Warriors - 2019

The Warriors headed into the 2019 NRL season following the abrupt summer exit of Shaun Johnson - and the transition without the superstar was far from smooth.

WARRIORS 1995-2025 BOOK CHAPTER MENU

The Warriors were entitled to enjoy their most under-the-radar off-season in years, basking in the glow of the club’s long-awaited return to the NRL finals and plethora of positive off-field developments.

But comments from CEO Cameron George to NZ Herald in late-October sent speculation around the future of Shaun Johnson, who was in Britain with the Kiwis at the time, into overdrive. The superstar halfback was under contract for 2019, but George confirmed the club would not be rushing to extend Johnson and added pointedly, “We’re not going to be scared to make big calls on any player”, apparently giving the 28-year-old the Warriors’ blessing to test his value on the open market.

One month later, the inevitable was confirmed: the Warriors had released their long-time talisman. “Yesterday (head coach) Stephen Kearney, (recruitment manager) Peter O’Sullivan and I met with Shaun and his manager Peter Brown,” George said in a scathing statement. “During the meeting Shaun clearly demonstrated to us that he didn’t want to be at the club in 2019. On the basis of what Shaun told us, we are not going to compromise our culture on and off the field with people who do not wish to represent our club, members and fans in the way we expect.”