Warriors - 2020

The Warriors became the NRL's unwitting face of a global health crisis during a season like no other.

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As pundits gazed into their 2020 NRL crystal balls, the Warriors featured in more wooden spoon predictions than Top 8 forecasts after the previous season’s substantial regression.

The club repeatedly came up empty in bids to bolster its roster, with reported approaches to the likes of David Fifita, Tino Fa’asuamaleaui, Sitili Tupouniua, and eventual recruits Matt Lodge and Kurt Capewell each rebuffed.

Back-up Penrith hooker Wayde Egan was the Warriors’ only significant pick-up for the new campaign, replacing unwanted veteran Issac Luke. Blayke Ayshford hung up the boots, while fellow fringe players Ligi Sao and Chris Satae took up Super League deals. Long-serving Wallabies conditioner Craig Twentyman arrived as Head of Performance with Alex Corvo – lauded for his role the Warriors’ 2018 upswing – leaving Auckland.

In an otherwise muted off-season, a video published on the club’s website depicted CEO Cameron George delivering a stirring, expletive-laden call to arms to the playing group about proving the doomsayers wrong.

But the season ahead – and indeed the ensuing three-year period – would be anything but nondescript for the Warriors, who were destined to become the NRL’s unwitting face of a global health crisis that dramatically impacted every facet of sport and society around the world.