League: Away games key for Warriors

Andrew McFadden: 'For the players, staff and the club as a whole, it's brilliant knowing we're...
Andrew McFadden: 'For the players, staff and the club as a whole, it's brilliant knowing we're going into a season with 11 games at Mt Smart Stadium.' Photo Getty
The Warriors' ability to win on the road will be put under thorough inspection next year with the club facing successive away games at the start and end of next year's campaign.

Yesterday's 2015 NRL draw announcement revealed the Warriors will start their season with away games against the Knights and Raiders, and close the 26-round competition with away matches against Wests Tigers and Canterbury.

Coach Andrew McFadden has a difficult task to overturn a dreadful first-round record, with the club's last season-opening success coming in 2009 against the Eels, while they have won only two first-round matches in the last 12 years.

Warriors fans will have their first chance to see their team at home in round three when they host the Eels at Mt Smart Stadium on Saturday, March 21 (5pm kick-off), and again the following week with a fourth-round rematch against inaugural opponents the Broncos on Sunday, March 29 (2pm kick-off).

A historic Anzac Day clash at home, visits by heavyweights Melbourne, Manly, the Sydney Roosters and North Queensland, and a long-haul flight to Perth to play the Rabbitohs for the third year in succession are the other standout features of the Warriors' draw.

"The start is challenging with two of the NRL's most demanding away trips but we'll plan for that accordingly," McFadden said.

"It's a great start at home, though, having the Eels and then the 20th anniversary encounter with the Broncos. That match-up against Brisbane means so much for everyone associated with the club.

"It's always exciting when the draw comes out. For the coaching staff and team management it means we can plan our season while our members and fans can also make their plans now they have the dates.

"For the players, staff and the club as a whole, it's brilliant knowing we're going into a season with 11 games at Mt Smart Stadium."

In the Warriors' favour, they play 13 of their 24 games against teams that finished beneath them in 2014, and have 11 matches against last season's finalists.

The Roosters are the only top-four team from 2014 that the Warriors will play twice. They will also play home and away games against North Queensland and Melbourne.

The clubs the Warriors face once include 2014 premiership winners South Sydney, finalists Manly, Brisbane, Canterbury and Penrith, and 11th-place finishers St George Illawarra. Between rounds 8-12 the Warriors play games against last season's battlers in the Titans, Sharks, Eels and Knights.

Round 14 is a clash against what is tipped to be a State of Origin-depleted Roosters side, and is one of six home games in the following eight weeks. With just one game at home in the last month, against North Queensland on August 22, that's the time the Warriors will need to accrue some premiership points.

As reported by the Herald, after previously playing in Melbourne, the Warriors will be at home on Anzac Day for the first time as part of the NRL's programme of commemorative games on the 100th anniversary of the Anzac landings at Gallipoli. The Warriors will host the Gold Coast Titans (2pm kick-off) while there will be four more games in Newcastle, Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.

"We're thrilled about the chance of being able to mark our 20th anniversary against our very first opponents so early in the season. It's going to be one of the real high points of a massive year for the club," Warriors managing director Jim Doyle said.

"It's also a huge moment for us having an Anzac Day game here for the first time on what will be such an important day with both countries marking the 100th anniversary of Gallipoli."

The draw lists 12 games at Mt Smart Stadium but one will be played outside Auckland with the venue yet to be confirmed.

- David Skipwith of the New Zealand Herald

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