracted players were: DJ Collier, Agnatius Paasi, Daniel Palavi, Tulson Caird, Willie Peace, James Blackwell, Ruben Williams, Steve Waetford, Darin Kingi and Murray Iti.^[37]

Sam Lousi was named the Auckland Vulcans' Player of the Year.^[38]

Awards

Ben Matulino won the club's Player of the Year award. Ben Henry was named Young Player of the Year and Elijah Taylor was the clubman of the year.^[39] Konrad Hurrell was the Vodafone People's choice award winner.^[40]