New Zealand Warriors women didn't make the NRLW Finals in 2025 but they showed their mana in dealing with adversity and offered many positive flashes throughout the season that will provide strong foundations to build upon. NZW finished eighth of 12 teams with four wins and seven losses which included wins vs Eels and Cowboys who finished higher than them on the ladder.

The other wins were against Bulldogs and Tigers who finished below NZW on the ladder. Three of the four wins for NZW were in Australia and this continues a theme for the women's team of being better in Australia than home games in Aotearoa, which flows into the men's team as well who lost in front of their five biggest crowds at Mt Smart this season.

NZW had a win at Mt Smart and then lost all three of their games in Hamilton. The first of those losses was against Raiders and this included one of the major doses of adversity for NZW as they had two red cards in a few minutes, which not only left them with 11 players on the field but also challenged their depth as they had two suspensions.

NZW almost won with 11 players on the field vs Raiders and only lost by four points. Along with the suspensions there were injuries like halfback Emily Curtain suffering a season-ending knee injury and the regular flow of niggles. There was also the funky scenario of NRLW veteran Mya Hill-Moana missing the season after giving birth and Michaela Brake missing most of the season in the early stages of pregnancy.

Whether it was another tough loss vs Sharks going down 14-22 in Hamilton or losing 6-26 vs Broncos in Hamilton, NZW didn't conceded 30+ points in the second half of their campaign. There were some alarm bells after losing 6-30 in the first game vs Roosters and while they bounced back to defeat Eels 14-0, NZW then went down 20-36 vs Knights. Since that loss vs Knights, NZW didn't concede 30 points for the rest of the season and scored 30+ points twice, headlined by the impressive win vs Tigers to finish the season.

Two stats that stand out as limiting how effective NZW could be were their completion rate and missed tackles. NZW had the worst completion rate in NRLW at 71.5% and were fourth for missed tackles per game on 34.1. While there is lots of nitty gritty involved here, having the worst completion rate and missing 30+ tackles per game is a recipe for losing games of rugby league.

However, those pockets were balanced by some positive stats. NZW had the worst completion rate in NRLW but were still able to score 3.4 tries per game and that was fifth best in NRLW. They also had 32.4 tackle breaks per game which was good enough for third and with Broncos and Roosters the only teams ranked ahead of NZW, this is great company to keep.

Dummy half running can be good or bad depending on a variety of factors but it was a clear staple of NZW footy under coach Ronald Griffiths. NZW averaged 17.7 dummy half runs per game and the next best team is Sharks on 13, with Brake making the most of this strategy in her four games to average 4.3 DHR/game and that was ranked fourth for all NRLW players.

Hooker Capri Paekau (4.1) and centre Tysha Ikenasio (3.9) are also top-10. Switching to the total number of dummy half runs and NZW have eight players in the top-50, which includes six players who didn't play any footy at dummy half this season.

Every player showed that they have exciting futures ahead of them in NRLW and it's tricky to highlight individuals when a blurb could be written for every player. Leaders like Apii Nicholls, Harata Butler and Laishon Albert-Jones were fantastic, while the contribution of a mature player like Shakira Baker can't be overlooked as a leader and one of the best players every week.

Baker and Patricia Maliepo were the best of the top-tier rugby union wahine throughout the season, but NZW also made nifty recruitment moves from rugby union below the Black Ferns tier. Payton Takimoana is the standout in this bracket as she led NZW for tries and maintain her try-scoring excellence despite switching from wing to centre, while her Bay of Plenty comrade Tyra Wetere also grew into her new role as a winger to command regular selection.

NZW scouting and recruitment was also on show in the players they signed from Australia. Curtain was doing a solid job in the halves before her injury, Lavinia Kitai started nine of her 11 games at prop as a 21-year-old and it's crazy to think that Emmanita Paki is only 22-years-old given her presence for NZW.

Paki started games at centre, fullback, halfback and five-eighth with her NRLW experience and craft keeping NZW on track. All of which is evident in Paki having 10 try assists in 11 games and the stretch across every position she played.

Others like Paekau, Matekino Gray, Kaiyah Atai, Maarire Puketapu, Lydia Turua-Quedley, Makayla Eli and Lavinia Tauhalaliku continued to build on their impressive careers. All of these wahine had played international rugby league, NRLW or Women's Premiership in Queensland/New South Wales before returning to Aotearoa to join NZW.

They all looked comfortable in NRLW and Atai was especially impressive with her class shining in different positions. 23-year-old Atai played all 70 minutes in 10 of her 11 games this season and along with Paki and Takimoana, they are the only wahine who played all 11 games this season; all three are 23yrs or younger.

NZW needed 26 players for 11 games in NRLW this season and the most positive zone for their future is the local rugby league talent who not only impressed as individuals, but also showed that women's rugby league within Aotearoa is on a sharp trend upwards.

Ashlee Matapo and Ivana Lauitiiti are both 19-years-old now but Matapo was 18yrs for most of the season and they started the season in the development contract tier, then they played notable roles as middle forwards throughout the season. Both joined NZW from local footy in Auckland and were able to quickly adapt to NRLW footy, with Lauitiiti averaging 5.3 tackle breaks per game which was good enough to be ranked seventh in the NRLW.

Avery-Rose Carmont added to the dummy half depth after being signed from local footy in Auckland and Metanoia Fotu-Moala also excelled in stepping up from grassroots rugby league. NZW were even forced to sign another youngster for the last few games in Paris Pickering who had taken up an opportunity with Norths Devils in Queensland before the opportunity popped up to settle back in Auckland with NZW.

Not only did youngsters from local footy in Auckland seem comfy in stepping up to NRLW, but Pickering and others like Atai, Puketapu etc have all moved from Aotearoa to impress in the Queensland and New South Wales competitions. This is part of the abundance of wahine from Aotearoa who are playing NRLW for other teams and the quality of women's rugby league in Aotearoa is on display in Bulldogs entering NRLW with a squad full of wahine from New Zealand.

NZW struggled with rugby league details throughout the season and this will be their easiest area for growth for next season as the rugby union ladies get more repititions. Many of the younger players stepped up to NRLW footy without any reserve grade action or limited appearances in lower grades prior to the season, so addind some kind of second tier below the NRLW Warriors will be useful to boost the depth moving forward.

NZW returned to NRLW this year and quickly established their mana. Despite not making the finals, they weren't far off and much of the development will come in spending more time focused on rugby league. Most importantly though, this team has already built a strong connection to their communities and how they dealt with adversity throughout the season should inspire many more as they build on an impressive return to NRLW.

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Peace and love.