The euphoria around the Auckland Warriors’ historic first victory, an emphatic 46-12 demolition of Western Suburbs Magpies at a heaving Ericsson Stadium, dissipated into devastation upon the realisation they would have their competition points stripped for fielding an illegal fifth replacement player.
The Warriors were desperate for a breakthrough win, having followed up their epic 25-22 debut loss against Brisbane with a disappointing 40-28 defeat to Illawarra in the Wollongong heat.
The John Monie-coached newcomers obliged in Round 3, blowing Tom Raudonikis’ Magpies off the park in the second half after holding a tenuous 18-12 lead at the break.
Gifted five-eighth tyro Gene Ngamu earned man-of-the-match honours as his combination with veteran halfback Greg Alexander blossomed. Burgeoning front-row cult hero Hitro Okesene was the Warriors’ engine-room standout.
“Greg has given me a lot of tips and I listen to everything he has got to say. Why wouldn’t I?” Ngamu said. “He’s been around and played in a [premiership] winning team.”
But the mercurial Phil Blake grabbed the lion’s share of post-match attention after two tries inside the last five minutes gave him four for the afternoon. The 31-year-old journeyman had not played at fullback since 1988 but gained a new lease of life in the Warriors’ No.1 jersey – and his haul at Wests’ expense catapulted him into the top 10 on the all-time premiership tryscorers’ list.
Prior to Blake’s late surge, however, a seemingly innocuous interchange made from a buoyant, crowded Auckland bench would prove fateful.
Twenty-year-old prop Joe Vagana became the Warriors’ unwitting fifth replacement when debutant Willie Poching, who had only entered the fray a short time earlier, went to the blood bin in the 69th minute. The error initially went undetected, until a TVNZ reporter reviewed the footage and contacted the Australian Rugby League for comment.
Despite having the result sewn up at 34-12 when the snafu occurred, the ARL had no option but to dock the Warriors of their first premiership points.
“What can I say? I’m speechless,” flummoxed Warriors skipper Dean Bell said when Rugby League Week’s Jim Marr revealed the situation to him the following day.
“It’s not the first of April is it? It sounds more like Friday the 13th. Oh God, it’s like your worst nightmare – that is bloody unbelievable.
“I told the guys to savour the moment. They had made history and we had our first points.”
The blame fell squarely at the feet of Monie and his coaching staff – but the Warriors’ administration was hellbent on passing the buck.
Charismatic chief executive Ian Robson outrageously accused Mary Durham, the reporter who picked up the error, and TVNZ of betrayal as the club’s golden run with the New Zealand media showed its first cracks.
“Robson wouldn’t talk to me after that,” Durham later said in the 2001 book Beleaguered. “He even called a team meeting and told the players I was solely to blame for the loss.”
The aftermath of the calamity was buried under the outbreak of the Super League war just days later. The Warriors belatedly collected their maiden premiership points via a 38-12 win over the Steelers at home in Round 6, sparking of a run of 11 wins in 13 matches that lifted them into the Top 8.
Excruciatingly, after losses to the heavyweight Raiders and Broncos in the last two rounds, the Warriors were ousted for a debut-season finals appearance on for-and-against. The competition points they briefly received for thumping the Magpies would have given them eighth spot outright; the Warriors did not qualify for the playoffs until 2001.
