Testing run-in for Warriors in 2019

The Warriors have been handed a favourable start to the 2019 NRL season but it’s a testing final month that may ultimately define their campaign.

The 2019 draw was confirmed yesterday with the Auckland club to open its 25th season with a rare first-round home game at Mt Smart Stadium against the Bulldogs on March 16.

Traditionally slow starters, the Warriors bucked that trend in 2018 as they won their first five games before going on to break a seven-year finals drought.

The Warriors’ first four matches are against teams that failed to make the finals in 2018 (Bulldogs, Tigers, Sea Eagles and Titans), while four of their first six games are in New Zealand, including the round-three match against Manly in Christchurch on March 30.

The competition steps up in May through to early June as they face four consecutive games against top eight teams (Dragons, Panthers, Broncos and Storm). And it’s a similar situation at the business-end of the campaign.

So often in the NRL it’s how you finish the season that counts. The Warriors’ final month begins with back-to-back away games to premiers Roosters and Sharks before returning home to face the Rabbitohs. They wrap up the regular season with a road trip against the Raiders in Canberra.

Other features of the draw are ‘home’ games against the Dragons in Brisbane on May 11, which is part of the inaugural ‘Magic Round’ at Suncorp Stadium, and against the Sharks in Wellington on July 19.

The Roosters and Dragons are the only top eight teams from 2018 the Warriors do not play twice. The other clubs they do not play home and away are the Bulldogs (Auckland), Wests Tigers (Sydney), Cowboys (Auckland) and the Parramatta Eels (away, TBC).