Stats the spirit: Running the Round 8 numbers 📊📉
Top-two run continues in record-equalling start
Wellington streak extended
Down to the wire for first time in 2026
Tuaupiki scoops max Dally M votes
Tries pile up for Wahs wingers
Warriors look to reverse Eels trend
The Warriors dug deep to hold on for a 20-18 win over the Dolphins in Wellington on Anzac Day, getting home on the back of a Taine Tuaupiki try after a gutsy defensive display after trailing 18-14 at halftime.
Though they enjoyed 53 percent possession and completed at 85 percent to the Dolphins’ 74 percent, the Warriors’ victory came in spite of largely losing the physical battle. The Dolphins led the average set distance count 41.22 metres to 36.66 – though that gap was around nine metres per set during the first half.
The Warriors couldn’t quite capitalise on a whopping 9-2 line-break advantage, as well as receiving four set restarts to one.
But the Warriors kept their tryline intact for the last hour of the match to maintain their status as the third-best defensive unit in the NRL (19.5 points per game) behind Penrith and Wests Tigers, while scoring the third-most points per game (30.25) after the Panthers and South Sydney.
The second-placed Warriors are 7-2 for the fourth time in their history, having also won seven of their first nine games in 2002, 2018 and 2025.
The Warriors finished a weekend in the top two on the ladder for just the 21st time in their history. This season accounts for five of those occasions.
Capital gains
After going winless in their first six games in Wellington from 2001-13, the Warriors have now won five of their last six at the ‘Cake Tin’ – including their last four straight.
It’s a record that helps slowly chip away at the Warriors’ baffling, long-running struggles at alternate venues in New Zealand. The Warriors have won five of six matches on home soil outside Mount Smart since Andrew Webster arrived in 2023.
Hnry Stadium (formerly Westpac Stadium and Sky Stadium) is now one of just five venues besides Mount Smart the Warriors have won four consecutive games at.
MOST CONSECUTIVE WINS AT A VENUE BY WARRIORS (EXCLUDING MOUNT SMART STADIUM)
7 – Cbus Super Stadium (2011-17)
4 – Sydney Football Stadium (2003-04)
4 – Central Coast Stadium (2016-20)
4 – Dolphin Stadium (2021-22)
4 – Hnry Stadium, Wellington (2016-26)
Down to the wire
If your nerves felt a little more jangled than usual after the Warriors’ tense win, it’s probably because that was the only game so far in 2026 that has genuinely been in the balance in the latter stages.
The Warriors’ six games this season were decided by margins of 14-plus, while they led the Titans 28-4 with 12 minutes to go in Round 7 before letting in three garbage time tries.
The 20-18 result in Wellington was also the first Warriors fixture this year to produce a total of less than 46 points, while a sole converted try on the second-half ledger was the first Warriors game to see less than 20 points scored after the break.
The last five Warriors-Dolphins clashes have featured margins of four points or less, while neither side has won consecutive games against the other in seven encounters.
House of Taine
It wasn’t quite a coming-of-age, No.1-cementing performance, but Taine Tuaupiki’s display at fullback in a frantic encounter was certainly an impressive step forward.
On top of zipping over for the match-winning try, the diminutive custodian ran for a game-high 236 metres and racked up eight tackle-breaks, as well as having a key hand in a four-pointer in the first half.
Tuaupiki scooped the maximum six Dally M votes for his efforts, adding to a pair of one-vote outings earlier in the season.
Jackson Ford maintained his improbable lead at the top of the Dally M Medal standings with three votes, producing another hyper-industrious 80-minute display in the front-row trenches: 21 runs for 207 metres and an astonishing 58 tackles.
Ford leads the NRL in post-contact metres and ranks fifth for most tackles.
Reigning Lock of the Year Erin Clark opened his Dally M account with three votes, starring with two line-breaks and eight tackle-breaks among his 174 metres, along with making 21 tackles.
WARRIORS’ 2026 DALLY M MEDAL LEADERBOARD
31 – Jackson Ford (first overall)
13 – Tanah Boyd
8 – Taine Tuaupiki
4 – Wayde Egan
3 – Roger Tuivasa-Sheck, Leka Halasima, Erin Clark
2 – James Fisher-Harris, Mitch Barnett
1 – Alofiana Khan-Pereira
Wing and a prayer
Dallin Watene-Zelezniak sits equal-fifth in the NRL’s tryscoring race with nine after the Warriors’ right winger crossed for his seventh try in four games on Saturday .
The four-pointer against the Dolphins was his 117th in 236 NRL games. Of those, 68 have now come in just 93 games for the Warriors.
Perhaps even more impressively for DWZ – regarded by many as a defensive weak link – his opposing wingers have scored just one try against him in 2026 (Newcastle’s Greg Marhew in Round 3).
Meanwhile, left winger Alofiana Khan-Pereira’s second consecutive double in his third NRL appearance for the Warriors lifted his career strike-rate back up to an even one try per game – 57 tries in 57 appearances.
Only a handful of players in the game’s history have scored 50-plus tries at a try per game or better, led by pre-WWII icon Harold Horder, who scored 152 tries in just 136 games for South Sydney and North Sydney.
Achilles Eel
The Warriors have had disproportionate trouble putting away their Round 9 opponent, Parramatta, in recent years.
The Eels have won six of the clubs’ past seven encounters – including excruciating late-season home defeats in 2024 (30-20) and 2025 (26-22).
But the Warriors did carve out a maiden victory at CommBank Stadium during their last visit to Sydney to take on the Eels, powering to a 46-10 result in 2023.
The visitors will be on high alert for wing weapon Josh Addo-Carr, who has scored in each of his last seven games against the Warriors for the Storm, Bulldogs and Eels.
Eels halfback and captain Mitch Moses has managed eight wins in his last nine games against the Warriors; the only loss during that period was in 2018.