The jailing last week of New Zealand playboy businessman Eric Watson was nearly a decade in the legal making, writes the NZ Herald’s Matt Nippert in this Herald Premium article. The fall of Eric John Watson, from penthouse-dwelling playboy to prisoner in apparent penury, didn’t happen overnight. He’s also recently caught Covid-19, split from his … Read more
An update to James Dann’s groundbreaking 2016 investigation, now with 25% more shirts. It has been three years since the first Warriors Jersey Power Rankings appeared on The Spinoff, and a lot has changed in that time. They qualified for the finals for the first time in close to a decade, lost their best-ever player … Read more
Shaun Johnson burst into the NRL as the presumptive saviour of the ever-woeful Warriors, but his moments of transcendent brilliance were increasingly few and far between, and now he’s been cut loose. Jarret Filmer looks back on his career. There were few things in Warriors history more exhilarating than a Shaun Johnson sidestep. There’s some … Read more
In episode six of Get It to Te Papa, a Lightbox Original made by The Spinoff, Hayden Donnell’s journey finally takes him to the national museum. Watch Get It to Te Papa on Lightbox here. If I had to pick one artefact from Get It to Te Papa to be enshrined in our national museum, it … Read more
Viaduct bar Headquarters posted an inflammatory Facebook status on Thursday, calling league fans many bad things. Ra Pomare caught up with the Warriors in Christchurch to get their take on league fans being called ‘vandals’ and ‘abusers’. The Spinoff TV screens Fridays at 9.45pm from June 22nd on THREE. Thanks to NZ on Air.
New Zealand Rugby needs its biggest city to be in love with rugby union. But if last weekend is anything to go by, Auckland may be considering a love affair with that other rugby code. Can the Blues win over a jaded public? Scotty Stevenson says this weekend has more riding on it than just … Read more
On Saturday the Warriors beat the Rabbitohs in a game of rugby league. On Sunday the Blues beat the Lions at rugby union. Today, Andrew Mulligan reports on a miracle. Holy shit the Blues and Warriors won on the same weekend for the first time since…April 30th 2017. Not that long ago but given confidence … Read more
After ending their dreadful 2017 season with a 9-game losing streak, the Warriors will be looking to create some more positive memories for their beleaguered fans. But where does last year’s abysmal failure sit within the pantheon of poor performances? James Dann looks back over the club’s history since 1995 to rank each of their … Read more
Billy Idol’s bizarre 2002 performance in Sydney was a seminal moment in NRL grand final history. Now, 15 years on, a Sydney journalist has commemorated the event by having Idol’s hovercraft performance tattoed onto his leg. Jamie Wall talks to Steve Zemek about his courageous move to immortalise this piece of rugby league history. The Warriors … Read more
After their worst loss of the year all but guaranteed a sixth straight season without finals footy, James Dann asks if it’s finally time to abandon all hope of the Warriors ever being good at rugby league again? The New Zealand Warriors were gifted a perfect start to Saturday afternoon’s must-win game against the bottom-of-the-table … Read more
We review the entire country and culture of New Zealand, one thing at a time. Today: Don Rowe reflects on Shaun Johnson’s clutch kick against the Roosters. It takes a special kind of masochist to devote Sunday after Sunday to seeing the Warriors ritually humiliated at home and abroad. But pleasure and pain are two sides … Read more
The Warriors (probably) hold the NRL record for getting their hearts broken by their former players, with James Maloney’s golden point field goal the most recent incident. Jamie Wall recounts the most traumatic ex-Warrior revenge missions. As far as losses go, the Warriors’ latest to the Sharks would have been relatively easy to take, had it not been … Read more
Everybody loves a good bandwagon, and the Warriors one is once again pulling into the station. Experienced bandwagonner James Dann has some sage advice for those thinking of jumping aboard. So the Warriors pulled out their best performance of the season on Saturday, demolishing last year’s beaten finalists the Brisbane Broncos at Mt Smart Stadium. … Read more
Given his track record on social media it was only right that we would learn of Konrad Hurrell’s new NRL club via Facebook post, writes Ben Stanley. But will the Gold Coast prove boom or bust for the mercurial former Warrior? There would be no scoop by a Sydney tabloid. No official release timed by … Read more
Using Tinder for its original intended purpose only brought Jamie Wall bad times, so he deleted it. But with the Warriors’ latest calamity weighing heavy on his mind, he decided to reinstall – this time to try and crowdsource a solution to the rugby league club’s woes. (All correspondents have given permission for their replies … Read more
The NRL may or may not be the greatest sports competition on Earth, but it is definitely home to the greatest fan-made banners. James Dann selects six of the best. Rugby league has given so much to our culture over the years. Mullets. Russell Crowe. The term “Hopoate”. But what has often been overlooked is its contribution to … Read more